Chapter 84
Caetera desunt
"The rest is missing"


"There are no secrets better kept
than the secrets everybody guesses."
Mrs. Warren's Profession


Someone was combing their fingers through her hair, and she couldn't help the soft noise that escaped her sore throat.

The fingers continued their gentle strokes, and she shifted a bit, trying to roll onto her side, but a sharp pain made her whimper and a hand gently guided her onto her back. She took a deep breath, waiting for the sharp pain to fade.

She blinked a couple times, wincing as she struggled with the brightness of the room.

Inuyasha stared down at her, and she caught black strands running over his fingers. He didn't move as she stared up at him.

"Hey," she rasped, and the sound of her voice seemed to jerk him back to attention.

"You feeling okay?" He asked.

She gave a small nod before shifting to try and sit up on her own, but Inuyasha quickly slid his arms under her, lifting her up with ease while still being mindful of her shoulder.

"I can do it," she muttered weakly as Inuyasha shifted to let her lean against him.

"I know," he mumbled, holding a cup up for her to take. "But you need to let your shoulder rest a bit more."

She took the cup with both hands, pressing it firmly against her lips even as her fingers trembled. The water was cool and refreshing, and Inuyasha held his hand out, waiting for the cup.

She set it gently in his hand, and he moved it off to the side.

"You want any more?"

"Not now," she said, clearing her throat and her voice, coughing weakly.

It was quiet for a moment, before she felt his cheek rest against her head.

"You want some food?" He asked her, reaching over to slide a small tray towards them.

Looking over at the try, it was a small bowl of rice, and while she knew she probably needed to eat, she really didn't have the energy to do anything.

What she really wanted right then was a bath.

But she should probably eat.

"Maybe a little?" She tried to shift, dragging her legs up a little, but that only revealed how weak she was since she really couldn't maneuver herself at all. Or at least not without some amount of pain.

She winced as she put some pressure on her shoulder in an attempt to sit up a little more on her own.

"Don't do that," Inuyasha lectured, shifting her hips back a little so she was propped up against him a bit more.

She dredged up enough energy to laugh at him.

"You're one to talk," she said, leaning her head back to look at his face. He frowned at her as he lifted up the bowl of rice and held it up for her.

"Come on, eat," he said, nudging her, and she reached over for the chopsticks. It took her a moment to fumble them into the correct place, and she picked up a small amount, but her trembling fingers couldn't hold onto it, dropping it back into the bowl.

Trying again—several times—she couldn't manage to get the rice out of the bowl and in her mouth.

She let her hand fall into her lap as her arm already felt tired from all the effort.

"Gimme," Inuyasha said, plucking the chopsticks from her fingers, and picking up a bite of rice and holding it up to her.

"I can do it," she whined.

"You need to eat something before you pass out again," he said, urging her to take the bite he was holding up to her.

Reluctantly, she opened her mouth, taking the bite from him. It was weird, but he said nothing of it, just feeding her as she leaned against him.

After half the bowl was empty, she pushed it lightly away from her.

"You've only eaten half," he whined, urging another bite towards her.

"I'm full, Inuyasha," she told him. "I'm almost miserable."

There was another short whine, and then she felt his nose press against her hair.

She patted the firm thigh next to her, attempting to reassure him that she was okay.

"I'll try to eat more later, okay?"

Honestly, she didn't know how much of that was going to be true. She'd try, but there weren't going to be any guarantees that food was going to get eaten. But it seemed to make him feel a little better.

He seemed to be really struggling today though and that worried her.

"How do you feel?" He growled out after a moment.

"Fine," she answered, and he snorted, lifting his head up.

"Liar," he chided.

"You don't know that I'm lying," she tried to shift a bit more but found that she couldn't really. Everything in her body was stiff and sore and she wanted to move, but at the same time, everything felt weak and almost brittle, and she was already so tired.

"Well, you ain't wriggling like a worm because you're comfortable," he said. "Come on, what hurts?"

She huffed, flopping—as much as the liminal space between them would allow her to do so—her full weight back against him.

