Update September 2015: This is a revised chapter. I believe my english is better now than back in 2011-2012... or at least now I can read this fic in english and say: "That doesn't sound right..." hehehe...
Author notes: I know I was really cruel in the last episode. I'm sorry for that and maybe I'm still a bit cruel in this one but I hope that the later half of the episode will be able to make it up for you. Thanks to all of you for your wonderful reviews, and for those who asked me about my flu I'm better, thank you very much.
Now, this episode is longer than the last ones and it was really, really hard to explain… that's why it took me more time to translate it but finally here's the revised version. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for your reviews and to all my anonymous readers out there!
Disclaimer: Besides the plot line, I don't own anything. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Yomiuri TV Corporation. I'm not getting any profit from this story; this was just made for fun.
Warning: Once in a while there will be cursing. I'm not familiarized with the english dub of this series, but I don't think it's so much, because I honestly don't like bad words but sometimes they happen. You understand me, right? :3
Thanks to: PandaStarz, petpeeves12 and A.B. Plasencia for your help when I was uploading this fic, for your corrections and beta work!
Slavery.
Author: MikoAucarod
Chapter 6: Promise at midnight.
Sango was astonished, Miroku wasn't any better, and Kagome… Kagome was shocked.
In front of them, Inuyasha and Kikyo were tenderly kissing each other. Kikyo was in bliss but Inuyasha had an expression of anything but love and affection towards the girl in his arms, although he was responding to the kiss in the same way as her. The stone inside his Shackle glowed constantly, as if he were fighting against it.
"What's going on here?" whispered Sango, stunned. Kagome was in a profound state of shock, and wasn't capable to say anything.
The moment Inuyasha opened his eyes and turned his broken gaze to Kagome, Sango and Miroku understood immediately what was happening, however, the raven haired girl just turned around and ran out of the house.
"Wait, Kagome!" Exclaimed the half-demon, releasing himself from Kikyo's grasp with superhuman strength and tried to pursue the fleeing girl. He hadn't taken four steps when a potent and indescribable pain coursed through his entire body, making him fall.
The stone shone so brightly that it hurt to look at it. Inuyasha twitched uncontrollably from the pain. Before long, his suffering caused him to scream out in pain. He couldn't bear it. He felt as if every part of his body were being ripped limb by limb, he felt as if he was dying.
"Kikyo! Order him to stop!" exclaimed Miroku, approaching the hanyou and trying to prevent him from getting hurt due to his involuntary movements seeking escape from the pain.
But Kikyo was stunned. The second that he'd gotten away from her she felt her heart begin to break into a thousand tiny fragments. Then she realized what she'd done and felt miserable. Hearing his screams… just traumatized her. She couldn't react.
"Kikyo! Tell him to stop! Cancel your order!" Sango yelled, shaking her by her shoulders.
"Inuyasha, stop!" they heard Kagome's mother scream. At that very instant the stone stopped shining and Inuyasha lay on the floor, gasping for air trying to calm down.
Ms. Higurashi was standing in the doorway and judging by her expression, she'd been running. Shippo looked to everyone in the room with a frightened expression. What had just happened? Inuyasha never screamed!
Kikyo reacted then, her eyes filling with tears. She hid her face in her hands and began to cry, begging for forgiveness.
"If you're really sorry," stated Sango coldly, "help us find Kagome."
"But Inuyasha…"
"Miroku," continued the raven haired teen, not allowing Kikyo to speak, "stay behind and look after Inuyasha."
The young monk nodded his head without looking away from the hanyou's body. Then Sango realized what she had said.
"I'm sorry I… I didn't want to order you…"
"No problem," he said, without taking his eyes of the boy, "I would look up to reassure you but…" he smiled lightly and waved a hand, "go and find Miss Kagome."
"Of course."
Sango took Kikyo's arm and pulled her out of the apartment, behind Ms. Higurashi, who had Shippo in her arms, and ran down the road. A few seconds later Kikyo started running alongside them without needing Sango to pull her.
