Chapter 98
Metuenda corolla draconis
"The dragon's crest is to be feared."

"To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it"
—"In Blackwater Woods"

Inuyasha followed him back towards the inn carrying Kagome as he walked. The villagers were just starting to appear in the streets, going about their daily business. Most looked up but ignored them as they passed.

They entered the inn through the door off the porch, and Shippo puffed up, hissing before he realized that it was only them.

"Has anyone come in?"

"Some of the women from the inn came in earlier, but I scared them off!" He said, puffing his chest out. "Kirara helped though."

"Good job, Shippo," Sango said, and Inuyasha moved towards the fire.

"I made the fire too! I used my foxfire to start it!" His tail wagged behind him as he followed them inside.

"You did a really great job. We appreciate you being so brave for us," Miroku said, leaning down to rub the kit's head.

"Is Kagome okay?" Shippo asked as Inuyasha settled her down by the fire.

"Kagome's had a rough night," Sango explained. "Can you get the water and a rag?"

Shippo darted off to the low table where a small basin and pitcher of water sat. There was a small rag that they'd draped over the edge of the basin to wipe their hands off.

Shippo grabbed the basin of water and brought it to Sango. Only spilling enough to make it a hazard for anyone else who walked by.

Kagome was being cared for, and they needed to get out of this fucking village. Except their shit was still everywhere.

"I'm going to pack up your stuff," Inuyasha told them, starting to pull away from where he was kneeling beside Kagome.

Her hands scrambled to grab his.

"Don't go!"

He hesitated, moving back beside her.

"I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and gently rubbing her. "I won't leave without you, but Miroku is going to take for-fucking-ever to pack all our shit with Shippo."

Kagome clutched onto his hand, not saying anything, and his ears flicked back at her desperation.

"Here, you finish wrapping her ankle, and I'll help Miroku," Sango said, holding up the wrap for him to take.

"You good with that?" He looked to Kagome's face, and she nodded, letting go of his hand slowly.

He shifted her leg so that it was in his lap, and gently wrapped the fabric around her ankle before tying it off.

Kagome held her arms out to him, and he moved closer to her and the fire, shifting to pull her into his lap and cradle her against him.

He pulled his haori up a little from where it had started to fall off her shoulder a bit.

"You gotta little bit of time before we move, if you want to try to sleep or something," he offered, and she nodded against his shoulder, sniffling. She grabbed the arm that was wrapped loosely around her, dragging it into her lap to hold between her own. He wrapped his fingers around her hand, turning his head enough to press his lips to her hair.

She sighed through her nose, relaxing as she almost sagged against him and Kirara trotted in front of him, curling up between his feet and the fire.

Inuyasha, in return, exhaled out all his relief.

She was safe. Nothing terrible had happened. Her ankle was fucked up, but she seemed okay.

Kagome seemed like she was asleep, and Inuyasha felt himself unfurl just a little bit. He'd been wrapped so tightly in worry and shame, and he could feel himself poised to crack and crumble under it all. Like the very core of him would spring loose at any second.

"You're okay," he whispered to her, lifting his gaze to look at the rest of them as they milled about the room.

Sango rolled up her sleeping bag as Miroku folded the blankets and packed away her books and medical kit.

A soft knock came to the door as Miroku put the last of her things into her bag.

"I've got it," he said, rising to his feet and grabbing his staff. Inuyasha could see a man standing on the opposite side of the door. His eyes lit on Kagome, widening, and Inuyasha felt a growl rumbling deep in his chest.

"You," he snarled lowly.

"Perhaps we should speak outside of this room. There are many things to address."

"Many?" The man practically whimpered as Miroku guided him away from the door, shutting it behind him.

"Well, this probably won't go well," Sango said, attaching Kagome's sleeping bag to her pack before collecting her and Miroku's things and packing them away quickly and efficiently.

Kirara was napping against his feet, and his hand returned to lightly rubbing circles against Kagome's hip with his fingers.

