Chapter 96
Hostium munera, non munera
"Gifts of enemies are no gifts "

"There are no dangerous weapons;
there are only dangerous men."
—Starship Troopers

Inuyasha woke slowly and groggily.

If there was one thing that years of surviving had taught and instilled in him, it was that he didn't sleep deeply. Ever. Safety was hard to find and even harder to keep. If he slept too soundly then he was going to get eaten. Or killed for just, you know, being hanyou and daring to exist.

"Inuyasha?" Sango's voice warbled through his ears as he slowly pushed himself up. His head spun and the fog was dense.

He blinked as he stared at the empty spot in front of him.

"Kagome?" He rasped, his voice thick and gravelly.

He moved slowly to sit up, because the world was spinning with each movement. He swung his head around, black hair falling in front of his face.

Kagome wasn't answering, and he couldn't smell her.

He couldn't smell anything.

Oh yeah, human.

"Kagome?" He twisted around, seeing Sango shakily pushing herself to her knees.

"People took her," Sango slurred, looking up at him. He grimaced at the blood running across her cheek. It was a straight line from her nose. "I tried."

"They kick you in the face?" He asked, eyes narrowing as he tried to focus on the blood, but his eyes kept wandering off.

Sango reached up and wiped her face, wincing as she bumped her nose. The blood had already dried.

Blood dries fast, but that shit was flaking off of Sango's skin. Not to mention that he could see the bruising already starting to spread across her nose and cheek.

Not good.

That meant it had been a bit since they left.

"Fuck."

"I tried to stop them, but there was something in the tea."

"Did you see 'em?" Inuyasha asked, shifting to roll himself to his own hands and knees. He staggered a bit when he shifted, having to brace himself as he moved and the ground tilted underneath him.

"Miroku?" Inuyasha asked her, clearing his throat.

"I'm trying to wake him."

Inuyasha slowly pushed himself up, and he stumbled a half-step before collapsing to his hands and knees. If the ground would just stop fucking moving, then he'd finally be able to stand.

"Fuck! What did they fucking put in that fucking tea?" He groaned.

Sango hummed.

"Henbane," Sango said. "I think. Knocks you out for a while when you drink it."

Great. That was just fucking amazing.

Miroku stirred slowly, rolling onto his back.

"Sango?" He mumbled, eyes blinking open slowly. He stared at her, brows furrowing slowly to a point. "Aww," he cooed, "what did you do to your face? It was so pretty!"

"Some assholes tried to rearrange it," Inuyasha snapped. "Get up, monk. We gotta find Kagome."

"Kagome is here though?" He asked, already starting to push himself up.

"Not anymore," Inuyasha grumbled, putting his hands under him and pushing himself up again. He staggered into the wall, feeling it shake underneath the blow, but he remained on his feet.

"Oh?" Miroku looked over at the spot where she'd been, brows deepening again. "Where'd she go?"

"Miroku," Sango said, grabbing his face and holding his cheeks between her hands. "I really need you to sober up, because we have to go find her."

"You start here," Inuyasha said, pushing away from the wall, testing his stability. "Figure out how they got in while the monk and the kit wake up."

"You can't go out there! You're human!"

"No shit, Sango. But I'm not going to just sit here and wait for the sun to come up either!"

"We don't even know what direction they went." Inuyasha looked down at the ground, noting the footsteps coming and the footsteps going right back out.

"Bet you they went off into those trees," he said, pointing to the footsteps and the woods just a couple jumps from their room.

"You could go in the completely the wrong direction, and don't forget, you're human! You can't see out there!"

"What do you want me to do, Sango? Just wait for the sun to rise and then go looking? That's too long! She's out there! Alone!"

"I think Sango is worried about you," Miroku pointed out.

Meanwhile, Sango was rising to her feet, stumbling far less than Inuyasha had when he'd first tried.

Not that he was jealous or anything, because the ground was still a bit tippy.

"You're not going without us," Sango said, standing hunched over a bit. "Come on, Miroku," she said, holding her hand out to him.

Miroku grabbed it in both of his.

"Will you bear my children?" He asked.

"I already said yes, you drugged idiot!" She grabbed his wrist, hauling him up to his feet. He stumbled right into her, and she looped his arm around her neck. "We're going with you."

"I'm not going slow because of him."

"And I'm not letting you go off and do something stupid!"

