Chapter Thirteen

Only Two

Kagome opened her eyes, looking at her bedside table. It was five minutes before the alarm was due to go off.

She didn't understand why, but she had been sleeping better than ever for several weeks. She didn't wake up all night, had no nightmares and slept soundly.

And after what had happened in the forest, she had expected quite the opposite.

Kagome still felt chills when she remembered the red eyes of those two demons. The scratches on her arms and legs had all but disappeared, though the mark of that bite was still on the curve of her neck.

So far no one had seen it. Kagome avoided wearing tank tops, though once it started to get hot she wasn't going to be able to hide the wound. By then she hoped the scar would be whiter and less noticeable.

It was still pink, but it hadn't bothered her for days.

She sighed, sitting up and staring at the book on her desk.

She had her last exam that day. Kagome was finally going to be free, she wouldn't have to study anymore.

In a couple of weeks, she would start her internship at the hospital where she could have lunch with Sara every day. She had studied nursing and had been working there for four years.

Kagome had arranged to meet her and Sango afterwards. The three of them were going to McDonald's together to celebrate.

After a hot shower, Kagome grabbed her backpack and left the house, saying goodbye to her grandfather.

By the time she saw him again, she would no longer be a student.

Kagome sighed as she arrived at the mall where she was meeting her friends. She entered the huge glass building and took the escalator up to the first floor where all the restaurants were.

She couldn't help but smile when she saw Sango leaning against the metal railing, staring down at her phone absently.

"Sango!"

She looked up and smiled at her.

"My dear oncologist!"

Kagome's smile widened and she threw herself into her friend's arms.

"How did it go?" Sango asked, wrapping her arms around her.

"Much better than I expected."

"So it's official now?"

Kagome pulled away from her slightly, cocking her head to the side.

"They still have to tell me the last two grades, but... yeah, I think I can officially say I'm done."

"Great! We need to celebrate this with a lot of fast food," Sango said, taking both of her hands.

Kagome nodded.

"Sara isn't here yet?"

Sango shook her head.

"I haven't seen her."

Kagome took a step back and pulled out her phone. It was weird that Sara wasn't on time.

"I'm going to call her."

Just as she was about to dial her number she received a new message. Kagome frowned, opening the chat.

It was from Sara.

Don't wait for me, Kagome. I'm not going to make it in time.

"What's wrong?" Sango asked, surprised to see the look on her friend's face.

"It's a message from Sara. She says she's going to be late."

We can wait for you.

Don't. I'm very far away.

Where are you, Sara?

I'm sorry, Kagome.

Kagome felt a lump in her throat. She and Sango had already entered the McDonald's and had just sat down at one of the tables.

Why are you apologising?

I know you didn't want me to come, but I also know you've been lying to me.
 I need to see with my own eyes what's going on in this forest, and now that you're far away you won't be able to stop me.

Kagome gasped and Sango furrowed her brow.

"What's happening? Where's Sara?"

Don't go in there, Sara!

Seeing no reply, Kagome pressed the call icon and held the phone to her ear glancing at Sango, who was right in front of her and couldn't understand a thing.

Out of range.

"Shit, shit, shit," Kagome mumbled under her breath, hanging up and trying to call her again.

Sango grabbed one of her hands.

"You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

She set the phone down on the table and put both hands to her face, trying to hold back tears. Sango also knew that she had been obsessed with the legend of the demon forest for years, but she hadn't told her about her little adventure in the yōkai world.

"Sara isn't coming, she's..." Kagome swallowed, looking around and lowering her voice. "She just entered the Forbidden Forest."

Sango opened her eyes wide, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You're joking."

"I wish, Sango. She didn't believe me and she has gone now that I can't stop her," Kagome added, choking back a sob.

Sango watched her silently for a moment.

"Did you go in there too?"

Kagome nodded, avoiding her gaze. She didn't want Sango to be angry with her.

"Do you know where along the fence she is?" her friend asked in a whisper.

Kagome shook her head, causing several tears to fall on the table. Sango stood up, sitting back down beside her.

"Give me a minute," she murmured, pulling out her phone.

Kagome looked at her friend's screen and saw her typing Sara's email into an app.

"What are you doing?"

"There's a way to track your own phone. I just need to make sure Sara hasn't changed the password."

Kagome held her breath.

"Do you know her password?"

"She told me three years ago, she needed my help to... No, she still has the same one. I'm in."

Kagome continued to stare down at the screen in awe.

"You're quite the hacker, Sango."

She snorted.

"I'm a cop, I need to know how to do this stuff. Look, here's her last location."

Sango zoomed in on the screen and Kagome saw that the little blue dot marked the fence separating Tokyo from the forest, just outside the city.

Really, really close to where she had her encounter with the demons.

Her hands began to tremble. Sango took one of them and squeezed it.

"Don't worry, Kagome. Let's go get her," she whispered, standing up and dragging her to the exit of the restaurant.

"Really?"

Sango nodded, walking faster and faster through the mall.

"I've left the motorbike by the door, we can be there in fifteen minutes if there's no traffic. Come on, run!"