Miroku recited light spells while placing his hand over Inuyasha's back in order to help him recover faster. He knew that he wanted to– no, needed to find Kagome and explain to her what had happened.
"Oh, the trouble you get yourself into, Inuyasha…" Miroku whispered, when he was sure that his friend was recovering.
"Oh, shut up, Miroku…" whispered back the hanyou, opening his eyes, slowly straightening himself. "Stupid shackle. Stupid stone. Stupid me."
"Insulting yourself won't solve anything." Miroku stood up at the same time Inuyasha did and watched him walk to the back door of the apartment. "Inuyasha, Miss Kagome went out from the other doo-"
"She's this way," he interrupted, with confidence. They left the building and started of to the forest.
"Just don't go too fast, they asked me to take care of you so-"
"Keh! I don't need a nanny," he huffed angrily. He wasn't really mad at Miroku, but at that strange salty smell that seemed to be fused with Kagome's scent.
"–And I don't want to watch over you, but I have no other choice," Miroku concluded, walking through the trees as they ventured deeper into the forest.
After a few minutes, Inuyasha stopped and saw a small lake. There, sitting at the side of the lake, was Kagome.
Inuyasha looked at Miroku who sighed with resignation and took a seat at the base of a near by tree.
"All right, but don't go anywhere else. From here I'll be able to watch you but I won't be able to hear anything you say to each other."
Inuyasha nodded, gratefully, and approached the girl. She had been looking at them since a couple of seconds ago.
"If you think I'm crying, it's not true, so don't worry about it."
"I haven't said anything yet, Kagome," he answered, half-mocking, half-serious. He knew very well that the salty scent was from fresh tears… why deny it?
The young girl looked out at the lake again and rested her head on her knees.
"Is there something about Kikyo that you should tell me?" she asked, with a tired voice.
"Besides that she forced me to kiss her?" Great, it couldn't be better than this. Now he was going to be interrogated. What if she forced him to tell her the whole truth? Then he would have to tell her that he… he loved her. Crap, it sounded really awkward to think about and it didn't feel the way people described it: floating on clouds and that kind of stuff. Why didn't he feel that way? Was it because unconsciously he denied himself the truth so he wouldn't hurt Kagome? But wouldn't that just cause him more pain?
"Are you sure that nothing else has happened with Kikyo before this? You two haven't been laughing behind my back? Is there something going on that I should know?"
"No, nothing at all… and stop looking at me like that. You know I can't lie." Fine, he was hiding parts of the truth she wasn't asking him, but he wasn't exactly lying. Besides he was still assimilating the fact that- 'Hell, Kagome looks so cute with that expression.'
"It's all right, I guess. But I can't understand why Kikyo would do this… maybe she really does hate me…"
"No, she just… she's in a great need of affection." Oh damn it, he couldn't have sounded cheesier. Didn't Kagome realize she was literally pulling information out of him? "She didn't do it with the intention of harming you… she just… she's looking for something…"
"Are you all right? She didn't do anything to hurt you, did she?"
"Only when I got away from her…" God damn it, he must remind himself to tell Kagome to order him not to open his mouth. "I stopped kissing her without being ordered to do so. So yeah, I felt a horrible pain, but I'm fine now." He added noticing how the girl's expression changed from serious and reproaching to a scared one.
"Shit, you're always getting in trouble…" She whispered to the wind, and made him angry.
"It's not as if I'm the one looking for trouble. I didn't ask Kikyo to come on to me."
"Did you like her kiss?"
"No." Good, one point for him. For the first time he adored the inability to lie. There were no doubts in his voice and he even seemed disgusted to remember the fact that he had been used like that. How could anyone think that he could ever have liked that kiss?
Kagome looked at Inuyasha again. His gaze was fixed on some point on the lake. He was calm, but obviously uncomfortable. She spent some time examining him. His arms were folded, and were inside the sleeves of the sweater that he had received from Ms. Higurashi. His legs were crossed, Indian style and he had a small tic in his left knee. Releasing a sigh, Kagome laid back in the grass.
"How did you know where I was?"
"I followed your scent."