Inuyasha turned towards the door. He was useless in terms of speed, strength, and senses right now, but he wasn't going to wait until the sun decided to rise to go hunting for her. He had a general direction and that would have to be good enough. They couldn't have gotten far. It had probably been what? A few hours at least? He'd only been human a short while before they got the tea, and there was no moon to really help him judge the length of the remaining night.

Morning wasn't too far off, and that was too big of a lead. There was no telling where they could be, but he'd at least have a start. He grabbed Tetsusaiga, shoving it into his obi before marching out into the cold night air.

He didn't wait to see if Sango and the monk followed.

Night was definitely too fucking long.

It wasn't even winter yet, and he was 100% done with the cold and the dark.

Inuyasha took a deep breath as he continued to march through the woods with Sango and Miroku following him, and the cold air burned through his lungs.

Miroku had sobered up partway through their hike.

"Inuyasha, we haven't seen any sign that they've been through here," Miroku pointed out.

"Yeah, well, it's fucking dark! What're we supposed to see?"

Kagome was out here somewhere.

It was cold and dark, and she was probably freezing and afraid.

Fuck!

He snarled as best he could with a human voice box, hand gripping the hilt of his sword instead of striking the tree next to him.

When he found them—if she was hurt at all—

He was going to enjoy using his claws once he had them.

"All I'm saying we alter our course," Miroku finished as they continued moving.

Miroku was right. There had been no sign of anything—no tracks from the kidnappers, no sign of Kagome—for all he knew they'd never even entered the woods.

Or worse—no!

He took a deep breath, trying to calm down enough to focus.

Kagome was gone—again.

Someone had taken her from him—again.

He was going to lose his fucking mind—again.

"Come on," he said, marching off into the trees as his breath made clouds that followed him like small little ghosts leaving trails of his guilt and ineptitude behind him.

He looked up to the sky to see if the sun would decide to rise and fucking shine anytime soon.

But he didn't know that it was actually any lighter than it was a few minutes ago when he last checked, but he could tell that he couldn't feel anything in his feet, and it had only been a fraction of the time that she'd been out here. She had to be freezing.

Hypothermia was deadly to humans.

And how long did it take for that to set in?

How long before frost bite?

Kirara mewled behind him, waking from her own drugged sleep, and he watched as the flames on her feet and legs light up the path.

At least they had light now.

He felt the familiar pulse of his youki and a small sigh escaped him. He welcomed it as his senses returned.

"About fucking time!" He roared, leaping up into the highest recesses of the trees. He reached the top, ears straining to hear anything other than the sounds of the woods and trees around them. He just needed something to tell him where she was, but there was only the soft quiet noises that typically existed out here.

A sharp shout to his right gave him the only hint that he needed, and he took off with Miroku and Sango shouting after him.

But it had been too long already, and he'd been without sight or touch of Kagome for an entire night. It was far too long, and the woods were too dangerous for her to be left alone and to her own devices.

He dove down into the trees, trying to catch some form of her scent, and boy, did he, plenty of it, in fact. Like she left a trail just for him to follow. And knowing Kagome, that was probably exactly what she was trying to do.

With his eyesight returned to him, he could navigate the woods with no problem.

Another sharp cry—this one hers—and he snarled as his body already moved without needing command or thought.

If she was hurt—

Sliding into a clearing, he saw two men, one who had his hand reared back with the audacity that he would strike a woman, much less strike Kagome.

"Get your fucking hands off her," he warned, his voice low and gravelly.

"The demon!" The other man yelled, but Inuyasha had been pissed off all night.

It was time to vent.

The man made a move to pull her in front of him. Using her like a human shield. His arm went around her throat, and Kagome's own grasped at it as the other started to wrap around her waist.

Inuyasha sneered, already moving towards the two of them. His fingers slipped easily between the wrist and her throat.

One hand grabbed the bastard's wrist, snapping the fragile bones that held Kagome trapped against him. He let go with a cry, and Kagome dropped to the ground as Inuyasha slammed his fist into his jaw, letting him go flying off into the distance.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, voice watery already. His eyes slid to her from where she sat on the ground, noting the lump on her forehead.

His chest hitched at seeing her, and his eyes darted over to the other man still standing there.

"Did you fucking do this?" The man paled and looked like he was about to run. "You take one fucking step," he cracked his claws, "and you'll never fucking take one again."

"Inuyasha," she whispered, and he turned to her, already peeling off his haori and wrapping it around her shoulders.

Kneeling down, his hands took hers, quickly untying the ropes around her wrist. He winced at the raw skin underneath. It was already red and irritated and bleeding in spots.