"You're not going to give us away, Sango?"

She rolled her eyes, pulling at her arm to force her to run.

"Who do you take me for?"

Inuyasha was near the border of the human world, lying on the largest branch of a tree.

He had gone to visit Shippo a couple of times, but every night he had gone back over the fence to make sure Kagome was okay and could rest.

He was using the phone every day to talk to her as he had promised, and it soothed him to watch her sleep when he snuck into her room. And she seemed to be soothed by his presence as well.

Sometimes he couldn't help but fall sound asleep as he listened to Kagome's soft breathing.

Inuyasha hadn't been able to sleep like that before. He always woke up soon after with a start and looked back to check that she was still asleep.

In the forest, he didn't get to relax as much. Besides, he didn't want to. It wasn't safe. His demon ears could detect any noise but he preferred to always be alert.

At any moment a yōkai could appear looking for a fight, and it was best to be prepared. He used to sleep clutching his sword so he could draw it quickly if he needed to defend himself.

Only he and his brother knew this, but the magic sword was good for much more than fighting. Toga Taisho had it made when he knew he was going to have a half-demon son, and its blade had the power to control Inuyasha's demon blood.

If he held it, Inuyasha could avoid transforming into a yōkai and losing control. He had only had to do this a couple of times when he was younger to avoid throwing himself at Sesshomaru during some of their arguments.

No one knew how to get on his nerves better than his half-brother. Sesshomaru had always liked to test his self-control, forcing him to transform and fight him.

Being a much more powerful demon, he didn't have to work hard to dodge Inuyasha and enjoyed making him angry, which made Inuyasha even more furious and caused him to stay transformed into a yōkai longer.

Luckily, that kind of fighting had ended when he left the palace, and their relationship had become calmer.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. He still hadn't forgotten the wound Sesshomaru had inflicted on his chest, nor the terrible pain he felt from his poison.

He hadn't seen his brother since then. The yōkai seemed to be avoiding him.

He probably didn't want to discuss the human again.

Inuyasha shrugged, settling himself better on the branch.

His eyes were closed and he was enjoying the breeze rustling the leaves of the tree. His ears twitched as he heard footsteps and he let out a long sigh.

He didn't feel like fighting at all. With any luck, this demon would pass by without noticing his presence.

His eyes snapped open as he heard a piercing scream.

That voice belonged not to a yōkai, but a human.

His heart shrank and he sat up with a jolt.

No, it couldn't be Kagome. She had told him she had an exam and he knew she was meeting her friends afterwards.

It couldn't be her. She was too traumatised to try again.

Feeling the fear run through his veins, he decided to take a look. Inuyasha jumped down to the ground and ran in the direction of where he had heard the scream.

Once he arrived, what he saw left him open-mouthed.

Inuyasha stopped at the foot of a tree and gazed at the surreal scene, blinking several times to try to make sense of it.

There were the remains of three different demons scattered on the ground, completely destroyed. Only pieces of them remained, the size of his fist.

The body of a girl was lying right in the middle of that graveyard, completely motionless, and Sesshomaru was several metres away levitating and with his glowing whip around his fingers.

His golden eyes were fixed on the human and he didn't even blink.

Inuyasha reacted, running to her and crouching down beside her. Her dark hair was almost the same as Kagome's but the scent was very different.

"Did you kill her?" he asked, turning the human's body over.

Inuyasha gasped as he recognised her.

He had seen her a couple of weeks ago at Kagome's shrine, it was one of her friends. Her face was very pale and it looked like she had passed out.

He placed a hand around her throat, pressing a little, and sighed as he felt her pulse.

She was still alive.

Inuyasha looked up again, meeting Sesshomaru's eyes. He stood at a distance and hadn't moved an inch.

"What happened?"

Sesshomaru blinked, frowning and lowering himself to the ground.

"Take her away, Inuyasha."

"What?"

Sesshomaru took a step back, pursing his lips.

"Get her out of here or I will end her life right now," he snarled, waving his whip menacingly.

Inuyasha stood up, holding Sara in his arms.

"She is Kagome's friend."

"I don't care about that. She has entered our territory and she should die."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, scanning his brother's face with his gaze. It was too strange.

"Why didn't you finish her off when you killed those demons?"

Sesshomaru hissed, cracking the whip again and snapping a nearby tree in half.

Inuyasha looked around and his eyes grew wide as he understood what had happened.

"You saved her," he muttered, looking back at Sesshomaru.

"Take the human away or she dies," Sesshomaru repeated, baring his fangs.

Inuyasha stepped back, holding Sara tighter to his chest.

"Are you afraid to come closer to her?"

"I won't let what happened to you happen to me, too," Sesshomaru whispered, looking away from them.

Inuyasha gasped in shock.

"Is she your mate?"

Sesshomaru's eyes darkened, turning red, and a guttural roar came from deep within his chest.

"Okay, I'm going now," Inuyasha added, turning and running off into the trees.

He held Sara with one arm and with the other he grabbed onto one of the trees, leaping over its branches.