"I'm fine, just stiff."

She shifted again, and Inuyasha slid his hands under the backs of her thighs, and she yelped at his fingers touching very bare skin, before lifting her up just enough to put his legs underneath her.

He shifted her so that she rested in his lap, but her legs were propped up by his.

And the stretch in her muscles was nearly divine.

Letting out a low groan, she leaned her head forward as the door leading outside slid open.

"What are you doing?" Sango asked, and Kagome looked up at her.

"She was stiff," Inuyasha snapped behind her, arms coming up as if to encircle her but stopping just shy of touching her.

He'd seemed fine with touching her a moment ago, but now it was like she was completely repulsive to him.

"I need to change her clothes and her bandages," Sango said, and Inuyasha snorted loudly through his nose.

"I'm right here," Kagome said, and Sango's glare at Inuyasha shifted into something lighter.

"Sorry," she said. "I thought that maybe a warm bath might help you feel a little better."

The promise of a bath sounded genuinely amazing, and she wanted nothing more than to feel clean again. Even in the cool air, her skin felt tacky to the touch.

"That does sound good," she said, "but I don't think I'm going to be much help."

"Don't worry about that. Inuyasha will get you there, and I can do the rest."

She turned to look at Inuyasha, who wasn't meeting her gaze at all.

"Is that okay with you?" The tone in Sango's voice alluded to something, but Kagome couldn't figure out what it was.

"Yeah, fine," he answered, carefully moving so that she wasn't jostled at all.

She twisted to look at him, even as he circled around to pick her up.

"You don't have to!" She reached her hand out to touch his arm, letting her fingers rest along the hard column of muscle that ran up to his shoulder.

"It's fine, Kagome," he said, carefully pressing his arm to her back and slipping the other under her knees.

When he lifted her, there were several loud pops along her spine that felt really, really great, but Inuyasha froze, completely and totally still.

"Are you okay?" He asked, eyes wide, looking every bit like he was about to fully panic.

"That felt really great actually," she told him, giving him a smile. "Think you could do that to my whole body?"

Inuyasha just stared at her for a second before looking up at Sango, who was already gathering their bathing supplies.

"This way," Sango said, walking outside and guiding them to the back of the inn. She and Sango had bathed here once before, but it felt like ages ago but also like it was just yesterday.

Inuyasha stepped inside the bath, setting her down on a stool.

He stayed knelt down beside her, hand against her lower back, supporting her.

"You're okay?" He asked as Sango set out her supplies.

Kagome turned to look at him, noting how his eyes watched hers, the feel of his thumb lightly rubbing along her back and his other hand resting mostly on her thigh.

His gaze flicked to Sango, and Kagome frowned at his unusual behavior.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" She asked, watching him as carefully as he was watching her.

Her own hands rested on the arm holding onto her legs, feeling the tendons and ligaments shift under her touch

"Keh, I'm fine," he muttered.

"Well, at least you'll get your clothes back," she said, hearing the water splash as Sango dumped in the hot water from the pot.

"Are we ready?" Sango asked, and Kagome caught the strange look she was giving them. Inuyasha pulled away from her, hesitating just for a moment as she made sure that she could keep herself upright.

Her body felt like it'd been through the ringer to say the least, and every single muscle felt strained.

Sango took Inuyasha's spot, making sure that she was supported, and Kagome watched Inuyasha stand by the door for just a moment.

"We'll call if we need you," Sango said, and at that, he slipped outside, shutting the door behind him.

"Okay, let's get you out of these clothes," Sango said, helping her untie the belt and then slide Inuyasha's haori off her shoulders.

Kagome knew that her hands were bandaged, but she wasn't aware of the extent of the bandages. Her thighs, stomach and chest were all heavily bandaged, and Kagome's hands shook as she stared at herself.

"Hey," Sango said, gently taking her hand. "It's not as bad as it looks."

Was this why Inuyasha didn't want to touch her?

