Chapter 27

Inuyasha had never run as fast as he was running now. He could feel the harsh air saw in and out of his lungs and his thighs burned with the effort of each extended leap.

In the distance, the burst of jyaki was growing stronger.

Where the fuck did it come from!?

For the past two days he'd been doing a perimeter check around the village and well into the surrounding forests and there was nothing. Zero. Zip.

It's as if whatever the fuck this was just materialized out of nowhere. But he knew the likelihood of that was slim; the more likely explanation was that he'd done a shit job of patrolling.

This youkai wasn't dumb either, to have had the sense to have waited for him to get far enough away. It must've set its sights on the village for a while, and he'd just been useless at picking up on it.

Fuck!

Inuyasha growled and shook his head furiously trying to dash the stupid thoughts away. They were nothing but distractions right now, and he needed to goddamn focus.

The trees were a continuous blur on either side of him, stray branches whipping him in face and sides but he hardly noticed.

It seemed like an eternity before he finally cleared the forest and slid down the hill towards the village.

His ears seized with each scream and his heart clenched each time the octave was close, but not quite the voice he was hoping and dreading to hear. The humans shouted from every direction, distorting the sounds. Smell was also near useless with how much the stink of youkai crisscrossed everything. The overpowering taint of terror in the air was fucking with his ability to track.

Almost absently, Inuyasha noticed the swarms of juvenile youkai— ugly little bastards. They were much too weak to have produced the burst of jyaki he sensed earlier, which meant the bigger threat was still lurking elsewhere.

The hanyou knew that he probably should give a shit that some of the villagers were currently very much in deep shit. But to be blunt, most of these humans would not involve themselves to help him should the situation be reversed. They'd just throw him at the youkai and hope that bought them more time to run.

The most pressing objective that his instincts were laser focused on was finding what he deemed was his to protect.

Inuyasha tore down the road with all his senses painfully sharpened, trying to find something, anything that could suggest where Kagome was.

He was getting frantic—a foreign feeling like an iron fist clamping around his insides—and he kept searching. Even he was getting dizzy with how fast his eyes were scanning, making sure that every downed body did not wear the face of the slender girl nor the kid's. For once he wished Kagome was still wearing her weird kimono, and didn't blend into the sea of dull fabrics.

Kikyou could handle herself—but Kagome was just a human, one that didn't even live in a world with youkai. And Kaede might've had a fighting chance, if she wasn't down with something.

A rattling sound came from behind him, but he ducked a second too late, distracted as he was.

Pain seared all up the sides and back of his neck as he felt multiple sets of tiny mandibles sink into his skin. Those that attacked his body could not pierce his fire-rat armour, and he shook them off furiously like flies.

Reaching up, Inuyasha ripped through the bodies of the youkai still clamped onto his neck, neatly severing their heads. The crackling of shattered chitin pacified his own agitated youki for a moment.

He was gonna seriously fuck up whoever decided to hunt in his territory.

Inuyasha hurried on, ignoring the blood dripping down his neck, soaking the collar of his robes. The broken skin burned something fierce.

His head snapped up at a repeat pulse of jyaki.

It came from all the way down the other end of the village, because, fuck him, of course it would.

In two running steps, Inuyasha launched up over the low huts and finally located the motherfucker.

It was a substantially large demon, and most likely the parent of the swarm of youkai larvae that were overrunning the village.

Leaping from roof to roof, Inuyasha closed in. His intense gaze was so focused on the prey up ahead, he almost missed the glimpse of a frightened face from his periphery.

Realizing this, his brain abruptly slammed his body to a stop and he landed his step wrong, skidding on his side down a steep roof to the ground.

Kagome!

And there she was, a few huts down, but with a shitload of debris in his way.

She looked like she'd rolled around in the dirt but the stance she was in was surprisingly strong and sure. And in her hands was a hunter's bow with an arrow nocked in place.

He had no idea she knew how to shoot.

The slight tremor of her limbs betrayed her anxiety. Before he could leap forward or shout at her, she'd pulled back and released.

The air around him exploded in blue. The energy sizzling the tip of every hair on his body, singeing his already frayed nerves.

Inuyasha knew what this energy was. And more importantly, what it did.

His jaw slacked as his eyes told him without a doubt that the giant snake-centipede youkai from seconds before had been purified from this earth.

The hanyou stared for the next handful of seconds, dully wondering why he was still alive being caught in that explosion of power. Dumbfounded, he raised one of his hands to check for his claws, which, thank fuck, was still intact.

Sluggishly, he looked up just as Kagome screamed.

The slight girl had crumpled to the ground, the bow discarded. To her human senses, the swarm of smaller youkai must be charging at an impossible speed. She curled in on herself, slender arms wrapping desperately around her head.

You dumbass!

He snarled at his own stupidity, being so shocked at the latest turn of events that he'd almost failed the one priority he had.

Inuyasha shot forward, feeling his youki swell in anticipation.

"Sankon-tessou!"

Golden blades of energy shot forward one after another with deadly precision, instantly shredding all the demons in the vicinity.

"Kagome!"

At the sound of his harsh cry, Kagome flinched back. Her grey eyes were wide and frightened as they stared up at him. For a split second, she seemed dazed, as if she couldn't quite recognize him yet.

He cursed aggressively and dropped down, gathering her bodily in his arms and pushed her firmly against his chest

His heart was racing wildly, thumping so hard against his ribs that he was sure she would feel it.

Her hair was wild and tangled around her. Without his permission, his hands were already running their way through it, claws trying desperately to calm the locks, calm her but only managed to tangle it further.