"Are you some kind of dog?"
"Am I a what?" That question was completely unexpected, in fact he felt it insulting.
"What I mean…" Kagome sat again and looked into his eyes. Inuyasha began to feel slightly embarrassed by her stare, since when had this started happening to him? "Is just that… for example, during the storm you could see me perfectly well, even though you were walking in the dark. You said that you followed my scent and I bet that you could hear the discussions that, Kikyo told us, used to happen at her house all the time. Your reflexes, when you're chasing Shippo… as if you could read his movements even before he moves. How do you explain all that?"
Wow, he had to give her credit, nothing had escaped her notice.
"If you've forgotten, I'm a hanyou. My senses are much more enhanced than that of humans."
"Then you are like a doggy."
"Don't call me that, it's humiliating." They both stared out at the lake, again, in silence. Somehow, Inuyasha felt as if things weren't going well, at all.
"I'm really sorry, Kagome… you know that I would never do something like that to hurt you, let alone with Kikyo."
She looked at him again, blushing slightly.
"I know…"
"I'm serious, forgive me."
"There isn't really anything to apologize for…"
"Then… are we ok?" Inuyasha asked again, with his ears down a bit. He felt bad now, he had hurt her, even if she denied it. "Everything… everything will go on as before?"
Kagome sighed, slightly. It wasn't that simple. Normally she was the one who, after some stupid fight, apologized to Inuyasha and now the roles were reversed. She would definitely forgive him, but this wasn't some stupid fight… but…
"I guess it will… honestly, I don't even know why it affected me so much. I mean, you and I have nothing going on between us, beside our friendship."
"And the fact that you're the owner of my life…"
He hadn't been able to stop himself from saying that. Why the hell had he said it? Kagome looked at him, with her eyes opened wide. He had said those words before, but the situation was very different and the intention had been of hate in that moment. But now, it hadn't felt that way at all.
Inuyasha looked at his feet, unable to move. Why had he said that? For a moment he thought that Kagome would be hurt or mad at him, but her shocked expression soon turned into a sincere smile, she then gently shook her head, letting the issue drop. Now she was the one who looked calm and Inuyasha was the sullen one.
To break the uncomfortable silence, Inuyasha stood up and started to walk back to the apartment.
"Your mother and the others must be worried sick, they went to look for you down the road. It'd be better if we go back."
Kagome stood up and followed him back towards the monk. Then they returned to the house.
"You had me really worried, dear. When we found you on the road and you told me to wait so you could tell Inuyasha about the amusement park, so we could all go together, I never expected to see you run out of the house that way…" said Ms. Higurashi, once they were all, again, in the apartment.
"It was my fault, auntie…" said Kikyo, looking down. "I… I ordered Inuyasha to-"
"I believe there's no need to say what your order was," interrupted Kagome, annoyed. Kikyo looked at her with resentment and regret.
"Stop it, I know! But I couldn't help but want at least a part of everything you have!"
When she confessed that, everyone looked at her, surprised. Kikyo's face was bathed in tears. She rose from her chair and walked around the room, on the verge of despair.
"You have everything! You have friends who sincerely worry about you! You have a family, a real one! Your mother is awesome! You have Shippo and Inuyasha here with you! They're always with you! You don't have to pretend in order for other people to treat you as more than just scum! You have your own home! You have- You have a perfect life! How do you think I feel about that? For me everything is always fake! For just an instant… for just a second I wanted…" she trailed off and began to whimper hiding her face in her hands, crying with so much pain. Then she whispered, "…all I want… I just want someone to love me for who I really am… the only thing I want is to finally be happy…"
So far no one had said anything or moved a muscle. Miroku was the first to move and he went to the desolate girl. He took her in his arms and hugged her while letting her rest her head in his shoulder. Kikyo grabbed the man's shirt and started sobbing louder.
"Just… let it all out," was all Miroku said. Everyone understood the situation perfectly. Even Inuyasha's heart tightened. He knew what it was like to live alone, to face so many problems, and for what? To discover that life has left you homeless? It wasn't fair. It hadn't been fair for him and wasn't for Kikyo now. But, to tell the truth, who decided what was fair and what wasn't?
