Chapter Seven

InuYasha traded blow for vicious blow with the tiger demon, though neither seemed to be quite capable of taking the advantage in their furious bout. Kagome was scared out of her wits as watched her best friend in the feudal era combat something that seemed to have no apparent weakness. Certainly, they'd done some damage to the beast during previous encounter, and she'd pieced enough together to realize that InuYasha had chased him here from another battle.

Only once did she venture too close to the battle, and in that moment she found herself consumed in the cross hairs of those large, yellow orbs. The monster loosed horrible howl that seemed split the forest in twine. Clutching her head and curling into a fetal position, Kagome did the one thing she could think to do as the massive tiger demon surged over her: she screamed.

"Kagome!" InuYasha cried as he dropped from the trees and delivered a blow to the tiger demon's spine and sent the him barreling over her. InuYasha landed on his feet next to her, glaring after the tiger. "Kagome, you alright?"

She was clutching her chest, fighting to catch her breath. She couldn't even grasp the wind she needed to reply, so she nodded instead.

"Then stay outta the way!" he snarled. "I gotta take this bastard down!"

"No argument here… " she mumbled as her friend darted on after his opponent. The girl's heart continued to race; she knew that if InuYasha had arrived only a moment later, he would have found her gashed open and lifeless, probably trapped in the tiger's massive jaws. She was going to have to be more careful from now on. Lowering to a knee, she gathered her bow and an arrow from her quiver. With a blink, she realized that something was missing. Glancing about, she wondered what it could possibly be. Distracted, for the moment, she slipped further away from the battle and touched the quiver at her hip. It was still full of arrows; that wasn't what was missing.

She thought perhaps that warning bells should be blasting away inside her head, but she remained calm. Her bow was still right near her, exactly where it needed to be. She was well defended. All she had to do was keep an eye on InuYasha and see to it that the tiger demon didn't come too close.

And then it struck her. "Shippo?" She glanced back to the shadows behind her, entirely confused. Where could he have run off to? Kagome wondered. There wasn't time to look. The young fox demon would have to take care of himself. She had her own concerns to deal with. She watched, eyes wide with horror, as InuYasha and the tiger clashed in a bloody conflict that could end in only one way: with the victor standing over his opponent's corpse. When it became clear that the battle was moving away from her, she moved quickly forward, desperate to keep her eye on her friend, to offer help in ways only she could offer. When the battle shifted towards her, she scampered back to keep away from the slashing claws and snapping fangs. If InuYasha realized how close she was to the battle, he didn't say anything. She thought he probably did but was too busy fighting for his life to focus his energy on anything more than that. The tiger, too, was focused only on InuYasha.

It was clear, from her perspective, from the beating her friend was taking, InuYasha was not winning this battle. More than once she thought she saw the tiger's claws tearing into his fire-rat garb, but InuYasha didn't seem to be suffering much pain by the way he moved, by the fight he brought to the enemy. He was fighting not just for his life, she realized, but for the lives of his friends. She clenched her fist at her heart, tears shimmering in her eyes, watching the heated battle.

Come on, InuYasha. You can do it. You have to…

The pace of the battle seemed only to quicken, much to InuYasha's chagrin. He was already slowed by exhaustion from lack of rest and loss of blood. It was all the half-demon could do to whip his Tetsusaiga about in his own defense, much less mount a counterattack. Only knowledge that Kagome was nearby and helpless drove him on. The beast was relentless, each blow productive in its power and mark. InuYasha gritted his teeth, determined.

Soon, it became apparent that, in order to win this battle, InuYasha was going to be forced to take a risk. All that stood between him and certain death was a lucky swipe of his Tetsusaiga. Gripping the sword his father had left him, the half-demon bolted forward, recklessly wielding his sword. Desperation took hold as he prepared to unleash his wind scar.