"Hey, are her socks anywhere around here?" He asked, noting her bare feet and the still pallid color of her skin.

"I pulled a pair out for when we leave," Sango said, handing him the pair of socks. "I've got her shoes over here." He unrolled the socks, sliding them over her feet one-handed.

She stirred a bit when he pulled it up over her injured ankle but didn't wake up entirely.

He could hear footsteps approaching.

"Lord Monk!" A man shouted after him, but Sango didn't seem to register the noise.

"Miroku's comin' and he's done something."

Sango sighed.

"Not that I disagree, but a little notice would be nice," Sango muttered.

"Lord Monk, I beg of you to reconsider!"

A loud obnoxious laugh came from Miroku, and Inuyasha winced. Well, that only confirmed Inuyasha's concerns about a hasty departure.

Sango was already sliding on Kagome's shoes for him.

"Kirara," Sango cooed, lifting her up off the floor. The cat mewed unhappily, curling against Sango, who had already redressed and pulled her small pack over her shoulders.

Shippo puffed up his tail, hissing as the monk opened the door and strode inside, throwing a piece of paper into the fire.

Inuyasha caught sight of the familiar scrawl used for his ofuda before it burned away into nothing.

The man's eyes were wide as he stepped into the room. Inuyasha growled, baring his fangs, and Shippo darted up towards the man, hissing and tail fluffed up as he paused by Miroku's feet.

"We are past the point of consideration," Miroku said.

"You hurt Kagome!" Shippo shouted, and Kagome stirred against his shoulder as Inuyasha shifted his grip around her in case the need for fleeing came to fruition.

Shippo pulled a bit of his foxfire into his palm and smacked it against the wall. A small scorch mark remained, and a bright light shimmered and then faded.

"What was that?" The man asked.

"You have wronged a kitsune, and now other kitsune will know it!" Shippo leapt up, crawling to sit at Miroku's shoulder.

"What?" The man whispered in horror, eyes wide and mouth agape.

Miroku merely stared at the kit perched on his shoulder.

"Let's go, Miroku. We're done here," Shippo ordered, pointing his nose up and away from the man.

Inuyasha shot a look over at Sango, who shrugged.

Kagome took a deep breath, turning towards Inuyasha a bit more.

The man stood in the room looking absolutely horrified, but his words seemed to fail him utterly.

Miroku turned away, walking back towards the group, and Inuyasha hooked his arm under Kagome's knees and rose to his feet.

He walked out after Miroku as the man made noises, mostly sputtering.

"It's early," Miroku started. "We should be able to reach the next town and secure a night at an inn. It will give us at least a little reprieve while we come up with a plan."

Inuyasha didn't like any of this at all, tucking Kagome firmly against him to ward off the cold air that nipped lightly at his skin. She was free to borrow what was his whenever and however she needed it.

"How far do you think the next village is?" Inuyasha asked, eying each of the villagers who were watching them leave.

"Unfortunately, we won't know until we get farther out from here. But I am hesitant to fly out lest it look like we are fleeing some crime," Miroku pointed out, staff jingling as he walked.

"Like fuck we're coming back here anyway," Inuyasha grumbled.

"Yes, but we don't want them sending someone to the next village and causing problems."

Monk had a point, but it didn't mean that Inuyasha had to actually like it. He was required to like absolutely nothing in this life, and quite frankly, there was only one singular thing that he actually liked all the time.

He didn't like anything about this, and it all felt like one more set up courtesy of Kikyo's deranged line of thinking.

And he still didn't know what to make of that, because what the fuck was he supposed to think?

He was fucking pissed, sure, because Kikyo had pulled all the stops and taken zero fucks about what had happened to her.

But if Kagome was right, and there was something wrong with Kikyo—that meant they should probably try to do something about it, right?

That was the right thing to do, even though he didn't want to see Kikyo anytime soon, nor did he think that he'd be capable of keeping what very little control he had over his anger in the process.

Why was his life so fucking complicated?