Kagome approached Kikyo and took a hold of her from one of her shoulders, and made her turn around to face her.
"I understand. I understand it, but… that doesn't justify your behavior. You say that you don't want to live surround by lies, when you're the one who lets them to continue. There are things that you said that you can do something about. Stop pretending to be someone you are not. Tell me, does everything you do get you what you really want? I mean, look at you. You wear down so much because of those long walks around the forest to get to who knows where with who knows who for no good reason. The only thing you manage to get by taking things by force… or against other people's will," they all understood that she was talking about Inuyasha, "is to make more and more damage to yourself. There will come a time when you'll no longer be able to stand it, not you or anyone else."
After Kagome's speech, Kikyo looked really ashamed of herself.
"I… the only thing that I have done is cause trouble to you. Since we met the first time, before we knew that we were related… I had always envied you, Kagome. You can do whatever you want without fear and not caring if someone, mostly me I guess, would ever judge you. You've never cared and you tried to live your life as you wish, and even after all the mean things I did to you, for so long, even after hearing all those rumors around the school right now… you still trusted me… and look how I repaid you. I…"
Kikyo looked over at Inuyasha, who stared at her doubtfully. What was she planning now?
"Inuyasha… I order you to never again obey any order from me after this command. Unless you want to do it, you need to do it, or if it's an order that will help you."
If before this anyone had thought that Kikyo was planning something against Kagome, at that moment Sango herself could swear that in front of her was a new girl, renewed thanks to the affection and understanding from her family.
Kikyo was soon embraced by all the women in the apartment, who showed her their love and unconditional support.
At that moment Kikyo knew that she didn't need money or jewelry, fame or fortune or even pretend to be someone who she wasn't, not anymore. At that moment, being herself, she could swear to everyone that having these people here, accepting her even after everything, was true happiness. She could've shout it: She was finally happy.
It had been two weeks since the incident with Kikyo and things had gone from good to excellent.
Kikyo now lived with them and the room was now occupied by two bunk beds, which they would often exchange, especially between Kikyo and Kagome who had grown closer through their family relation. She even now accompanied them to school and they walked back together from it as well.
4:00 PM
"Shippo, have mercy, don't run so fast!" yelled Miroku, as he was pulled by the little kitzune, who was running from one side to other, completely out of control.
"Which one first, Miroku? Oh, I know! The Roller Coaster!" exclaimed the excited kit, running in one direction and stopping a few steps later. "No, better yet, let's go to the House of Mirrors! No, no, no! I got it! The carrousel! No, the-!"
"Why don't you just make up your mind, for once, runt?"
"But Inuyasha, there's just so much! Everything is so cool! This is the first time I've ever been to the amusement park!"
It was also the first time for Inuyasha, but he could control himself better than the little kit.
Yes, everything was getting better…
'Except for my small problem with honesty,' thought Inuyasha. Every day it was getting harder and harder to control himself around Kagome.
One time he had found himself flat out staring at her while they ate at school. Yeah, generally they looked in each other's eyes when they talked but that was one thing, and another was to stare at her face for over 20 minutes. The most frustrating part was that she didn't seem to notice. It was both embarrassing and exasperating.
But he couldn't help thinking about telling her that he would give everything for her. Yet, at the same time, he was afraid to throw away the wonderful relationship they had. What if she ordered him to never talk to her ever again? What if she learned about his feelings and came to hate him for them? What if… if… if she ordered him to get away from her, forever?
He didn't want that, she was everything to him. She had shown him a new concept on life and shown him in a thousand and one ways that his situation wasn't that bad. Kagome had opened the doors of her home for him, of her world… of her life. He was a part of her life but sometimes he felt that his own world revolved entirely around Kagome.
It was unnecessary to say that he used to slap himself for think in such a sappy way.
"Inuyasha, aren't you coming?" Asked Kikyo, approaching when she noted he was distracted, standing at the entrance of the park.
