A/N: As I was writing this chapter for you all I realized something that I should have noticed sooner. The story is coming to its end and there will probably be about six more chapters after this. I am very happy and sad that this will end soon but I am happy to have received the comments and support that I have. Well here is the next installation of As Your World Falls Down.
Oh and just for clarification and the stories sake let's pretend a day couple days repeating the same stuff took place between chapters 17 and 18.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for the few characters that I have invented to make my story possible. If there are any questions about the story refer to the end of chapter 15 or leave a signed review and I will answer it.
Ch.19 Darkness
She was suspended in darkness. Thick, black, unending, suffocating darkness hung all around her. Kagome couldn't see anything not even her body.
'Am I dead?' She thought but it seemed to echo and resound throughout the darkness and then she knew, 'No, I am in my mind.'
She gave up trying to look around and instead tried to remember what had happened to leave her in the state she currently found herself in. She remembered being in the infirmary tent that they had set up on the battle field but….
'Nothing.' She though and again her thought echoed around throughout the empty dark space. She then tried to close her mind and eyes to try and reopen them to the real world outside her mind but something was stopping her.
'Did something happen to my head? Am I in a comma?' She thought frantically.
'No.' a woman's voice answered her from the darkness.
She tried to look around to no avail of finding the woman, 'So I am not in a comma? Then why am I here? And who are you?' Her thoughts echoed around her and for a moment she thought that perhaps the woman who answered her was her imagination.
'No you are not in a comma. You are here because your mind has separated itself from your body because of the poison that entered it. And as for who I am, I am you. Or if you rather a part of you, you're subconscious of sorts.'
'Poison? When did I get poisoned?' Kagome asked.
'I will show you.' The voice said and then Kagome felt the memories returning to her about the fake hurt soldier and the attack. She then saw that she had been stabbed and assumed the poison must have been on the blade.
'Why did I forget this?'Kagome asked.
'You didn't really forget it since it was still in me, your sub-conscience, but you did probably because of the condition of your body may have affected your mind or even the poison could have had some effect.'
Kagome tried to nod but remembered she wasn't physically there, 'Maybe. So that is why I am here too then. What will happen to me?'
'I only know that we are trying to heal our self and bind the mind back into the body but that is all I know.'
'Huh. So what can we do to reconnect with our body?' Kagome asked her sub-conscience.
'I do not know.'
'Hmm…so what should I do then?'
'There are problems we seem to be still struggling with. We can try to figure them out.'
'What problems? There is nothing wrong the last time I checked.'
'How about Lord Sesshomaru?'
Kagome was a bit taken back and then upset that her sub-conscience was confronting her, 'There is no problem with Lord Sesshomaru.'
'Then why do I know that you don't really want to go back to our time? And that you rather stay here with your friends?'
'Well I made up my mind already. It would be an inconvenience to stay here even though I want to.'
'We both know that you won't inconvenience anyone. I am your sub-conscience and know your feelings better than you do and I know what you do.'
Kagome was stopped, 'I can't stay because of him. I don't want to be near him when I know he doesn't feel that way.'
'But you have not asked him. He has done enough things to prove that he cares and has some feelings for us but you have not asked him what that is.'
'So what? Should I just go up to him and say "Hey Lord Sesshomaru, I know I am a human and a miko but despite all that I care for you, I love you so how do you feel for me?" Huh?'
Her sub-conscience was quiet for a moment, 'Why not? It couldn't hurt to ask before you leave or at least check so that way there is no regrets. You know you feel the beginning of regret every time you think of what will happen after the battle.'
'He can't love me. I am a human, I never will be as strong as a demoness, I can't provide him with a full demon child, I will die on him, I will be a burden, and I would be a weakness.'
'Have more confidence! We know that you are stronger than that and you almost bested Miyuki several times during training and you would never allow yourself to be a weakness! So what you can't have full blooded youkai children he would love them anyways! And he would love you until the day you died.'
Everything was quiet as the words of her sub-conscience filled the air.
'Still…he…I…fine.'
'So you have decided.'
'Yes, I have decided that I will ask but not as directly.'
'Even then he may not understand…'
'I will give him the chance to tell me, to take me with him, to stop me from leaving.'
The darkness was still surrounding her and the silence began to settle in again.
~*~*~*~
Lord Arisugawa stood between the beds of the two injured women remembering what Sesshomaru had said happened when he came to the tent.
~~~~Flash Back~~~~
Sesshomaru had arrived in time to finish off the dyeing, would be, assassin. After that filth was dead Sesshomaru immediately went to Kagome's side. She had been stabbed in the stomach from what he could see and was continuing to lose blood.
He picked her up and placed her on one of the beds that was clean. He then untied her red hakama and pulled them off, then he reached for the obi and untied that too, careful of her wound, and slowly he pulled back the kimono in a way not to expose more flesh than necessary since he was aware of her purity.
The cut was not nearly as deep as it looked and he was less worried now that any of her organs had been damaged but that didn't mean she could survive the blood loss or the poison he could smell. He then grabbed a clean cloth from one of the stands and a clean bowl of water and proceeded to clean the wound. Kagome moaned a bit in pain and he looked up hoping she might wake up but she didn't. He continued to clean the wound and then saw it glowing a light blue near the edges.
'Her miko powers are trying to save her. Will that be enough to counter act the poison when she is in this state?'
He then decided he would attempt to aid her as she had him when he was injured so he bowed his head to her wound and began to lick the edges of it. He could feel her miko powers in the blood on his tongue but the taste was biter because of the poison. He then spit out the blood and then bowed back down to lick more of the wound. His saliva carried within it certain properties that allowed it to speed up healing but it was nothing in comparison to Kagome's powers when she healed. That also worried him. She wasn't healing as fast as she was able to heal others normally so that could only mean she was fading from this world.
