Inuyasha woke up a few hours later to Kagome shivering. He sat up. "Kagome? Are you okay?" he asked. He felt her forehead. It was super hot and she was covered in sweat. He shot up. "Kaede!" he yelled. Everyone woke up.
Kaede walked over to Kagome. She felt Kagome's forehead. "She has a dangerously high fever. We need to cool her down." said Kaede. Kagome's eyes fluttered open. "I'm okay." she mumbled. She shut her eyes again.
"Bring me the lighter blanket Inuyasha." He handed another blanket to Kaede. She switched the blankets. Kaede took the heavier blanket and Kagome started to shiver more. "She's shivering! What do we do?" Kaede put the lighter one over her.
"We have to break the fever. We need to keep an eye on her and keep a cool cloth on her forehead. Hopefully, it doesn't get much higher." Inuyasha nodded. "So we just wait." Kaede nodded. "Aye."
Inuyasha told the others to go back to sleep and that he would keep an eye on Kagome himself. They agreed and they went back to sleep. Inuyasha watched over her for hours, not moving at all. Her fever broke around dawn. Once Inuyasha got the okay from Kaede he allowed himself to sleep for a bit.
Later that morning everyone woke up to Inuyasha sleeping next to Kagome, holding her hand. They all smiled and let him sleep for a few more hours.
Inuyasha woke up to everyone looking at him with a smile. He jumped up and faced away from Kagome, blush flushing his face. Sango started to giggle lowly. Inuyasha walked out and jumped into a tree and he looked at the sky.
'Thank the Gods that Kagome made it through the night. But how long will it be before she can travel again? And how serious is her wound? It has already reopened once. Perhaps I should leave her in her time? No! Last time she did everything she could to return after that battle with Sesshomaru. She could get herself hurt worse without me around.'
Inuyasha sighed and his ears twitched as he heard Kagome's breathing change. That meant she was waking up. He jumped out of the tree and rejoined his friends in the hut. Sango looked at Inuyasha. She looked at the others. "Come on, we should go and take a walk." she said to the others. They nodded.
Kagome's eyes flickered open and she looked at him. "How are you feeling Kagome?" Kagome tried to sit up and she gasped in pain. Inuyasha pushed her back down gently. "Easy, you still have to rest."
Kagome nodded. "Kagome, can we talk about what happened yesterday?" Kagome looked at him. "What do you mean?" Inuyasha sighed. "You being reckless." Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes.
"This again? Listen I took the hit for you. You have done it for me many times. I was trying to repay the favor and keep you safe. Let it be. It's in the past. You can't change it."
Inuyasha looked at her in anger. "When are you going to get it through your head that you are nothing but a mortal? You are human and you can't take blows like I can! I'm built tougher than you."
Kagome looked at him. "I am more than just a mortal! I am your companion! I may not have a high tolerance for pain and injuries and most if not all of your wounds would have killed me but I am your companion. And if there is a possibility that I can save your life or help you I am going to take that risk! Just as you have done for me! And I would do it again!"
Inuyasha looked at her in shock. "And there was you telling me to take the shot on Naraku." Kagome looked at him. "You basically told me to take you out too. How could you do that? How could you ask me to do that?"
Kagome looked at him. "Because it would have been over. You and the others would have been free from Naraku. Your journey would be over." Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, but you would have been dead."
Kagome looked at him. "Maybe. But I was ready to let that happen. Because those I hold dear would be free."
"But you would have been dead! Why the hell are you just overlooking that!? You basically told me it was okay to kill you yesterday! And you actually expected me to do that! How could you ask me to do that!? I don't understand it!"
Kagome shot up wincing in pain. "You would be free Inuyasha! You would be free. Someone so important to me would be happy. You could live your life. And you could be happy. That's all I want for you Inuyasha. To be happy. And if that meant that I would go down with Naraku, then so be it."
"And another thing until you start taking it easy when you are injured and close to death then I will do the same."
Inuyasha shook his head. He stood up. "You need to rest." She looked up and his bangs covered his eyes. "You need to rest for the next few days and then I will take you back to your time."
Kagome's heart sped up. 'I can't stay and rest! I don't know how long I have till this miasma reaches my heart! I have to leave now! I have to destroy Naraku before I die! I want everyone to have peace!'
The next day Kagome woke up and sat up, whimpering in pain as her damaged body screamed in protest. She looked over to her bag and she grabbed some pain meds from her backpack.
She could hear Inuyasha outside the hut. She and Inuyasha hadn't really talked since their argument. She struggled to get her wounded body to the doorway.
"We should stay in the village for a bit more. I still want to make a trip to the future for Kagome but she still needs to rest for a bit. Her wound is still too fresh. She could reopen it or make it worse. She has already gotten a fever from pushing herself. She is in no condition to be traveling." said Inuyasha.