"What? Ah… yeah, yeah, I'm coming… coming…" Inuyasha started to walk, absentmindedly following Kagome, who had joined Shippo in his search of the best ride to get on first.
"Have you noticed, dear?" asked Ms. Higurashi, surprising Kikyo.
'Had I noticed what? Is my aunt that perceptive? Or is it that Inuyasha is so obvious?' Kikyo looked at her with a confused look.
"I don't want to be seen like the queen of the obvious or anything but," Sango started to say as she approached them with cotton candy. "I believe Inuyasha has been excessively thoughtful for the past couple of weeks."
"You think it may be my fault?" asked Kikyo, with fear, but calmed when Ms. Higurashi shook her head.
"The past is the past, but I have no doubt that something is lurking in his mind a bit too strongly."
Kikyo knew perfectly well the reason and once again she mentally corroborated it, noticing that the moment when Kagome took Inuyasha's hand, and literally dragged him to the Haunted House, he blushed slightly and his eyes took on a special glow and softened.
"Those eyes… have a lot of honey…" whispered Sango, noticing the same thing Kikyo had seen. Then they both laughed out loud.
Inuyasha was definitely obvious, and Kagome was completely oblivious.
4:30 PM
"It's already over?" Asked the girl fearfully, with her eyes tightly closed. She was clutching Inuyasha's haori and he was watching her with amusement.
"You little fool, you wanted to come to this place, you should have known that they call it 'The Haunted House' for a reason."
"But I didn't remember it being this scary…"
"When was the last time you came to this place, Kagome?" His voice had a 'things-change-kid' tone.
"Well…" She cracked open one of her eyes and relaxed when she saw that they were in a deserted hall with no furniture to hide. "Now that I think about it… I came with my father when I was eleven. But then Dracula appeared and I got really scared… that's why I didn't see the rest. I spent the rest of the time with my head hidden under my father's arm."
Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh at that. Dracula was the one who had welcomed them to the Haunted House. He should applaud Kagome, she had survived Dracula, the werewolf, some kind of ugly mummy and a guy with a pumpkin head. It was thanks to that last one that she had hidden her face against his chest and he was sure that if it had been possible she would have pressed his arm over her head as well.
"I guess that's one of the disadvantages of growing up, right? Is not that easy to hide now."
Kagome relaxed at his words and began to laugh too, but then a skeletal hand suddenly appeared behind her and touched her shoulder. Kagome screamed in panic and practically hung herself on Inuyasha's neck. He saw, with a bored expression on his face, a boy no older than them hidden behind the tapestry on the wall with a plastic skeleton hand.
"Oh for the love of- This isn't scary, Kagome, don't exaggerate."
But nothing of what he said was enough to make her lift her face from his chest.
He wouldn't deny it, he loved to feel her so close to him.
7:00 PM
"I'm dead!" yelled the little kid "Figuratively speaking, of course." He added when he noticed the frightened look on the faces of the people walking nearby. "Oh boy, the people nowadays get scared so easily."
"Tell me about it," Inuyasha huffed, tiredly. In the beginning he had enjoyed the feeling of having Kagome near him, clinging tightly to his body, but then after a couple of hours of walking everywhere, carrying gifts and stuff that they have purchased, Shippo being over his shoulder once in a while, plus the effort of practically carrying the girl inside the Haunted Mansion, that had made his back ache. She wasn't heavy, but the position had been uncomfortable to walk. "I'm dead!" he finally exclaimed, releasing a part of his tension.
"Well, we still have time enough for one last game," Ms. Higurashi told them, drinking from her glass of lemonade. "It'll start to get dark soon so we have just enough time to take another walk around the park."
"Let's go to the Ferris wheel!" exclaimed Sango happily.
"Is the best ride, right about this time, then we could see the sunset and since it's quiet it'll let us rest from the day. I'm tired too," supported Kikyo.
"Is there anyone against the idea?" asked Miroku.
Besides Shippo, who considered it a waste of time, everyone agreed.