For another moment, Kagome stayed as stiff as a board, then with a feeble gasp she crumpled, as if all the air escaped her small body. A choked sob fought its way up her throat, then another mangled one followed as she fully collapsed against him. Inuyasha tightened his hold, instinctively curling his body around her in a protective grip. One clawed hand buried itself at her nape, cradling the back of her head. His ears were folded down tight against his skull, trying to hide from the distress of her cries that were somehow affecting him with an alarming intensity.

History had confirmed that his mere essence was hardly reassuring, so he had no experience being that for others. But he could try.

Dipping his nose down to the crown of her head, he too took a shuddering breath.

Her tears fall hot and wet, trickling down past the vee of his undershirt. A vague part of his brain was objecting that this seemingly defenceless human girl, seemingly defenceless for the multiple moons he'd known her, now most definitely had latent —powerful— spiritual powers. And thus, logically much too high of a risk to hold tight against his neck and breast, where she could easily deal a fatal blow.

Inuyasha took another breath and promptly froze.

Instantly those pesky objections were overrode with the need to find where the smell of Kagome's blood was coming from.

He needed to know if it was serious or not.

The hanyou shifted his grip, trying to push her away from his chest so he could get a better look. Kagome made a sniffle of protest, winding her arms tighter around his waist.

"Kagome- dummy, let me see!" He admonished. "Where are you hurt?"

"'S just my knee," He barely deciphered her garbled words mumbled into his clothing. "I fell on it."

Then, Kagome tensed up in his arms again.

"Inuyasha, the others! Go help the others!" She gasped all of a sudden, clutching the fabric of his sleeve.

He growled his objection, annoyed that her pragmatic mind had already won over her emotions in record time. He was reluctant to stray away from her, let alone for those idiots he couldn't give a shit about.

"Inuyasha, please!" She pushed at his arm still clamped around her. "I need to get Kaede."

Swearing under his breath, he begrudgingly pulled away from her. One look at her glistening, grey eyes had him cursing even louder, before jumping up.

"Don't go far, Kagome."

She nodded, then gestured urgently beyond them.

Even though every instinct in him was screaming to not leave her side, the hanyou bounded away anyway.

His fingers still tingled with the ghost of the feeling of being tangled in her hair. The smell of her fear, blood and tears were rolled into one nauseating mixture trapped in his nostrils and it made him feel like he was caged up. His agitated youki rolled beneath his skin, filling him with an urge to tear something down. Anything, to fix this.

Inuyasha flew through the village at lightning speed, sending arcs of his signature youki blades at every swarm of small youkai he saw. He barely registered the humans, only enough to make sure he aimed his attack precisely.

This time, he didn't give a fuck about hiding the extent of his abilities—they can think what they want—because he just needed to get back to Kagome and then get the kid.

When he was mostly sure that all the demons that were actively threatening the villagers were dealt with, he immediately reversed course. The remainder he could flush out later.

Racing back to where he saw Kagome last, he was relieved to see she had heeded his orders and did not wander far. The hanyou found her a handful of houses away, crouched beside a small form resting against a wall.

At the sound of his feet landing on the packed dirt, two sets of wary eyes snapped up at him.

Kaede looked like death warmed over. Maybe he was exaggerating a bit, but her small face was pale and overwhelmed, eyes so wide they nearly took up half her face.

Shifting his gaze to look Kagome over, his eyes immediately honed in on the speckles of demon guts splattered on one side of her pretty face—because he had to cut them down in close range of her.

He swore loudly.

The kid startled and Kagome had the audacity to glare at him hard. "Inuyasha!"

Given their circumstances, she should cut him some frickin' slack.

"Wasn't at ya," he muttered at Kaede. "Let's get ya outta 'ere'

Without waiting for a confirmation, he scooped them both up from the ground, disregarding their yelps.

Ignoring the clamour of the villagers enroute, the hanyou sped back to Kaede's home. Flinging the entrance hanging back with a violent clatter, he sniffed the air inside to make sure nothing nasty was hiding.

He let his fragile cargo down on the raised platform. Kagome wasted no time in getting to Kaede's side, giving the young girl a once over for anything amiss. Aside from being still speechless from shock over the recent events, the kid should be largely fine.

Inuyasha could almost see Kagome's thoughts whirling around her head as she busied. She was biting her bottom anxiously, no doubt considering what she needed to do after settling Kaede.

Unconsciously, his hands fisted at his side, claws digging into his skin as he stared at her. Even though it made him grit his teeth in frustration, something made him unable to tear his eyes away.

The dried tear tracks on her skin, and her cheeks smeared with dirt when she tried to wipe them away… it set his nerves on edge.

Kagome was muttering something about water when she turned towards him, feeling his intense focus at the back of her head. Something on him caught her attention though, and she frowned, brows pulling down worriedly, grey eyes lingering at his chin level.

"Oh! Inuyasha, you're—"

"I'll get your water." He cut her off roughly, backing up in two large steps and near bolting out of the hut.

His youki was going haywire—which had definitely happened in the past but nothing quite like this particular insanity. It was like he was driven to simultaneously clutch Kagome close for some bizarre reason but also to eliminate all threats around them.

Violence was the easier answer. Usually.

And maybe by the time he cleared the village of the remaining youkai, and went to get water—after dunking his whole self into the river for good measure—whatever this was will have calmed the fuck down.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N: Is It bad that I find it strangely enjoyable to write Inuyasha in full freak out mode? ^^;

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.