"Are you okay?" He said, fingers drifting up her arms to her face, seeing the reddening mark of a strike that he'd been too slow to stop, and then the lump that was sprouting up on her forehead. "Which one of them did this?"

She shook her head, leaning towards him and resting her head against his shoulder.

"I tried to run away," she whispered, and he flinched at how cold her hands were through his clothing.

Sango and Miroku slid off Kirara beside them.

"You're freezing," he commented as he grabbed her hands between his, trying to warm them as he glared at the man who was only a few feet away.

"Kagome!" Sango cried, running up to her. "Are you okay?"

"What happened to your face?"

"I assume that these are the men who attacked us last night?" Miroku said, stepping forward.

"We didn't hurt anyone!"

Miroku scoffed at that.

"If I may direct your attention to my betrothed's face, I would be inclined to differ."

The man's eyes flicked to Sango, who was currently fussing over Kagome's state, and Sango turned towards the man, who paled even further at the sight of her swelling cheek and eye.

"Warm her up," Inuyasha ordered, rising to his feet and stalking over to the man.

Inuyasha moved towards the man who was still standing, and Miroku went to the pansy-ass who was writhing on the floor like he was bleeding out or some shit.

"Inuyasha, you broke his jaw," Miroku pointed out.

"He's lucky that's the only thing I broke!" Inuyasha snapped. Kagome shifted behind him, whimpering in pain as she moved. "What is it? What hurts?" He was already spinning on his heels and returning to her side.

His hands ran along her arms and back, checking for something that he'd missed.

"My ankle," she said, and he looked down at the joint that was already swollen despite the cold air.

Kirara curled up beside Kagome, and she shivered into her fur.

Inuyasha glanced up as the man made a move to run, and Miroku's staff took him out at the knees, the point of it now resting against the man's throat.

"We are very much not in the mood to be tested tonight," Miroku said.

"We were just told to grab the girl! I'm telling you the truth! And then bring her—" The man stopped talking as the other garbled something loudly.

"Bring her where and to whom?" Miroku asked, lightly pressing his staff to the man's throat. "And please, remember that none of us are in the mood to be lied to."

The man looked at Miroku and then his eyes drifted to the two of them.

"I'd answer him," Inuyasha warned, rising to his feet and taking a few steps towards the man. "He's a lot fucking nicer than I'm going to be."

"We were told to meet by the river. She said that she'd pay us." His eyes darted between them. "We're—we're just farmers. I didn't even want to do this!"

"So why did you?"

"I told you, we're farmers!" He pleaded. "Please! I—I have a family!"

"You have a family, huh?" Inuyasha asked, cracking his claws as he squatted down in front of the man. "What about her?" He nodded towards Kagome. "Her family didn't seem to matter to you then."

The man's mouth open and closed, with a soft squeak escaping him.

"Inuyasha, would you be willing to allow him continued use of his limbs so that he could lead us to this mysterious purchaser?"

Inuyasha growled, glancing up at Miroku.

"Yeah, he can keep his legs as long as he takes us there quickly." His gaze slid back to the man in front him, holding his claws up to the man. "I'm pretty fucking pissed, so you'd be doing me a favor if you ran. Got it?"

The man nodded once, leaning back.

"I'll do whatever you want, just please don't hurt me," he begged, and Inuyasha rose to his feet, walking back to Kagome.

"You okay to ride Kirara for a bit?" He asked, kneeling down beside her.

She reached a hand out to grip his sleeve, and he placed his own hand over it. Raising her good arm, she held it out to him, and he realized that she wanted the same thing he'd wanted.

He picked her gently up from the ground, and she looped her arm around his neck.

"Sango, drag the broken ass fucker with us."

"I'm not a pack mule," she grumbled.

"I'm the one with precious cargo, so shut it." He shifted his grip so that she was facing his chest, and Kagome buried her face into his shoulder. "Besides you carry Hiraikotsu all the damn time anyway."

Sango grabbed the collar of the man, dragging him across the ground as she walked in front. Kirara was at the front lighting the way for the humans.

"You okay?" He asked her quietly.

The man whimpered in front of them as Sango dragged him over a hard root.

Fucker deserves every single bump and pain.

Kagome nodded into his shoulder, and he felt her grip his shirt in her fists.

"It's cold," she mumbled, and he held her closer against him.

"Can you handle it? I'll take you back if it's too much. Sango and Miroku can handle this," he kept his voice low. He half-hoped that she said yes, because he wanted to take care of her. Warm her up, make sure she was clean, warm, safe.

