Something was off and had been for about a month.
It had started with a very subtle change in her behaviour- he would have missed if it wasn't so unusual. For the first time, Kagome blew off a chance to go back to her era.
"It's okay, Mama isn't even home this weekend." Kagome had assured him when he raised an eyebrow to her dismissal; he had offered to bring her back to the well whenever she was ready, and in response she waved him off. "Souta and Gramps will probably be out and about; no point in going if I'll just be alone!" She flashed a calm smile.
At the time he was just happy she was staying. He'd thrown a mildly exaggerated, "Keh, do what you want," over his shoulder as he hid his own expression in a rapid retreat to go hunt down some dinner for himself and his friends.
But it happened again, and only once more before even the other group members began to exchange unsure glances.
The next time Kagome opted to stay in the feudal era during a dead end in their journey, Sango finally vocalized her growing concern.
"Kagome, is it possible that you may be avoiding your world lately?" The two were lounging next to one another on the banks near the village, backs turned to Inuyasha and Miroku, who could see Sango place her hand lightly on Kagome's shoulder. "If there was something going on, you'd tell us, wouldn't you?"
Inuyasha's ears had twitched as he strained to listen over the sound of Miroku dismantling their fire from the morning, tipping a small basin of water from the creek into the ashes so a hiss accompanied a plume of smoke. The girls out of sight for a moment, he cocked his head to hear Kagome's response while maintaining a look of disinterest on his face, so as not to appear eavesdropping – but only Sango continued,
"You know Inuyasha would help you with anything that might threaten you. And I won't ask again if you promise you're okay." As the smoke cleared away, Inuyasha turned his head just in time to see Sango remove her hand and smile reassuringly. "We're only concerned, is all."
But Kagome only thanked Sango for her worry and explained that school had become less of an obligation with her summer vacation approaching.
They had heard about these breaks in her studies before, but never encountered one so long.
"It's an annual thing, we don't go to school all year round – thank goodness!"
Her answer was accepted mutually among the friends as another mystery of her era and its rituals.
Inuyasha had been mollified; he hated to see Kagome straining her eyes in the firelight each night, pouring over texts until she sometimes fell asleep on the pages. With danger growing ever more present in their daily expectations, he also had to admit he was relieved she could focus more on their goals and surroundings.
Now as they returned to their travel in pursuit of Naraku the group had come to a rest for the evening, setting up camp so the humans could regain strength,
and something was off.
Inuyasha watched her covertly, head bowed and eyes half-lidded just in case Miroku or Sango were to wake and catch him. He could at least feign fatigue. He sat cross-legged as usual leaning against a tree, looking up through his silver-white hair and clenching Testsuiga to his chest. She was sleeping, her chest rising and falling, but every so often a distressed moan whimpered from the direction of her sleeping bag. Each time the sound hit his ears, they twitched and flattened, until finally he heard her give a laboured gasp.
The smell of her tears urged him to his feet. He crept past his sleeping comrades and as quietly as possible knelt beside Kagome, who had begun to shudder visibly. He could see up close that her forehead glistened with sweat, her long raven locks limply stuck and curled – he gently wrapped one stream of brunette around his clawed finger and pulled it to the side, revealing her expression. He saw fear, sadness, and concluded she must be having a nightmare.
He thought for a moment about waking her – then saw all too soon that she had already done so herself and was staring up at him with confusion, a pink blush spreading from her nose to her cheeks.
"Uhm, Inuyasha?"
He immediately glanced at Sango and Miroku, but neither had turned in their sleep. Even Shippo continued to rest, snoring lightly next to Kagome.
"You were having a nightmare." Inuyasha grumbled, his own cheeks lighting up. It was a somewhat embarrassing position to be found in, but he didn't see himself getting a better chance any time soon to confront her about her strange actions in the weeks leading up.
Instead of moving away, he grit his teeth and pushed more of her dampened hair from her face. He saw then how pale she had become, the dark circles pooling beneath her eyes. She didn't retreat from his touch but blinked up at him curiously, and he thought, somewhat weakly.
"I'm sorry I disturbed you," she whispered, feeling Shippo turn in his sleep.
"Kagome, is something wrong?"
"It was just a bad dream." But her voice was shaky, and she punctuated her sentence with a light cough that cringed through her body until she curled into herself.
"You're getting sick."
"It's nothing."
"Damnit, Kag-"
A high-pitched yawn broke his sentence mid-word and a small orange head popped up, drearily gazing at Inuyasha from behind Kagome's shoulder, which shook still under the effort of her coughing.
"Gee, Inuyasha, why don't you wake everyone up." Shippo sleepily admonished, then curled up into his tail once more.
Agitated, Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the small fox yokai, but slowly removed his suikan and in one quick movement, had wrapped Kagome in its thick, red fabric.
"Inu…yasha, I'll… I'm going to get it all… all sweaty." She struggled over the sentence, but her shaking fingers pulled the material closer.
He couldn't stand it, watching her lay there trembling. Frowning, he set his sword within hands reach and slowly lay down beside Kagome, who had somehow once more drifted off into a fitful sleep. Carefully, he placed his arm over her and tucked her into his body, feeling her shakes subside with the warmth spreading between them. However, it was summer, and the frozen chill of her fingers against his chest worried him more than Miroku or Sango waking and finding them in this compromising position- he couldn't just let her suffer. And now he was sure of it.
Kagome was suffering.
Determined, he let his nose enjoy the scent of her hair pushed up against his chin. He stayed until the dawn broke, then carefully let her go and returned to his initial spot, keeping a close eye on the ill priestess.
Once she woke, he would force her to talk. For now, he hoped that what little rest she received might give her some strength to do so.