His swing was cut short by the tiger's powerful claws, that swept up and tore away the remainder of his fire-rat haori. InuYasha let out a cry of pain as he was sent hurtling into a nearby tree. Tetsusaiga slammed blade-first into the tree, narrowly missing slicing into his brain. The fang reverted back to the rusty, chipped blade of a neglected katana. He reached out for the weapon, eye's wide, but the tiger surged forward again with a powerful, clawed forepaw slammed into his chest, sending the wind from his lungs in an instant.

The foul breath of a massive, man-eating tiger demon made him queasy. Blinking warily, he found himself staring into the massive, red eyes against the white fur of the tiger demon's true form. Clenching his teeth, InuYasha struggled to free an arm to no avail.

"Die, half-breed," the creature hissed as its massive jaws opened to engulf him.

"InuYasha!" Kagome was trembling as she watched InuYasha struggling beneath the hold of the demon tiger. The beast's twin tails swished in the darkness of the forest. Kagome realized then how much the thing reminded her of Kirara.

Shaking the thought to the back of her mind, Kagome dropped her pack to the earth. She didn't have the time think about nonsense right now; InuYasha was in trouble. If she was going to shoot, it was going to have to be here and now. I've gotta distract it…

She picked an arrow from her quiver and took up her bow. Dropping her pack in the earth there, she swallowed and turned to face the tiger demon that still hovered over InuYasha. Straightening to her full height, Kagome nocked the arrow and drew the fletching to her cheek, taking aim on the tiger. The thing was massive in its true form, making it nearly impossible to miss.

Kagome felt confident; the bow was steady in her grasp, her aim true. She loosed the arrow, which was igniting in a blaze of spiritual magic. Eyes wide, she waited for her arrow to close in on the target. The tiger didn't even know she was standing there, or that she had him in her sights.

A cry of pain followed the swift, accurate thud as the arrow pierced the tiger's side.

"Got 'im!" Kagome gave a little hop as a smile found its way to the corners of her mouth. She let out a laugh when the tiger spun away, snagging at the arrow that had pierced the flesh just below his ribcage on his right side. InuYasha, suddenly free of the tiger's hold, jumped up to snag his Tetsusaiga from the tree trunk. He never reached it.

The raging tiger whirled about, smashing his powerful right paw into InuYasha's belly, sending the half-demon flying out into the darkness of the forest. By the way of his flight, Kagome feared that he wouldn't be back in the battle any time soon. She swallowed, reaching down to pick out another arrow. Glancing up once more, she saw the demon turn.

Two fiery red eyes fixed on the culprit and narrowed.

And there stood Kagome, bow in hand, trembling before him, not ten of his own strides away. She looked to either side, desperate for a place to hide, knowing any attempt would be made in vain. The tiger started her way, snarling in fury.

Kagome dropped her bow, frozen in place.

There was really nowhere for her to go.

"Kagome!"

The girl turned her eyes to the path behind the tiger and gawked at what she saw. By some miracle, a snarling, silver-haired half-demon, dressed in a white kimono and red, fire-rat hamaka, flew through the air toward the tiger demon. Kagome brightened to see her friend, alive and well… no matter how furious. "InuYasha!" She clasped her hands at her chest, nearly trembling in fear. He looks so mad. You're in for it now, you nasty demon!

"Kagome, get down!" When she did, InuYasha swiped out, slicing the air with blades of red energy. "Blades of blood!"

That's when the thing slammed into her, sending her tumbling head-over-heels through the thick brush of the Hollow Woods. The world spun violently about before she tumbled headlong into a narrow ravine, hidden from view by thick patch of undergrowth.

Frantic, the half-demon pushed his way through the trampled thicket, where Kagome's potent scent was strongest. His heart had nearly stopped when he'd figured out what had happened to her. He'd lost sight of his friend in the moment that he closed the gap between himself and the tiger demon. His attack had been timed to perfection, as the brute hadn't even been able to prepare himself for the onslaught before shards of red energy pierced his flesh.