Why couldn't he just love Kagome and be done with it?

Why did the world seem to feel that his finding one person who took for who he was as a sign that they needed to fucking die?

They reached the edge of the village, and the guards there gave them a wide berth. No one threatened them, and no one really spoke to them at all. If anything, they looked at the group with something akin to fear.

"Is there a problem?" Miroku asked, and the guards profusely shook their heads.

"No!"

"Nothing at all, Lord Monk!"

"No problems!"

Miroku raised an eyebrow at the group of men who were almost violently denying that there were any issues with them and their group at all, despite the obvious morning incident.

"Strange," Sango muttered, eyes shifting over to Miroku and Inuyasha, who'd continued moving through the gates and out onto the road towards their next stop.

Inuyasha turned an ear towards the guards, listening as they muttered amongst themselves.

"Do you really think that we'll be attacked by kitsune?" One of the men asked.

"I heard the monk pulled all his blessings from the village."

"He gave my daughter a blessing," one of them gasped. "Do you think that it will remain?"

"What are they talking about?" Sango asked him, keeping step right beside him.

"They're all pissing themselves because of Miroku and Shippo's stunt back there."

"Speaking of, can you really send a signal to other kitsune like that?" Miroku asked, and Shippo burst out a sharp laugh that rattled him so hard that he nearly rolled off the monk's shoulder.

"You believed that?" Shippo wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I thought that if you were giving out fake blessings, I could give out fake curses."

"My blessings are not fake!"

"Not all of them," Sango mentioned, scratching Kirara's ears.

Kagome shifted a little bit and Inuyasha glanced down, but she was still sleeping—hands curling up against her chest and his and it was fucking adorable. Her face was tilted in and there was a slight pinking of her cheeks as she slept, and he'd never wanted to curl up in a bed next to something so badly in his life.

But the matter remained that he knew that she had to be exhausted from being up all night and all the, you know, fleeing for her life. He could let her sleep as long as she wanted.

But it wasn't meant to be, because Kagome stirred, waking up as they left the village fully.

"Inuyasha?" She mumbled, head leaning away from his shoulder slightly. "Where're we going?"

"Village is getting boring," he told her, eyes and ears open as they started out on the path from one village and towards the next one. "Thought we'd go to a new one. See what shit we can start there."

She stared at him, blinking up with giant eyes that rivaled an owl's.

"You warm enough?"

Another long blink before his words seemed to process.

"I'm okay," she said quietly, but he saw her eyes drifting over his shoulder to stare at the village they were leaving. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. They were assholes."

"They made us leave because of—"

"Because they're assholes."

"I would not pay it much mind, Kagome," Miroku told her. "It was best that we move on anyway. We should head back towards Kaede as it is."

Kagome said nothing to that, but Inuyasha watched her eyes drift away and to her hands under the blanket. He could feel her slipping away and starting to hide again.

"You think you can handle a quick run?" He asked her. "We could put some distance between us and the bastards behind us."

"Okay," Kagome whispered, eyes not quite meeting his, and Inuyasha looked to both Sango and Miroku. He wanted out of these woods and trees that had tried so valiantly to take her from him. He wanted away from these people who'd tried to take her from him. They would be coming to that clearing soon, and he wanted to move beyond it—move past everything. He wanted her beyond the clutches of these trees and forces that kept trying to steal her away from him.

Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all climbed onto Kirara.

"You can sleep in Miroku's robes all you want once we reach the village," Sango promised with a sharp stutter from the monk.

Kirara's let out a mewling roar, and she quickly took to the skies.

"You ready?" Inuyasha asked her, and Kagome nodded. "Tell me if you start to hurt?"

She nodded again, and he held her close before leaping after the others. He made gentle bounds, trying to keep his speed matching Kirara's but also limiting how much his runs jostled her.

He knew that she had to be sore, and her face had already started to turn dark colors that were blotchy and seemed to stretch across her skin far faster and farther than it should have, and for the moment, he didn't regret breaking that fucker's jaw at all.