Sesshomaru moved to grab a cream he had seen her use before on wounds and he applied some to hers now. Then he grabbed the cloth she used to wrap wounds and he lifted her slightly and began to wrap it around her abdomen.
Once he was done he laid her back down and closed her kimono, 'I should have told her before coming here to always wear the armor. That is what it was for. So she didn't get hurt.'
He looked down at Kagome. Her breath was short and shallow. He moved some hair from her face that must have fallen when he moved her. Her skin was clammy and hot.
'She has a fever.' He looked around for something and then he grabbed a clean cloth and dipped it in another water bowl that was clean and dabbed at her forehead.
He then sensed the servant that had been helping her stir. He went to Kumiko and picked her up placing her on the other bed. Then he went back to Kagome's side and continued to dab at her forehead.
"Kagome! Kumiko! There is food ready now if you two aren't too busy to eat."
Lady Miyuki's voice came through the flap before she did herself. Immediately she stopped at the sight of the dead soldier on the floor, then her gaze swept around the room to stop on Kumiko and Kagome on the beds with Sesshomaru over the later of the two.
She then turned her full gaze on Sesshomaru, "Lord Sesshomaru, what happened?"
He continued to stare at Kagome, "There was an assassin sent to kill her. He is the one dead over there. Kagome was badly injured. The other one seems for the most part fine except for the poison but her body seems to be able to handle it."
Miyuki maneuvered around the dead body careful not to look at it too much and went to Kagome's other side, "She seems to be holding on. Did you bandage the wounds?"
"Yes."
"Then let me change her Kimono into one that is not wet with blood." She said opening a box on her side and pulling out a new white Kimono.
Sesshomaru didn't know what to do. The dragoness was another woman but he wondered if he should offer to help her dress the miko or excuse himself.
"If you do not need me I will step out."
"Please, Lord Sesshomaru, I would very much like your assistance. I do not know if I can change her by myself so easily."
He nodded and moved back to Kagome's side. Miyuki then made to remove the kimono and Sesshomaru was stopped by the sudden urge to see what lay beneath the cloth. It was remover to reveal some sort of clothing that covered only her genitals and breast though it did a poor job doing so being that is was near see through.
Miyuki coughed a little and he quickly reached under Kagome's bare back so the demoness could pull out the kimono from under her. She then began to unfold the kimono they would change Kagome into and he continued to hold her up.
'She is so light, so frail.' His eyes grazed along her form taking in all the silk had hidden before, 'She is beautiful for a human. It was almost as if she was a demoness in disguise or a higher being of some sort.'
(A/N: She isn't just so you know :-P)
Miyuki placed the Kimono under her and he was forced to lay her back down. They then wrapped her in the new Kimono and Sesshomaru gingerly tied the new obi loose about her waist.
Miyuki then touched her forehead again, "She seems to be pulling through though despite the poison her fever is gone now. And see, the color is returning a bit to her cheeks."
Sesshomaru looked at Kagome and noticed that the dragoness was correct. He then turned to leave and as he exited he heard Miyuki say softly, "He will be back. He cares more than you know Kagome.
~~~End Flash Back~~~
It was then as Sesshomaru left that Lord Arisugawa arrived to check up on the women as he had done the last couple days they had been in battle. Sesshomaru explained everything and Lady Miyuki filled in the parts he left out since she had arrived.
He looked worriedly at Kagome and waited for Kumiko to wake up and explain what had happened. Fortunately he didn't have to wait long and she soon started to open her eyes.
"Kagome?" She said weakly then she looked around and as her eyes focused she saw Arisugawa and then she asked worriedly, "Where is Kagome? Is she ok?"
"She is here behind me but she is badly injured. What happened?"
Kumiko looked up at her lord and tears filled her eyes, "I have failed you and Lady Kagome, Lord Arisugawa. I am so sorry. The demon came in disguised as an injured soldier from the look of things but he quickly bested me and I did not see much of what happened. Was he capture?"
"He was killed. Lady Kagome dealt him a deadly blow and Lord Sesshomaru arrived to finish the assassin off. Did you notice anything about the way he talked or fought?"
"He seemed skilled in hand to hand and moved as I have seen ninja."
Arisugawa nodded, "Then he was an assassin and not just a soldier."
Kumiko then gasped and grabbed her arm. It was bandaged now but she could feel the pain coming from the poison still in her system, "What of the poison? Did Lady Kagome get poisoned badly?"
"Yes, but her body seems to be fighting it. You are lucky that the knife cut you as it did or else you would be dead. Lord Sesshomaru survived that same poison but it was only because of Lady Kagome."
"I would gladly have taken her place and died for her instead of her being in the condition that she is."
"There is no need for that Kumiko, Lady Kagome wouldn't want for anyone to be hurt because of her. Thank you for protecting her so adamantly though Kumiko. I will see to it you are awarded somehow when we return to the East."
Kumiko shook her head no grabbing at her arm again, "No, I just want for you to be happy again my lord. That is all I ask."
Arisugawa's eyes widened at her innocent but meaningful request and then he grabbed her free hand and held it in his, "As you wish."
~*~*~*~
A/N: A bit sappy towards the end but I am proud of it. First person who reviews with the answer to where I got Lord Arisugawa's last line from gets a cookie! Everyone else feel free to review anyways with either criticism, adoration, or even a few words.
-Vamp