Author's note: If I owned Inuyasha, why would I be writing a fanfiction? I don't therefore I am!

Chapter 13: Quietly into the Night

Her arrows clanked as Kagome gathered her weapons together. Stopping at the door, she turned to ascertain why Miroku, Sango, Kiara, and Shippo were not following her.

"Come on you guys. We gotta go," she encouraged them.

"Of course," Sango stumbled to her feet. She hunched over and started coughing. Miroku was instantly at Sango's side, patting her back and supporting her. He held a worried expression on his face.

"Do you sense the sacred jewel, Kagome?" Miroku glanced her way. Kagome paused and concentrated. Miroku kept looking anxiously at her.

"No... Not a trace." Kagome's eyebrows knit together as she glanced back at him. Miroku bit his lip, then redirected his attention to Sango. Her body had calmed from the hacking.

"Perhaps it would be best if ye stay here." Kaede suggested in a wary tone.

"If there are no sacred jewel shards, then it is probably just another of Naraku's puppets." Miroku reasoned.

"That is assuming that Naraku is behind this." Sango rubbed her reddened neck remorsefully.

"But we can't just leave Inuyasha on his own. What if it really is Naraku?" Kagome pleaded.

"Inuyasha can handle himself. Besides, we'd have a terrible time trying to find him at this time of night, and regrettably I don't think we would be of much help in this condition." Miroku added as he helped Sango stand up again.

"He's right," Sango breathed. Shippo got up and stretched from his sleeping spot on Kagome's sleeping bag. He yawned then rubbed his eyes.

"Where are we going now?" he asked sleepily.

"Nowhere," Kagome's voice was hushed and disheartened.

"Aw, cheer up Kagome, I'm sure Inuyasha will come back soon." Shippo smiled. Kagome smiled weakly back at him before stepping away from the door.

"Miroku, let's have a look at that arm." Kaede scooted over to him. Sango was resting on the floor, eating some stew. Miroku offered his injured arm to Kaede. She carefully undid the bandage. Kaede gasped as she unwrapped the final bit.

"What is it?" both Kagome and Sango cried.

"The wound, it has not healed..." Kaede's eyes were wide. Miroku's arm was swollen and had a large red fissure slitting it down the center. The flesh around the cut was a sensitive pink. Strewn on the scraps of bandage, the healing herb mixture did not help the wound at all.

Regaining control, Kaede grasped Miroku's arm and thoroughly inspected the cut. Sango and Kagome looked on with worried countenances. Miroku just stared down.

"Hmm..." Kaede puzzled, "it seems the wound is sealed off from getting worse or better." Kaede got up and scooted over to another part of the room. She started digging in a pile of priestess's items.

"Sealed off?" Kagome asked.

"There's something there.." Miroku squinted at it as he raised his arm closer to his face, "...something shiny." Kagome and Sango got up and stood over him to peer at the glassy covering. Miroku glanced up to discover the two imposing females. He fell back a bit, startled.

"Ah," Miroku cringed as he cradled his arm after bumping it, "I... I'm fine, really."

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered.

"It's ok. I just bumped it, that's all." Miroku rubbed his bare arm carefully.

"No, I mean..." Kagome's eyes were unstable, "I mean for this whole thing."

"What do you mean?" Miroku's young, yet wise eyes dug into hers.

"If I had only come back sooner, none of this may have happened." Kagome's eyes threatened tears.

"Don't be ridiculous—" Miroku was cut off.

"It's my fault. I should have come out sooner to help. I couldn't beat him and then Miroku..." Sango's voice started sharp and clear but ended shakily. Sango kneeled down and placed a hand on Miroku's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"Sango," Kagome kneeled down too and held onto Sango's other arm in an effort to comfort her.

"Sango, we all know that isn't true." Miroku said sincerely. Shippo jumped up on her shoulder to be part of the action.

"Ya, Inuyasha was the one who wasn't there." Shippo peeped.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome's eyes brimmed with tears as she glanced longingly behind her at the exit.

"He'll be fine, Kagome." Sango reassured her with a painful smile. Kagome smiled weakly. Sango looked back at Miroku ruefully.

"Do we need a group hug again?" A smile slithered playfully on Miroku's lips. Both women looked at him, unamused. "Maybe I should get hurt more often if it attracts this much attention from the ladies." Miroku gauged the close proximity of both of them. Receiving unimpressed and annoyed looks from them, Miroku scratched his head and grinned innocently. Sango turned to Kagome.

"He's never going to learn is he?" She asked in a very dry voice.

"Nope," Kagome returned instantly.

"Come on, lighten up you two. I'm not that bad. Ok, from one to ten—" Miroku was stopped again.

"Ten." Sango replied.

"Sold." Miroku beamed. He cupped her hands in his. "I'm all yours, Sango."

"Uh," She stared at him, "what?"