Maybe a little, but the asshole deserved it.

Inuyasha took the brunt of the jolting force as he landed, letting the shock ripple through his legs and keep her undisturbed. She'd leaned her head against his shoulder, clutching the folds of the blanket closed.

"You still okay?"

Kagome nodded.

"We'll be there soon," he told her, half-hoping that he wasn't lying. The monk said that they'd reach the next village before evening, and Inuyasha just wanted to be indoors, where he could seal the two of them away and keep her safe. He couldn't keep them safe outside. He could try, but everything seemed to be against him.

Who would've thought that he'd be the one insisting on being inside?

But he just wanted to make sure that she was safe.

Kagome took a deep breath, eyes wide, as she looked over his shoulder at something, and Inuyasha ran.

Didn't look over his shoulder, just pressed his legs harder and faster and just ran, trying to put distance between her and whatever it was that was behind him.

When he leapt in the air, he glanced behind them, but there was nothing there. Nothing. He said nothing, because something had bothered her, and he wasn't going to ignore that.

So they'd just put as much distance between them and whatever it was behind them.

The village wasn't as far as he'd feared it would be. It was barely early evening at this point and the workers were already just starting their trek back into the village proper

They landed on the outskirts, regrouping.

Kirara shrunk down and Shippo leapt up to Miroku's shoulder.

"Are we ready?" Miroku asked, glancing over to him and at Kagome. "Are you doing alright? Or would you rather Sango and I go alone to find our rooms."

"I'm okay," she answered, and Inuyasha shifted her in his grip a little so that she was sitting upright a little more.

"You good or do you wanna wait?" He stared at her face, watching her eyes roam over the road that would lead them to the village just ahead.

Sango turned towards her just a bit.

"I think I'm okay," she said, turning to look at him.

"Say the word and we'll fuck off."

A small smile crept up the corners of her mouth, and he looked up at the monk with a nod.

Miroku turned towards the road and started walking as Sango walked beside him with Kirara sprawling happily in Sango's arms.

They reached the village gates and Kagome inhaled sharply; however, no one stopped them or asked questions or bothered them in general.

A few raised their heads and looked their way, but overall most people gave two shits about what they were doing and why they were there in the first place.

Miroku asked about an inn, and several of the villagers pointed him through the village without much pestering and bothering. They walked through the space, and the lack of accusations put him on edge.

It was easy and too effortless, and he questioned what their motives were.

He was keenly aware of his paranoia, but that didn't stop him from wondering what trap they were strolling their way into.

Miroku stopped in front of a small building, turning to look at them.

"We'll get a room for a night and then I assume we will head out tomorrow?" He asked, looking straight at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha didn't want to stay for just a night. He'd like to stay longer, but the fear was there and it muddled everything up. He wanted to leave. He wanted to make sure that Kagome was safe. He wanted to be at Kaede's where he knew that Kagome could be cared for and receive proper treatment for her injuries.

Kaede's was just more, more—he scrambled for the word—it was comfortable.

He didn't have to worry about villagers trying to kidnap, sell, and murder them. The ones that were problems knew that they'd have an entire village to answer to at least or they'd fled the village instead when it had become clear that Inuyasha was welcome within their walls and wasn't leaving any time soon.

Not without making some noise along the way.

He could think of one family that was still somewhat problematic.

"Perhaps I could mention that we might be interested in staying another night if possible?"

That was possible, and Inuyasha nodded. Miroku turned and went inside.

"Do you hear anything suspicious?" She asked, glancing around the smaller village.

"No, most of them didn't even make a comment when we entered. They literally give two fucks about us being here."

"That's good news, I suppose," she mused. "Do you think that we'll have any problems from the other village?"

He crinkled his nose at the thought of them getting kicked out of another inn while Kagome was still somewhat precarious.

"Dunno. They didn't seem that angry," he said lowly. "I think they were more afraid that Miroku removed all his blessings."

Sango tilted her head in agreement at that.