His heart was pounding as he ran.

Lord Sesshomaru, one of the most powerful yōkai in the entire forest, had found his mate. And she was a human.

He knew his brother would take that secret to his grave. He had been reluctant to approach her for fear of marking her, as had happened to Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru could not allow such a thing to happen.

Both of Toga Taisho's sons had a human mate, just like him. That had to mean something.

Inuyasha kept running as fast as he could in the direction of the Tokyo city border, dodging every demon that crossed his path.

He stopped at the last tree before the metal fence, checking to make sure the human was still unconscious.

Inuyasha leaned his back against the trunk, trying to catch his breath. He still couldn't believe that Sesshomaru had destroyed the demons that had attacked her and that he hadn't been able to kill her.

He had never seen him hesitate. Not once.

Any human being that had encountered him had been reduced to ashes in less than the blink of an eye.

Inuyasha looked down, gazing at Sara's face once more.

That human would never know how lucky she was. If the gods existed, they were personally taking it upon themselves to protect her.

He heard the rumble of an engine in the distance and climbed to a higher branch, scanning the dirt road behind the fence.

A motorbike was approaching at full speed with two humans on it.

Inuyasha gasped as he caught the scent of his mate.

It was Kagome. She knew that her friend was going into the forest and was coming to try and stop her.

Well, she was too late, but at least Sara was still alive.

Inuyasha jumped down to the ground, bending his knees as he fell and holding Sara's body with both arms.

He started running along the metal fence, leaving the motorbike behind in seconds. He suspected they were heading towards the area where it ended, the same place Kagome had entered the Yōkai forest.

He managed to get there before her and, after checking that he was alone, he crossed the edge marked by the wooden posts.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth as he felt the sharp pain the magical barrier always caused him. He closed his eyes and took two more steps, snorting when he was able to breathe normally again.

He opened his eyes and smiled as he saw that he was back in the human world. Carefully, he set the human's body down on the grass and looked at her one last time, brushing aside some of the leaves tangled in her hair.

"I hope you make the most of this second chance," he whispered in her ear, standing up again.

He could hear the sound of the engine again. Kagome was very close.

With a single leap, he landed back on one of the trees in the demon forest and hid in its branches.

Inuyasha clenched his fists, holding back the pain. The more times he went through the barrier, the more painful it became.

Surely it was part of the powers of the priestesses who had created it. No demon could get out of there, and he was cheating.

Though he wasn't technically a full demon, and that was why he managed to survive.

Inuyasha stood completely still, watching as the small black motorbike came to a stop next to the human's body.

"Sara!"

He narrowed his eyes as he heard Kagome's voice. She sounded really scared.

Another human knelt beside Sara, removing the helmet she wore on her head. Kagome placed two fingers on her friend's throat, letting out a small sob.

"She's alive. She's alive, Sango," she said, looking up at the other human and giving her a small smile.

Her friend dropped to the ground, sniffling slowly.

"What do we do now?"

"We can't take her to the hospital. They'd ask too many questions," Kagome murmured, lifting the sleeves of Sara's shirt and looking at her skin closely.

Inuyasha furrowed his brow in puzzlement. What was she trying to find?

Kagome brushed Sara's hair aside and looked at both sides of her neck, checking the state of her shoulders as well.

She sighed, dropping her head to Sara's belly and closing her eyes.

"Thank goodness, she hasn't been bitten."

"What?"

The other human hadn't managed to hear that whisper, though Inuyasha had heard it perfectly.

"Nothing. I think it's best to take her home, it looks like she just fainted. Maybe she didn't make it into the forest."

"Yes, probably," Sango agreed with a nod.

"Sara? Sara, can you hear me?" Kagome asked, gently tapping her friend's face.

Inuyasha tensed at the sound of her trembling voice.

"Kagome?"

"Sara! Yes, it's me. Are you alright? What happened to you?"

Sara stirred and her two friends helped her up until she was sitting on the grass.

"What am I doing here?"

"That's what we want to know," Sango replied with a forced smile.

Sara pushed her hair out of her face and stared up at Kagome.

"Forgive me, Kagome. I needed to do it, my... my mind wasn't going to rest until I did. We've always been in this together, but your sudden change of heart made me wonder if it wasn't because you saw something in there. I..."

Kagome placed a hand over her friend's lips, silencing her.

"We'll talk about this later. Now I want us to go home, you gave us quite a scare and we were worried sick."

Sara looked back at Sango, biting her lip nervously.

"Sango, I..."

"I won't say anything, don't worry. I may be a cop but I'm your friend first," she said, taking one of Sara's hands and placing it on her chest, over her heart.

Sara smiled.

"Thank you."

"Come on, let's get out of here," Sango added, standing up.

It took a few minutes for the three of them to get on the motorbike, which wasn't big enough. Inuyasha climbed up the tree and watched them ride away down the dirt road towards Tokyo.

He hoped that Kagome's friend would never come back. She would never escape the demon forest alive a second time.

There were only two humans who had lived to tell the tale, and they were both on that motorbike.