"Ten was the highest bid." He grinned at her. "You never let me finish."

"Certainly not!" Sango stood up abruptly as Miroku's pursed lips smacked the floor. He propped his head up on his palm.

"You know you have really nice ankles."

"I'm going to bed," Sango sighed. She strutted over to where Kagome had been resting earlier and laid down near her sleeping bag.

"Come ye over here, Miroku. We shall try the herbs one more time." Kaede beckoned him. Kagome helped him to his feet and walked him over to Kaede.

It had been a few hours since Sango had fallen asleep. Kagome was laying in her sleeping bag with Shippo snuggled against her. She had just been lying there the whole time. Miroku was sitting propped against the far wall with his staff between his folded legs and his head drooped down in sleep.

Kagome couldn't fall asleep. Inuyasha was on her mind the whole time.

He should be back by now. It had been a long time since he left. He really must have run into Naraku or maybe Kano. Kagome's eyes widened at the thought.

"He'll be fine Kagome," a calm voice answered her anxiety. Kagome's eyes darted up to see Miroku's soft eyes watching her.

"Miroku," her eyes guiltily strayed from his, "I'm just so worried about him."

"He wouldn't want you to," Miroku looked at her tenderly, "I'm sure he'll be back by morning. Now get some rest. You need it." Kagome smiled at him.

"Thanks Miroku," Kagome's eyes drooped. Miroku watched her give in to sleep and then thankfully did the same.

Kagome woke from an uneasy sleep to the smell of breakfast. Everyone else was already awake. She greeted them in as slightly disappointed tone. Inuyasha was not among them.

"Did you sleep well Kagome?" Sango hoped to cheer her up.

"No," Kagome responded, "I think I should bring a mattress the next time I come here." Kagome rubbed her back.

"What's a mattress?" Shippo squeaked.

"Just another luxury from my era." Kagome sighed.

Miroku's eyes dashed anxiously up. Kagome turned around curiously. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"What is it Miroku?" Sango questioned him.

"Someone's coming," he breathed. Kagome got up and faced the door. She didn't sense anything.

The mat flew aside as sharp claws pinned it against the entranceway. Kagome gasped. A man was framed by the sunlight in the doorway.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome almost couldn't believe her eyes. He was dirty and had dried blood on his face, hands, and kimono. His hair was ruffled and had various leaves and twigs protruding through it. His eyes were shining like fire. She ran up to him and stopped to give him room.

Inuyasha grabbed her as she stopped and held her close. Her eyes flew open and she held her breath. He held her firmly, but his body was shaking.

"I... was... so..." he seemed to be relishing the moment and also at a loss for words, "... scared."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome's concern scratched away her relief.

"He didn't come here," Inuyasha let her go, "he didn't get to you?"

"Who?" Kagome gazed up at him.

"No one has been here." Miroku answered. Inuyasha closed his eyes and exhaled in relief. "What happened Inuyasha? Where is Koga?" Inuyasha's eyes opened enough to observe the floor.

"I don't know. It's all a big blur. All I know is Naraku was gone by the time I got there and then Kano showed up. Koga was defeated and I don't know where he went." Inuyasha's eyes walked over each person in the room.

"Are you hurt?" Kagome's small voice filled the awkward silence.

"I'm fine," he responded gruffly.

"You have blood all over you." Kagome pulled at his robe gently. She discovered a few scratches and then dragged him further into the room. He did not object as she dabbed some of his wounds with a cold cloth.

"I'll kill that bastard, Naraku. He's the one who lured us out there in the first place," Inuyasha growled.

"Inuyasha, is Kano nearby?" Miroku questioned him.

"I don't know," Inuyasha's eyes were uncertain, "I couldn't kill him. He's still out there."

Kaede scooted over to Inuyasha and helped Kagome with his wounds. Inuyasha seemed on edge. Kagome noticed that most of his wounds were only scratches which either meant that he had a large wound concealed under his kimono or he was really shaken.

"Where is your wound Inuyasha?" Kaede tugged at his robes. Inuyasha's hair bristled.

"I said I'm fine," Inuyasha was unconvincing. Kagome latched on to his kimono.

"Oh, don't be so stubborn!" She exposed his chest and yanked the upper half of his tattered uniform off. He just stared at her as a satisfied grin settled on her face. "There, now that wasn't so hard was it?" He did not give any response, but just let his eye drop to the floor.

"How did ye get this, Inuyasha?" Kaede's voice was shocked.

"Get what?" he half growled. Kagome gasped. Upon Inuyasha's back was a huge open sore, like a giant ulcer. Inuyasha turned his head and lightly tapped it with his finger nails. He dropped his hand and stared back at the ground.

"I... Kano..." was his deathly quiet answer.