"True, but I'm still edgy," she admitted. "With everything that has happened, it still feels like there's something out there lurking about."

Inuyasha followed her gaze towards the tree line.

"Yeah," he muttered, agreeing with her. He was antsy too. More than usual, but then again, it wasn't like he didn't have a good reason.

"Did she sleep the entire way?" Sango asked, nodding towards Kagome.

"Yeah, she shifted around a little bit, but she's slept through the run."

Miroku reappeared with Shippo, and the both of them turned towards him.

"We have a room," he started, and Inuyasha let out a soft exhale of relief. "Come this way."

Miroku motioned for them to follow, and they all walked in after him. Sango followed him inside with Inuyasha only a step behind her.

Their room was small, but he wouldn't need much space. It wasn't like he was going to just let her be anywhere alone and without him.

Sango was already spreading Kagome's sleeping bag on the floor and spreading it out so she could lay in it.

She'd peeled back the top layer, and he gently laid her legs down, shifting the blanket to cover her up as he carefully lowered her head to the ground. She stirred, grabbing onto his sleeve, as her eyes fluttered open.

He caught the look of fear flit across her features as her fingers gripped his haori tightly.

"We're safe," he told her quietly, and she gave him a small nod, still holding onto his sleeve, trying to either pull herself up or pull him down. "You can sleep," he told her, nodding his head towards the sleeping bag.

"Stay," she whispered, eyes wide and afraid. "Don't go."

He glanced up as Sango was carrying the small privacy screen and setting it up beside Kagome before quietly walking away.

"Please?" She asked him, and honestly—well, who was he to deny her?

After everything?

If she felt safe with him, then who was he to tell her to stay here alone and afraid?

Stretching out onto the bag next to her, she finally let him lay her down, curling his arm under her head and around, tucking her into the delicate space under his chin. Kagome rolled onto her side a bit, pressing herself as close as she could underneath the layers.

"You're warm," she mumbled into his throat, pressing her cooled skin against his, and almost making him flinch. He couldn't hide the grimace though. "You're always warm."

He wrapped his arm around her lower back, and he pressed her firmly against him, letting her draw whatever warmth she needed from him.

Her legs shifted against his as she wriggled and shifted around, pressing herself more firmly against his form as she got herself comfortable.

"Thank you for coming after me," she whispered.

"You keep talking and you're not gonna sleep."

She hummed, almost nuzzling her nose against his throat, and he sighed, leaning his head forward so that he could sniff her just a bit.

She smelled like herself, not like those men, not like anyone other than herself.

And a little bit of him too, and he wouldn't deny that it wasn't horribly terrible to smell her like that. Mostly her and a little bit of himself in there.

It was nice.

That's all.

He breathed deep, feeling her slacken against him with a soft sigh.

She was safe with him, and he could hear Miroku putting up wards, soft prayers drifting through the quiet of the room.

Kirara's soft purrs as they rumbled through the small body.

The hard scratch of Shippo's coloring sticks across paper.

It was quiet and peaceful for once, and he could let himself be quiet with her.

And for the moment, he let himself follow her into sleep.

A/N: Happy Thursday!

I hope you enjoyed our second round of angry Miroku (or is it third?), who has literally zero shits to give in this village anymore. 😂

Miroku has always been sassy to me, but he's really turned the dial up to 11 on this one.

I wish I had better news on the work front. It's definitely not better, and the prognosis isn't great either. My coworkers are pretty much my lifeline at this point, and we've all admitted that we should just fuck admin over and leave mid-year. The only good news is that I have a pretty good case for retaliation, and I have a friend who's stepmom said she would see if she could get me a job outside of teaching (since the district would hold my license through the rest of the school year). And pretty much everyone who knows the situation says that I'm in the right and admin is wrong, so the validation is a good feeling too.

Anyway, I hope that this finds you in a good place and gave you all the InuKag snuggles you've been needing these past couple of weeks. Have a good one. I'll see you all in a couple weeks.