"I agree. Kagome may need a week to rest just to get her strength back. We don't want her to overdo it." said Miroku. Kagome moved the curtain and the others turned to face her.
"Kagome, you should be resting." said Sango racing over to help her. She helped Kagome to walk over to the others. Sango helped her sit down as gently as she could. Kagome tried to ignore the pain in her side as she sat down.
"I'm feeling better today. We should go after Naraku." said Kagome. Everyone looked at her in shock. "Have you lost your mind!? You need to rest. You need time to heal." said Inuyasha.
Kagome looked at him. "Like we talked about yesterday practice what you preach before you decide to tell me what I can and can't do." Inuyasha glared at her stubbornness. "He couldn't have gotten far." said Kagome.
"No," said Inuyasha. Kagome glared at Inuyasha. "What do you mean no?" she said. Inuyasha looked at her. "You are in no condition to be traveling. You lost a lot of blood yesterday not to mention that you spiked a dangerously high fever last night."
'The fever must be my body trying to fight off the miasma traveling through my body. Thank goodness they can't sense it. Thank goodness Inuyasha can't smell it.'
"That doesn't matter Inuyasha. I'm strong enough to leave. So please can we go?" She stood up and walked away, ignoring her screaming body. She grabbed her backpack her bow and quiver. She gasped in pain when she stood up straight.
"You are really serious about this." said Inuyasha. She turned and looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, let's go." She said adamantly walking past him and out of the hut. Inuyasha sighed and followed her out.
Everyone was ready to leave. "Anytime that you aren't feeling up for this we will come back so you can rest." said Miroku. Kagome nodded. Miroku and Sango hopped on Kirara.
Inuyasha walked over to her. "Can you handle riding on my back?" Kagome nodded. She hopped on and she tried to keep the hiss of pain to herself. "I will try to go as gentle and smooth as I can." Kagome nodded.
Kagome shut her eyes tightly and she tried to brace herself for the pain that came with traveling on his back. Inuyasha was more worried with every step he ran. He could feel Kagome clench his shoulder with every jump he did to stay up with Miroku and Sango.
He knew that she wasn't up for this. He knew that she was in a lot of pain and she was going to keep trying to keep it to herself. Inuyasha tightened his grip under her as he tried to keep her from being jostled too much.
Two days had passed and Kagome was feeling worse and worse with every passing minute. She was exhausted and she felt dizzy and weak. But she had to keep going. She was worried that she would be killed by the miasma before they could find and destroy Naraku.
They had made it to a little village to take a break and get some rest. Inuyasha dropped Kagome at the house they were staying at. He was going to go into the village to look for some medicine and stuff for Kagome.
He knew that she was in pain. He knew that she was getting worse and that she was exhausting herself. But he didnt know exactly how bad off she was. Kagome walked to the doorway of the house and she looked at the sunset.
Suddenly she pulsated and she got a horrible stinging in her chest. She dropped to her knees and she started to cough and choke. Kagome continued to cough, trying to catch her breath.
She was able to get it under control. She felt something wet in her hand. She took her hand from her mouth. Blood. Dark blood at that. She knew what it meant. The miasma was getting close to her lungs. It was becoming hard to breathe.
Kagome quickly wiped her hand with the alcohol pad that she kept in her first aid kit. Inuyasha and the others got close to the house and Inuyasha smelled her blood. He rushed in.
"Are you okay? I smelled your blood." he said. Kagome was sitting back where he set her down. She nodded. "Yeah, just fine." She lied. He walked over to her. "I smell something mixed with your blood."
'Damn, he smells the alcohol pad.' "I just redressed my wound. That's all." Inuyasha shook his head. "That blood smells fresh. Do you want us to leave so Sango can take a look?"
Kagome shook her head. "I was right. You aren't in any condition to be traveling. We need to take you back to your time." Kagome looked at him in horror. "No!" she yelled desperately.
Inuyasha looked at her in shock. "What the hell is going on with you? There's something that you aren't telling me. This time is different. You are never this adamant about hunting Naraku. Or this stubborn."
"What is so different about this time?" Kagome looked at the ground, her hair covering her eyes.
'I'm dying Inuyasha. I want to make sure that I can help you destroy Naraku before his miasma takes over. I just want you to be happy. Because I love you.'
"It doesn't matter. I'm okay. So let's just get dinner over with so we can leave early in the morning." She turned away from her friends and she looked at the wall. Later that night Kagome had decided to go to the bathhouse so she could clean up a little.
Kagome undressed and she looked at the bandages covering her side. She groaned in pain as she pulled the bandages from her skin. The wound was turning black and there was miasma oozing from the wound.
She tried to clean it and she cried out in pain as she tried to clean it up and redress it. Tears fall down her face as she looked at the sky. 'Dammit Naraku.' She thought as she redressed the wound, trying to cover any evidence of the miasma oozing.
REWRITTEN FEBRUARY 2024