But he also half-hoped that she said no, because he also wanted to break something off the fucker that tried to fucking purchase her like she was a piece of livestock. He was going to punch a bitch—or a bastard—he'd punch the shit out of whoever was behind this.

He took a deep breath to calm himself before he did something dumb but also deeply satisfying.

Kagome shook her head.

"I want to know. I need to see it," she whispered. "But I'm scared."

"I won't let them hurt you, I swear it."

He was so fucking proud of her that he couldn't help himself. His head turned towards her, very lightly pressing his lips to her temple.

It was so natural that he didn't even realize it until he'd done it already.

It was too late to take back, and he didn't really want to. He wanted her to know—wanted her to realize what she meant to him and what it was exactly that he felt for her.

Except she'd gone completely rigid in his arms.

And that's how he knew that he'd fucked up.

He'd fucked up so bad.

Gone too far too fast, and he could feel the redness in his cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold wind biting into his skin.

Shit.

How did he fix this?

How did he take it back without taking it back?

What was he supposed to do?

Kagome relaxed after a moment, shifting her head slightly, so that her very cold nose brushed against his neck, sending chills and tingles all the way down to his gut. His breathing hitched, as he felt her almost nuzzle the side of his neck.

And suddenly he felt very torn between whether he wanted to slip away back to the inn and finding who the fuck was behind all this.

But she'd said that she wanted to see who was responsible, and he'd let her have this.

And then the moment that they knew, then he could take her back inside and do all the warming things that he wanted to do.

He shifted his grip on her a bit, tucking her legs up a bit higher.

Kagome's arm lightly gripped his sleeve and the other held onto his beads. Her nose pressed into his neck.

He'd never wanted to live inside and have a bed more in his entire life than he did right now. They should definitely go back to her time so she could sleep in peace and quiet and that bed of hers that was covered in blankets.

She'd sleep so good there.

Kagome shivered a little, and Inuyasha looked up at their prisoner marching in front.

"He better get us there soon," he spoke loudly enough for the human to hear. "Because if he doesn't, he won't have to worry about farming anything anytime soon." He looked down at Kagome. "Are you cold?"

"My feet are," she whispered, curling up against him a little more.

"Do you want to sit on Kirara?" It would be warmer on the cat, but he needed to hold her for just a bit. He needed that comforting weight of her that couldn't be imagined anywhere else.

Kagome shook her head just a little, and he let out a sigh of relief. He wanted her to be warm, but he also wanted to hold her, which was a massive conundrum.

Massive.

His eyes lit onto the asshole that had slapped the shit out of her.

The man met his gaze and whimpered as Sango dragged him across the woods by his collar. The side of his face was already starting to swell, and Inuyasha felt a small shred of remorse at breaking his face, but all the same, they'd kidnapped and tried to sell Kagome.

Fair's fair.

"Hey Sango, give me that fucker's shirt. Kagome's cold."

Sango stopped, dragged the man to a sitting position and then roughly yanked the material off of him. Inuyasha squatted down, settling Kagome on his leg as Sango walked over to him, holding out the garment.

"Here, I'll do it," Sango said, leaning down and starting to wrap the fabric around her feet.

"Watch her ankle," he told her, looking over his shoulder at her.

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered.

"Don't," Inuyasha ordered her, nudging her head with his chin. Her hand brushed his neck, and he hissed. "Fuck, you're cold."

"Sorry," she said, pulling her hands away as Sango finished wrapping her feet with the cloth and tying it around her legs.

"Not your fault," he answered.

Sango stood slowly beside him.

"Stick your hands in my shirt," he told her, and Sango choked and coughed. "It ain't like that! Her hands are cold, and I'm fucking not!"

"Sure," Sango laughed as she walked back over to the man and grabbed the back of his kosode and continuing on with Miroku.

"Just—here," he started, shifting to reach her so that he could grab the hand holding onto his sleeve into his shirt, and the other he tugged free of his beads before pulling it inside his shirt as well.

Fucking shit, her hands were cold, and it took everything in him to not curl away from her little icicle claw fingers.

"Better?" He asked, and she nodded. "Good." He shifted her a bit before standing up and continuing after the others.

A/N: Happy Thursday!

I totally did not forget that this was a posting week. 😬 There was an alert on my phone and everything, and somehow it still managed to escape me.

I start back to school Aug 1st, and I gotta tell you, I'm not ready. This year is already foreboding and not giving me the warm fuzzies. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but sadly, I don't think I am.

I hope you all enjoyed, and as always, let me know what you think.