"Oh no. Inuyasha..." Kagome breathed. She grabbed him about the shoulders. "Are you sure you're alright? You aren't in serious pain?" She gazed into his eyes. He seemed paralyzed. His eyes darted about and dared not look at her again.

"I... I'm ok." He studdered. "What are you all so worried about? It's not like I haven't been hurt before." He glared at Miroku and Sango's gawking faces.

"Kano did this?" Kaede repeated.

"Ya," Inuyasha affirmed.

"How?" Kaede quizzed him.

"I don't know," Inuyasha answered incredulously, "he struck me from behind, the coward." Inuyasha closed his eyes and folded his arms. Kagome brought a finger to her lips as she gazed at the ceiling and pondered. Here eyes brightened and she glanced back at Inuyasha.

"What happened to Koga?" She asked innocently.

"Miss him do ya?" Inuyasha tested.

"I just wanted to know if he's alright. Come on, this is no time to be jealous. There's a dangerous demon on the loose."

"She's right, Inuyasha." Miroku supported Kagome.

"Can't you two ever stop fighting?" Sango commented.

"Ya, he wouldn't happen to be another long lost half brother of yours would he?" Miroku teased. Inuyasha sneered at him.

"So what did happen to Koga?" Kagome tried to get back on topic.

"Last I saw, he went chasing after Kano."

"That's all?" she persisted.

"The guy shot me through the back, so ya, that's all," Inuyasha replied haughtily. Kagome frowned as she regarded the doughnut hole in Inuyasha's back. At least it wasn't oozing blood. At least he was safe. He had returned to her.

Kaede brought Kagome back from her musings when she got up to go wash Inuyasha's kimono. Inuyasha eyed Miroku and Sango.

"You two alright?" His gaze was piercing and intense.

"Ya"

"Fine"

The two responses were simultaneous. Inuyasha focused somewhere else. His face relaxed. Kagome got up and grabbed him by the wrist. His muscles tightened. She watched him snap back to reality.

"Come rest over here. There are mats set out." His face softened at her words. He let her guide him to a mat near her sleeping bag. He plunked himself down and closed his eyes.

Kagome's curiosity perked at his domesticity. Inuyasha, though still gruff, was being submissive for his condition. But she waved off the thought quickly when she watched him curl up into a fetal position. His arms looped around his legs which were tucked into him. He must be really tired. She smiled. He needed her.

Kagome rummaged through her big yellow bag. If only she could find the one thing she needed: the First Aid kit. Someday she'd have her things in order. The thought did cross her mind that maybe her previous digging exercise had dislodged it from its normal position. Luckily enough, she unearthed it at the bottom of her bag.

She snuck behind Inuyasha and began bandaging his wounds. He stirred when she began applying disinfectant, but quickly ignored her ministrations. She wrapped the cloth all the way around his middle and he obliged her by momentarily sitting up. His eyes were tired and he laid back down. Kagome proudly secured the bandage and observed her handiwork.

Kagome sat down and watched him sleep. It felt odd, watching over him when he usually watched over her. She let her mind wander. She still felt weak from her encounter with Kano. She wondered why she had a vision of Kikyo while falling into nothingness. Kikyo, of all the people around her, why Kikyo? She wasn't exactly what Kagome would call a good omen or her inspiration. But for some reason, after seeing Kikyo, she had been ok. That was of course, until Kano appeared. Then her own dying strength and Inuyasha's help finally brought her back.

Kagome absent mindedly inspected her finger nails. What was Kano planning? It was clear now that he wanted the sacred jewel, but for what purpose? Perhaps it was simply to magnify his own strength like so many other foolish demons.

A smile peeled over Kagome's face. She found it ironic that though Inuyasha and Naraku were bitter enemies and were moral polar opposites, that they both desired the same thing: to become full demons. Her eyes drooped. In the end, it all seemed so petty. All the destruction, death, suffering, and struggle they all went through was to serve one selfish wish.

A sardonic smirk settled on Kagome's lips, a grin usually reserved for bitter I-told-you-so moments after winning arguments with Souta or Inuyasha. Perhaps even if Naraku got his wish, he would be the same as before. Maybe the only thing that would change would be that he no longer possessed Onigumo's heart. In reality, that wouldn't be very hard to accept. The only consequence Kagome could see was that Naraku would no longer hold feelings for Kikyo. Then Kagome's only real purpose for visiting the feudal era would be to see Inuyasha. Of course, she wasn't going to let him face Naraku alone, if she could help it, but her only real purpose for being in the feudal times was to find the sacred jewel shards. If the jewel ceased to exist, would she be able to travel back and forth in time?

Sango and Miroku engaged in small talk on the other side of the room while Kagome's thoughts only lead to quandaries. She let her mind go blank. She was really tired too. Just watching Inuyasha sleep made her want to lie down. She got up wordlessly and slipped under the covers of her sleeping bag. She felt Miroku and Sango's eyes following her movements. They had stopped talking. She didn't care. She was beat.

