Fancy Disclaimer: The characters of InuYasha are not my own.

Warning(s): N/A. Safe for most ages!

A/N: I've decided to continue posting chapters until the story is done. There may or may not be a second part. The ending isn't solid.

VII. Vulnerable

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In the middle of the night, my nightmares became too much to bear. I had to take a walk to clear my head. Rubbing at my tired eyes, I shuffled away from camp. If either sleeping person heard me, he paid no mind.

"Hentai!" I cringed at the sound of Kagome's familiar shriek, but her voice wouldn't leave my thoughts.

"When will you learn?" Shippo sat at the base of a large tree, shaking his head at me.

"Feh, I'm not saving your ass if you get caught," InuYasha smirked, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

"You're dead," I frowned.

I watched as the images began to fade. The amber hue of InuYasha's eyes lingered in the darkness. My head was throbbing, and I felt a little dizzy. Something wasn't entirely right with me.

"Move on. Hiding from change will do no good, monk. There is no easy answer." Kikyo's translucent form appeared, and she placed her hand upon my shoulder.

I slapped at her hand, but my own hand went right through her. Nothing could describe the cold feeling that raced throughout my entire body. A layer of ice had developed on my fingers, but it quickly melted. Kikyo remained.

"The jewel is gone. What's happening?" I doubled over and held my aching right hand to my chest.

"There is no vengeance gained from a tale without an end. The spider walks." Her image vanished as a hand came down upon my back.

"You're a real idiot, you know that?" Kouga asked as he gave me a hard look.

"I must have wandered too far from camp," I said, giving him a shaky smile.

His gaze fell on my right hand, and he took it in his hands, examining it. Peeling back my tekkou, he looked down at the scar on my palm. Blood and a black substance was seeping through small holes in the tissue; he jerked back.

"Poison. Spider demon venom," he frowned, trying to tug me along. "You want to die here? There's a stream nearby, you need to clean that," Kouga said as he motioned to my hand.

"Souta...," I trailed off, groaning from the increase in pain.

"The runt can prove himself by staying alive." From there, I began seeing more images of my deceased friends.

I reached towards Sango's image, but Kouga slapped my hand away. He took me into his arms and began running through the dark forest. Paths were hidden and covered in thorn bushes, but he managed to clear his own way. Lines of blood appeared on his flesh from the times he'd run through thorn bushes, but he'd made a promise to one young lady—a promise he swore to keep.

"He's pale," Kouga thought, looking down at my half-lidded eyes. "Wake up." I squinted at him, and then I felt him placing me on the ground. "Come on, I'm not going to bathe you. Damn it...," Kouga trailed off as I began to lose my balance.

"I said that I would start a life with Sango. I said that I would sacrifice my own life to ensure her safety. Look at me," I chuckled, allowing Kouga to sit me down beside the tiny stream. "Some man. Some...," I hissed in pain as Kouga dunked my hand into the water.

"Shut up. We all make mistakes," he replied, his attention upon my injured hand.

"What would you know of such a large sacrifice? You have Ayame." As soon as the words left my mouth, his grip upon my wrist tightened.

"You don't know anything about what I went through!" He shouted. "Hmph." He pressed his lips together until I could see his flesh paling from the pressure. "I had my woman. I had my pups. I watched her slaughter them. I killed her with my own claws. Would you have the strength to do that?" He looked right at me, and I saw the sadness in his eyes.

"I had no right to say what I did. I apologize," I spoke quietly, moving to clean my own wound. "I can handle the injury from here. You should get back to camp." The flesh on my hand had stopped oozing poison, and the bleeding had slowed.

"I promised I'd look after you, monk. Wolf demons are loyal—our word is everything," he said, taking a seat upon the grass.

I pulled my hand from the cool water and proceeded to clean my tekkou. How had I not noticed the poison or the blood? The hallucinations that I saw were still fresh in my mind. I began to wonder if I had the strength to kill my own friends, even if it were only their bodies I faced.

"Who were you talking to?" Kouga tried to appear uninterested, but I knew him better than that.

"I was hallucinating," I admitted with a childish smile. "It's not the first time." My expression grew serious at the memory of Azami.

I needed a drink or a fine woman to distract me. Glancing over at Kouga, I wondered if he felt the pull to turn his back on the problems around us. It was wrong of me to consider running, but I did.

"You could leave right now. This spider demon doesn't have anything to do with tenkyou." I secured my clean tekkou over my right palm, but I didn't turn my eyes from the rushing waters of the wild stream.

"Probably not," Kouga grunted, "but it did destroy my former woman's grave."

Chuckling, I turned around to let him see the bit of happiness he made me feel. His blue eyes softened; he was looking right at me. He was really all I had left—my piece of the past. But he wasn't mine. He belonged to no one.

Thinking nothing of my actions, I sat down next to him on the grass. The sound of the crickets provided a steady song to fill the empty night; fireflies made the air alive with light and life. I watched as Kouga caught a firefly in his palm. Opening his hand, he looked at the pulsing light the bug gave off. I was looking too.

"What are we going to do? I don't have my Kazaana, you don't have jewel shards, and Souta doesn't have the experience. He's fifteen years old," I said, watching the firefly crawl along Kouga's hand.

"You're not giving up, are you?" The firefly flew into the air, hovering around the two of us.

"We had more people then, Kouga." The firefly landed upon my black koromo.

"So we're at a disadvantage," Kouga smirked.

"He's back." Those small words left my mouth with great ease, but they filled the air with even greater tension.

Once more, the firefly took to flight. I watched it until I could no longer distinguish which flickering light belonged to the bug.

"I know." Kouga didn't look any different than before I said what I did.

"You promised to look after me," I said as the thought crossed my mind.

"She loved you. It was a final request," Kouga said, resting an arm upon his bent knee.

My arm brushed against Kouga's, but neither of us mentioned it. We were so close. I could feel the heat radiating from his tan skin. It was a nice evening—almost too nice.

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Author Rant

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I really want this portion of the story complete. Whether or not I write the next part of the story or not, I will finish posting the next chapters. Love to the readers!

Possible Question(s): Eh, you should understand everything. Review or message with any problems.

Reviews are loverly!

Ja ne.