Thankfully, though it was hardly enough to kill his enemy, it had certainly been enough to force the bastard to run for cover. Unfortunately, in the confusion that followed the attack, Kagome had been knocked away from the scene and, at the very least, lay unconscious at the bottom of a narrow ravine, filled with undergrowth, following a violent tumble. Only after InuYasha was certain that the tiger was gone did he think to retrieve Tetsusaiga and follow Kagome's scent. He had hoped she would be awake and able to call to him. Several times he had called out her name, only to have the soft whisper of the wind taunt him with its emptiness in return. Clinging to Tetsusaiga, he slid deeper into the shadows.

"Kagome?" he murmured as he dipped beneath a gnarled tree limb. He found her there, laying atop a smashed fern embedded between a pair of twisting roots of the tree. At first he was alarmed by the way she lay there, crumpled up like a slinky. He didn't smell any blood—a stroke of luck that seemed unfathomable, to say the least—though she'd definitely seen better days.

He crawled through the narrow opening beneath the tree for a closer look. She was still unconscious, definitely battered and bruised, but she didn't seem any worse for wear, considering the nasty tumble. At least there didn't seem to be anything broken.

A miracle, he decided. There had been enough soft undergrowth that most of it had slowed her descent into the shady ravine. Carefully, he took her in his arms and started back out of the darkness. After clearing the shade of the tree, he took three quick bounds and until he was standing at the top. Three more bounds and he found himself in a comfortable little knoll, hidden in a thick grove, where he figured he could hide her long enough to rest.

Kneeling there, he lay the girl in the soft grass and patted her cheek lightly. "Kagome? Hey, Kagome?"

His heart quickened in his chest when he felt her stir. Those gorgeous eyes pried slowly open to peer up at him. "Inu… Yasha?"

His amber eyes blinked. Relief flooded through him to see she was not only alive, but conscious. "Kagome!" he whispered. "You had me so worried."

Her eyes were hazy, moist slits as she gazed up to him, fighting through tears to focus on him. Her chest rose and fell slowly, her hands fingering the wrinkles of her blouse, for lack of anything better to do. "You… came… " she mumbled through a half-smile, as if she had been cast off into a clouded dreamland she couldn't quite escape, and wasn't at all sure she really wanted to. "You saved me… "

InuYasha clenched her hand in his. His voice was soft, relieved that she was here now, speaking to him. "Of course I came for you, stupid. I need you to be with me."

She tried to blink herself awake. Tears slid in narrow streaks down her cheeks. Her breathing was deep and steady. He could hear her heartbeat, slow, powerful, desperate for life. The half-demon drew a deliberate breath and fell cross-legged at her side, laying a sheathed Tetsusaiga across his lap. "Not… stupid… " she mumbled. InuYasha allowed a small smile he knew she couldn't see.

"Get some rest, Kagome," he said gently. "I'll be here when you wake."

"Thanks… " She might have said more, but InuYasha could sense that she had already settled back into a deep, peaceful slumber.

"She was here," Sango murmured as she knelt in the shattered skeleton of a thorn bush. Several thick clumps of creamy white fur and a pool of blood were evidence of a fallen fire-cat's refusal to surrender. Leading away from the scene was a thin scarlet trail that ended after only a couple meters, where their missing friend had apparently taken to the sky.

Standing over his demon-slayer companion, Miroku studied the scene with a sinking feeling. It was pretty clear that Kirara had headed northwest, toward the spot where they had left Kagome and Shippo. InuYasha was probably that way himself, considering the path of the demon tiger. He clutched staff in his good hand, eyes narrowed.

"We should keep moving," Sango said, her voice steady despite the pain he knew was spilling through her heart in powerful torrents. She brushed her hands on the trousers of her uniform, and rose to her feet. The monk didn't look at her, but he heard the unshed tears deep inside her as she turned with him to peer to the northwest. "The others need us."

"Yes," Miroku nodded sympathetically. His heart ached for the poor girl. "Let's go."