"Very soon it will be complete," a voice whispered in Kagome's head.

"What?" Kagome's own voice echoed through in the emptiness of her sleep induced state.

"All I need is one more. Just one more and it will all be mine," the voice hissed with no suggestion it had heard her. "The rest is simple, so simple I don't know how it could possibly be any fun."

"What will be complete? Who are you?" Kagome's words seemed lost in the foreboding scheming.

"I will have all the power I could ever want and then some."

"Do you mean the sacred jewel?" Kagome finally decided reasoning with the intruder was useless. She concluded the voice belonged to a man. His voice was maniacal and made the hair rise up on the back of her neck. She felt the cold sweat drip down her icy face.

A low chuckling echoed through her mind and then raised to a cackle. The man was obviously a lunatic. She felt her breath quicken and her pulse speed up. The horrible laughter ceased.

"Clever girl..." Kagome felt her heart nearly stop and her eyes widen. He was talking to her?

Suddenly a face rushed towards her. It was Inuyasha, grinning nastily and showing his fangs, but it was not really Inuyasha. For all Kagome could think of as she screamed like she never had before was those two burning neon eyes.

"Kagome!" She heard her name screeched. Her eyes flew open to see a very familiar and encroaching face. She let out another scream and kicked herself back. It was Inuyasha. Kagome had to consciously tell her body to slow down. She was panting like she had just sprinted through a marathon and her limbs were shaking. Even she felt her skin to be deathly cold.

Inuyasha had recoiled when she fled from him. He cautiously approached her. His eyes were glued to her.

"Kagome?" his voice called as though she wasn't there. Kagome studied his saffron eyes a long time before even starting to relax. They were yellow, not orange, yellow. She kept telling herself his eyes were yellow. It was like a mantra: yellow.

Kagome felt her legs still uncontrollably spasm. Everyone was staring at her in half circle. No one dared get very close, though Inuyasha stood apart from the rest. Miroku rested a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. He whispered something to Inuyasha though Kagome could not hear what he said. It was dark in the room other than a fire that warmed the backs of those who crowded around her. She sat helpless in their shadows.

She tried to get up, though a wave of dizziness over took her sight and she slammed her eyelids shut. It was so scary in the dark, all alone. She didn't want Kano's voice to haunt her when she tried to rest. For now she was sure, it was indeed Kano who taunted her.

She tried to control herself and without opening her eyes, forced her body to stand up. Her wobbly legs felt like Jell-O and she stumbled forward, reaching out with her shaky arms. She felt one of her feet give way and she was falling. 'No...' she cried desperately in her mind.

Someone caught her. Kagome let go of her breath. Her face was pressed against someone's chest and her hands latched onto the arms that encircled her. She released her clamping grip on the strong biceps and made her fingers crawl up to cling instead around the neck. She encouraged her unstable legs to stand up, but they were fairly useless and the hold around her waist tightened. Kagome's hands brushed against long loose hair before connecting at the base of the neck. Her breathing calmed as she felt the warmth of bare skin and the beat of a calm heart against the side of her face. Inuyasha...

It took Kagome awhile to realize people had been talking to her, but now all was quiet again. She was comfortably encompassed in Inuyasha's embrace and she was scared to let go. His kimono must still be drying because he was not wearing the top half. She slowly opened her eyes. The world had stopped spinning, but she wasn't sure if it wouldn't start up again.

"Do you want to sit or lie down, Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice was placid and soothing.

"Don't let go," Kagome breathed.

"You're shaking," he commented. She didn't respond. "I'll set you down."

"Don't let me go!" she half yelped.

"I won't let you go," his voice was calm and assuring. She didn't say anything. He looped one arm under her knees and supported her back with the other. She didn't release his neck. He settled himself down against the wall and rested her against his chest.

Kagome felt so insecure. Kano was in her mind somehow and he took on the appearance of Inuyasha. She couldn't help herself but to latch onto her Inuyasha like a barnacle. She didn't care what anyone else thought. She didn't want to be alone again. Somehow just being in contact with Inuyasha convinced her that Kano would not dare to terrorize her again. It was all she could think of to ward him off and she wasn't willing to question it.

Kagome roped one arm around Inuyasha's back and again locked hands with the other one; the noose hold on Inuyasha wasn't very comfortable. She rested her head between the base of his neck and collar bone. If he at all objected to this treatment, he didn't say anything.

Kagome finally let herself rest. After worrying all night over Inuyasha and listening to the crazed rambling of a psychopath interrupt her hopes of sleep, Kagome gave up worrying if only for a little while. Even though she knew it was childish, she felt completely safe in Inuyasha's arms. She wasn't ready to confront Kano again; she'd seen his disgusting face far too many times for her taste. She wasn't going to give him any more opportunities.