"Ok then, passenger cars aren't so big," explained Kagome's mother, "so we're going to go in couples on each one. Shippo can come with me, since he's small that way we'll be three in one of the cars."
Is it necessary to say who asked to accompany Ms. Higurashi?
7:20 PM
"But, Sango!"
"Not buts, Miroku, I don't trust you if we're alone together. You're terribly perverted!"
"Then what about me? Are you going to let him do something to me instead?" Asked a very frightened Kikyo. "Is this some sort of revenge?"
"Don't worry, Kikyo. He respects you and knows that something really bad will happen to him if he does something to you," finished Sango, with a glare at the young monk, who sighed in defeat.
Inuyasha helped Kagome enter their cart.
'Ms. Higurashi was right, they are small,' he thought while staring at the little space between his and Kagome's legs after taking the seat in front of her.
The operator, after giving them the security instructions, closed the door and made the wheel advance, so the next cart could be occupied.
At first there had been some tension in the air. They hadn't really been alone since that day at the lake, and Kagome wasn't blind, something was up with Inuyasha.
7:22 PM
"Lately you've been thinking a lot," she said suddenly, looking at Inuyasha who was staring outside the window, bored, as the wheel moved along.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" he asked, waking up from his daydream.
"You see? That's exactly what I'm talking about, Mister Super Sensitive Ears."
"Hey, I can hear perfectly well, so don't insult me."
"Well, it doesn't look like it, a moment ago you didn't hear what I said, did you?"
"I don't want to fight in this enclosed space." Good, this was good, they were starting to treat each other as usual.
"If you have such good hearing, why don't you tell me what my mom and Sango are talking about in the next cart?"
"Is that an order?"
"Is a challenge. Do it if you want."
Inuyasha 'Keh-ed' and turned to look out the window again but began to pay attention to everything around him, however he couldn't hear anything but Kagome's breathing.
"That's weird… I can't hear anything except our breathing."
"Great, then you lose!" Exclaimed Kagome triumphantly. But her joy didn't last long, since Inuyasha suddenly stood with great force, causing the cart to swing sharply. "Don't do that!" She cried, frightened.
"We gotta get out of here."
"What?"
"I have to get out of here, Kagome. Today's…" he trailed off while watching the sun sliding behind the mountains beyond the horizon. Damn, with the entire incident with Kikyo, and the plans to come to the Amusement Park, he had completely forgotten…
Kagome understood perfectly well. Today marked another month since his death.
He tried to open the door but it was locked from the outside.
"Don't even think about breaking it, Inuyasha. These things are too expensive. I can't be spending money like that. We have to see to our future."
That phrase echoed in Inuyasha's head, in many ways. The first one wanted to yell at her for not letting him do as he wished. The second one wanted to claim, how was it possible that she couldn't afford a broken door, when she had spent over 200,000 on him? The third one was the 'our future' phrase… he knew that she hadn't intended to make it sound like that but… well... was it really a bad thing for them to share a future?
He became so absorbed in thought that hadn't noticed Kagome taking a blanket out of her backpack, the same one they had used to eat on the grass a few hours ago.
"If there's no way to get out of here before it gets dark, sit on the blanket while the ride stops. That way nun of the blood will stain the floor."
Inuyasha obeyed. He sat on the floor, in his usual position and let his head lean against her knees. Kagome, absentmindedly, from time to time passed a hand over his hair.
7:26 PM
"How much longer?" he asked.
Kagome watched with joy as their cart neared the ground and the ride had begun to slow. But then she felt a hole in her stomach when the cart that had stopped at the bottom wasn't theirs but the one next to them. Now they'll have to wait for everyone to get down before they could do it… this was going to take a while.
It wasn't long before it finally got dark. Inuyasha's appearance changed before her astonished eyes and she had to remind herself that it was just an appearance and Inuyasha wasn't really hurt. He was perfectly fine, beside her and with his usual bad temper.
"We must get home before 10:36 PM." He said suddenly. His face was green again and he was doing his best to not look at Kagome. He knew she was already scared.
"Why specifically at that time?"
