Chapter Two

Sunlight fell on Inuyasha's face. He could hear the loud snores of the thieves outside. They were never awake at dawn like he instructed. He sat up and pulled bits of hay from his hair. Why was he beside the hay again? He looked at the pile beside him and remembered the events of the night before. He remembered the strange girl that he took in to his hut.

And then he heard the heavy breathing.

"Glad to see you're awake." There was a white haired demon standing in on the other side of the hut. She was holding a rusty blade that was too familiar.

"Who are you?" he demanded letting out a low growl. "And what are you doing with Tetsusaiga?"

"Forgetting so soon?" the demon wavered a bit and coughed in to her arm.

"Sayuri?" he sniffed the air. "So you're a half demon, are you?" Either way, he still liked his chances.

Sayuri laughed and examined the tarnished metal "This piece of crap has a name? It might not be very sharp, but I'm sure if I push hard enough, it'll go right through you."

She lunged towards him, but her movements were slow and sloppy. He grabbed her by the hair and Tetsusaiga clattered on the floor. Inuyasha dragged her over to the hay and threw her. She landed with a thud and burst in to another fit of coughs.

"If you're going to kill me, do it now."

Sayuri was right. He could kill her right now with his bare hands. He could tear out her heart in less than the time it took to blink, but the eyes caught him again. Something about the way she looked at him seemed different.

Inuyasha sat in what had now come to seem like more of a throne for his uses. "I'm not sure I'm going to do that just yet."

Sayuri leaned against the wall for support. Her body was weak and he could smell her blood the poured from a wound on her head. He hadn't meant to throw her that hard. Inuyasha moved closer to examine it. "Let me see that." She flinched away from his touch. "Look, I haven't killed you so far, so shut up and let me help you." The words felt familiar in his mouth.

"I want you to shut up and let me protect you!"

He shook the thought out of his head and dabbed her wound with his clothing she'd used as a blanket the night before. She winced slightly, but stayed relatively quiet.

"So what do you plan on doing with me?"

Inuyasha hadn't thought about this yet. "Killing you seems a little rash, now doesn't it?"

She laughed half-heartedly. "Rash? And what you did to that village was strategically planned, right?"

Inuyasha girl seemed to have an opinion about everything. "Don't talk mock what you don't understand, girl." He looked her in the eyes for a moment and looked away. He didn't like how intensely they peered into him. It was like they knew all his secrets. "I hadn't pegged you to be a human sympathizer." He put the fire rat robe into the corner. "You should be fine."

Sayuri nodded and tried to get comfortable against the wall. Her breathing was laboured and left Inuyasha a little worried.

'There's no reason for me to worry about her.' He thought. 'She's just a random girl. I don't even know why she's still here.'

But she stayed there for days. Sayuri's fever didn't drop. She wasn't eating or letting Inuyasha anywhere near her. She smelled off, as if something was rotting, but she flinched and kicked every time he came close. He tried to distract himself from his worries about her health with the problems of the bandits. Unfortunately, they had been handling things too nicely for him to intervene.

Inuyasha was becoming impatient. "Something is seriously wrong with you. You look terrible."

Sayuri smiled and then grimaced, "You really know how to charm a girl, don't you?" She coughed on to the ground and shivered intensely in her make-shift hay bed.

He sighed. Inuyasha found the still blood stained outer piece of his clothes and threw it over her. "Use this."

She threw it back in his face. "I'm sick of this." She growled, "Just do whatever it is you planned on doing to me in the first place. I don't like being played with."

He spun to face her, "What are you talking about?"

Sayuri, with a great deal of effort, pushed herself to a sitting position. "Rape me, kill me…use me for whatever purpose those thugs caught me for." She looked him dead in the eye, "Just don't leave me waiting for it to happen."

"I didn't ask for you."

She tried to stand and fell back down, holding her left side. "Well, I didn't ask for this." Sayuri closed her eyes and winced as red could be seen coming through her clothing.

Inuyasha rushed to her side, "You're bleeding."