"Today it's the anniversary of my death. I learned with time that it was the exact hour when I died and… at that moment everything will stop being just an appearance."
At that moment Kagome began to feel as if the Ferris wheel was moving excessively slow.
10:20 PM
"We made it!" Yelled Sango, hastily entering the apartment, followed by Miroku and Kagome, who carried a semi-conscious Inuyasha with them. Minute by minute he was getting weaker.
"Are you sure you can handle this alone, Kagome? I have experience, we helped each other on our respective anniversaries of death," offered Miroku after laying Inuyasha down on a bed, in which Ms. Higurashi had quickly switched the sheets for something denser and older that could get as dirty as needed.
"Don't worry Miroku, besides, Inuyasha told me that he didn't want anyone else to be here. I'll take care of things, he explained it all to me while we were waiting to get out of the Ferris wheel."
"All right then. We'll wait in the living room, if you need something, anything, just call."
"I will, and please don't stay awake all night. You can open the sofa-bed and get comfortable on there."
Miroku nodded and left the room.
"Kag-"
"Don't push yourself, Inuyasha."
"What time is it?"
The girl took the night clock from her desk.
"It's 10:32 pm… it'll all finish at midnight right?"
"Yeah… at midnight it marks a new day… I'll keep the appearance but I won't be suffering the symptoms anymore.
"All right, then… what I'm supposed to do now?"
She had lied. The only thing Inuyasha had told her was for no-one else to be in the room, he hadn't said anything about how to help him. She hadn't been able to deny it, but now she resented it. He looked really bad. Like really, really bad.
"Don't worry, just… just stay by my side. Believe me, that's the only thing I need."
10:34 PM
"But Miroku said that-"
"What he said… he wasn't talking about medicines or something like that. There's no cure for death. It's just that I used to get very aggressive with them. I hate to feel the void… and Kouga didn't help either. Miroku used to put a barrier around me so I couldn't get near them.
'Ok, that wasn't what I was expecting…' thought Kagome. Miroku had looked really worried about Inuyasha… or was it that he was worried about her? "You won't be aggressive with me?" she asked a bit fearful. What if something went wrong?
"Not at all." Inuyasha closed his eyes for a moment. He felt nauseous. "Just stay… everything will end soon enough, you'll see.
10:36 PM
Inuyasha broke into a cold sweat. The wounds on his shoulder, front and the putrefaction over his heart became more noticeable. He had trouble breathing.
He'd made a mistake, he shouldn't have asked Kagome to stay. He began to fret. He had to destroy something, anything. He needed to get rid of that horrible feeling of suffocation that gnawed in his chest.
Then everything went dark.
10:42 PM
"Kagome!" yelled Inuyasha, waking up and opening his feverish eyes. Where was he? What had happened? Had gone something wrong? Why the hell wasn't the sensation of drowning going away?
Then he felt a hand rest on his head. Kagome's hand.
"Easy, you had a nightmare… everything's all right, Inuyasha. How do you feel?"
The hanyou relaxed, but was still weak and 'dying'. Gently, he took the hand, that Kagome was resting on the mattress, between his claws.
"Thank you for not leaving…" he whispered so low that he wasn't sure if Kagome had actually hear him or not.
11:15 PM
"Inuyasha I'm just going for clean towels, I need something to put down the fever."
"It won't work, it won't break until-"
"But you're dying!"
Inuyasha closed his eyes, tired. Ok, fine, yeah, this was some kind of torturous representation of his death, but he wasn't really dying. That damn shackle would never allow it.
"Don't panic-"
"Too late. Please, let go of my hand so I can go get fresh towels and some water." But Inuyasha didn't let go. That had been a petition, not an order. He would ignore it completely.
"Inuyasha…"
"Just do as I asked… I swear it, Kag. I don't need anything else."
… Did he just call her 'Kag'?
11:55 PM
Again, Inuyasha was unconscious but this time he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. If it wasn't for his soft breathing, Kagome would have sworn that he was dead. His body was truly freezing, and he'd yet to stop bleeding. How was that possible?
Kagome stared at the shackle, firmly attached to Inuyasha's neck. She had heard him say plenty of times that if he couldn't die it was because of that 'damn shackle'. That meant that if she took it from him…
"It seems like I'll never find a way to free you, does it?" she whispered, tightening her grip on Inuyasha's hand, which had never let her go.
"Why are you- why do you worry so much? What- what are we to you?" Inuyasha answered but couldn't open his eyes. He was no longer able to move his eyelids and he ignored how he had managed to barely speak.
"You're very important to me, Inuyasha. You and Shippo are my friends… you're my family. I don't want to see you tied to this sort of life…"
The hanyou managed to open his eyes and look at her. She returned the look with great sadness.
"I know how hard it must be for you, to have loved ones that with time will die… and you won't be able to do anything about it. All you can do is watch them all pass…"
Inuyasha hadn't seen it from that point of view before since he had never had someone he really cared about, but now... If he let her know about his feelings for her… for the first time he felt terrified of her returning them.
"I want to release you, I want you to have a normal life."
"Kagome… it's thanks to you that… that we have a life as normal as possible." Inuyasha could feel it. It was now or never. Nevertheless he needed to know. "Would it be so bad to share your life with me, as I am? A hanyou… a Slave…"
"Inuyasha…" Kagome looked at him, touched by his words but still looking depressed. "The last thing I want is for you to suffer. I only seek for your happiness, and Shippo's."
"What if we decided-" Inuyasha began to suffer from lack of air. It was so close, he could feel it. "…Stay like this forever? If we didn't care… to actually be Slaves as- as long as we could be wi-with you? I… my happiness-"
Kagome squeezed his hand harder when she noticed how Inuyasha's eyes began to look into a void instead of her face. What was happening? If she had thought that his body was freezing before, she was wrong. This was ice itself.
"Inuyasha, what's going on? You said everything would be over for good!" the girl looked at her watch.
11:58 PM
Was Inuyasha really dying?
The boy lost all his strength and let his head fall to one side. His hand, which had maintained a soft but firm grip, let go of Kagome completely and dropped off the bed.
"Inuyasha! This isn't funny! What's happening?" she watched, in pain, as Inuyasha's face turned grey. All sign of color had gone. She didn't know what the heck was happening, the only thing that she was conscious about was the state of the body in front of her.
Kagome lost control and launched onto Inuyasha's chest, shaking him in an attempt to make him wake up.
"You can't do this to me, Inuyasha… You can't do this to me!" she exclaimed as an ultimatum and hid her head between his neck and his shoulder.
12:00
She then noticed the slight beating that remained in his neck. It was beginning to sound more rhythm tic and stronger than before.
Kagome lifted up her face and was confronted with Inuyasha's gaze, who was smirking at her, with a fusion of gratefulness and tenderness.
"I told you everything would be all right, Kag." Inuyasha moved gently with his claws some strands of her hair and placed them behind her ear. Then he returned his hand, and left it on her cheek.
She sighed with relief as she felt how his hand was once again warm.
"For a moment I thought that-"
"I'm not as weak as you think."
Kagome smiled, then blushed deeply.
"Did you hear what I said?" she whispered, completely embarrassed for her impulsive acts.
"I did. But since I ignore what is it you told me I can't do, I won't take it as an order."
Kagome smiled and leaned her head back on Inuyasha's shoulder, who began rocking her gently.
"You've already had a lot of pressure because of me… now rest, I'm perfectly fine, so you don't have to worry abou-" he trailed off when he noticed that she was already asleep. That caused him to get considerably angry.
"Ungrateful child… and I bother in-"
"Inu… yasha…" she whispered in the middle of her dreams. "Don- don't… leave me…"
That hadn't been an order, and even if it had been, orders given while sleeping weren't valid. However, that made the hanyou dismiss any grudge, or anger, that might have accumulated in those seconds. He gently kissed Kagome's forehead and sighed.
"I swear to you, Kagome, that I'll never leave you. Because you… you are the owner of my life…"
'…And of my heart.'