"Oh, is that what the red stuff is? I never knew" If he hadn't known how she was, he could have believed what she said to be the truth. Something changed when her health problems had become this immediate and visible. All the walls she had put up to keep him out had dropped. She seemed almost relieved. "This can't be good, can it?" More coughs came from her as blood as well as something yellow and putrid smelling continued to leak from her body.

Inuyasha pressed the fire-rat cloth to the wound. She winced, but didn't pull away. He had to make a choice, and fast. He helped her on to his back as gently as possible. Inuyasha grabbed his Tetsusaiga and began to walk out of the hut.

"Where are you going Lord Inuyasha?" All of the bandits had fallen into a bow, save the leader, "Where are you taking the girl?"

Inuyasha didn't stop walking. "You're in charge until I get back."

"But –"

A growl rose from deep within his chest. "Just do it." Inuyasha burst in to a run.

He ran for hours. Inuyasha hadn't run like this in years. He relished the feeling of the wind across his face and in his hair. This kind of freedom hadn't existed for a long time. Babysitting the thieves had always come first. Sayuri was quiet. Fresh air seemed to have helped with the coughing, but jarring movements made her cry out in pain.

By the time night had fallen, Inuyasha had slowed down and walked lazily beside a river.

"Inuyasha?"

He remembered the girl on his back and stopped, "Do you need something?"

"Can we stop? …a little…dizzy." Her voice was almost a whisper.

Inuyasha moved away from the river and lay her down under the nearest tree. He placed the back of his hand against her forehead. It was still too warm for him to relax. He made the cloth damp in the river and pressed it against her head. She hacked and coughed, but otherwise tried to remain still.

"Why," Sayuri began, opening her eyes a little, "Why are you helping me?"

Inuyasha remained silent. She eventually gave up on her question and fell asleep on the forest floor. By the time she woke up, Inuyasha had made a fire and had several fish roasting beside it.

"Are you hungry?" Inuyasha pulled a fish from the ground and handed it to her, "Tell me if it's cooked or not."

Her body shook as she reached for the stick. "I can't…" He let out a frustrated sigh and forced the fish stick in to her hand.

Sayuri dropped the fish on the ground. "I told you…that I couldn't do it."

"You need to eat something."

"I'm fine. I'm not hungry."

"It's fine Inuyasha. I don't really feel like eating anyway."

Inuyasha forced himself back to the present. 'No, this wasn't like before,' he told himself, 'was it?' Sayuri had closed her eyes as if to sleep rather than eat. He could hear her stomach rumble. He looked at the fish in his hand and sighed. He wasn't going to be eating tonight, that much was for sure.

Inuyasha stood up and forced Sayuri into a sitting position against the tree. "What are you doing?" She tried to push him away, but he was too strong for her. "I was trying to sleep."

"Bull shit, you need to eat." He tried to put the stick in to her hand again.

Sayuri pushed it away. "I'll just drop it again." She held out her hand as if to prove her point.

Inuyasha held it up to her mouth, "Eat."

She hesitated at first. The idea of being fed by someone she barely knew or trusted did not appeal to her. Hunger won out in the end and she ate the fish in record time.

He let himself smile a little, "Your appetite might be the only thing healthy about you."

"That's very clever of you. Can I go back to sleep now?" Sayuri closed her eyes without waiting for a response. Just when he thought she was asleep, he heard her voice again. "Where are you taking me anyway?"

Inuyasha leaned back on the other side of the tree. He let Tetsusaiga rest between his legs and against his chest. It was a position he had not sat in for a long time. Standing guard stopped being his job a long time ago. "It's not important."

She wasn't letting this one go. "Seriously, where are we going?"

"I know some people who can fix you."

She laughed before devolving into coughs, "The great Inuyasha has friends?"

Inuyasha smiled sadly, "Something like that."

Author's Note:

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE INUYASHA SERIES. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI . Only the original character is mine.

So there is chapter two. This is like…mid exam week that I'm writing this. I should probably be learning French right now, but this is more fun.

I got no response from my first chapter so I guess it's 'cause it's new? Who knows. All I know is I'm enjoying this along with my friends so I'm going to keep writing.

Until boredom strikes again,

Sincerely,

Caroline Winters