Taking great care, Sango slowly unwrapped her hand, and Kagome could see the blotchy red skin of what had been a light burn.

"We wanted to make sure that you weren't in any pain, so I kept you bandaged and applied salve to keep them from scarring."

"How long has it been?" Kagome asked, trying to remember if she'd already asked the question. Had she? Had she gotten answer?

"Oh, a few days," Sango answered, clearing her throat. "You had a fever for a little bit that had us concerned."

"And Inuyasha's okay?" Kagome asked her, glancing at the door where she knew that he sat waiting on them to finish.

"He's grumpy and irritating, so he's back to normal," Sango said, starting on her thighs.

"I must've been so much work. I'm so sorry," she said, watching each bit of skin revealed by the bandages.

"Don't be. We take care of each other, right?"

"It feels like I've done a lot of taking recently, though," Sango looked up at her, "and it's not like I bring a lot to the table to begin with."

"Don't start." Sango jabbed a finger in her direction. "We don't know what happened inside the barrier, but you are not going to go down that road again."

"You—you don't?" Kagome's eyes widened. They didn't know what had happened inside the barrier. They didn't know that Kikyo had been there. They didn't know what she'd done.

They were going to ask about it. She was surprised that Inuyasha had gone this long. Inuyasha had to know something. He knew that Kikyo was in there. He was aware of that before she poisoned him. But what if that affected his memory. What if he didn't remember seeing Kikyo at all?

Or what if he didn't remember that she'd poisoned him?

There were a lot of possibilities, and Kagome's brain was scrambling to try and keep up with all the questions that she had.

Sango continued to unwrap the bandages, leaving them in a pile next to her. She handed Kagome a rag, getting out a bucket of water.

"I'm going to pour this slowly over you, and I'll let you scrub so I don't hurt you accidentally."

The water flowed gently over her, and Kagome took the rag and gently rubbed all the residue off her skin.

It was tender and sensitive, but felt more like she'd touched a hot pan than an actual burn.

How fast did burns heal?

The salve came off easily, but it was all over her.

Her stomach and chest were still tender to the touch, but it wasn't awful.

Sango rinsed the rag for her, before starting in on shampooing her hair.

It took two full washes to get it feeling clean before they let the conditioner sit and began washing her down. Kagome scrubbed the areas that weren't tender and blanched at how hairy her legs had become.

She knew that it wasn't a thing here, but it rubbed her modern sensibilities the wrong way.

But the bath was already wearing her out, and she knew she didn't have much energy left to dress herself.

She let Sango wash her back and rinse her off several times before helping her towel herself dry.

She didn't say anything and neither did Sango. It was just quiet between them, and it was clear that Kagome had missed something crucial. Something that no one was willing to mention or talk about.

But now wasn't the time. She'd press them for information later.

It felt so much like the last time she'd been unable to bathe herself, and she flinched at the memory.

"Did I rub too hard? Sorry!"

"No! No, it was just—" her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "Never mind. It was nothing."

Sango watched her for just a moment before continuing to dry her back and side. Wrapping her hair up in a towel like Kagome had shown her ages ago, Sango knelt down beside the tote she'd brought.

"Do you want me to wrap the bandages? Do you think you need them?"

"Can we try without?" Kagome asked. "It doesn't feel like a fresh burn, but I don't want to waste them."

"We can always put them on later if you change your mind. But I do need to bandage your shoulder and arm."

Her shoulder?

Oh.

Right.

She reached her hand back slightly remembering the sharp sting and the force that had knocked her down.

Kikyo had tried to kill her—several times actually. Fingers nimbly applied the bandage to her shoulder and wrapped a small amount around her arm.

"We should have Kaede take a look at it when we get back."

Kaede—that made Kagome wince a bit. The idea of telling Kaede that her sister—who she probably still looked up to—had attempted to murder her on several occasions felt more like tattling. Kaede had already lost her once. How could Kagome take away those last few good memories of her now? She couldn't ruin her sister's image like that.

Sango rose up, picking up one of the shirts that she'd brought with them and slid it onto her shoulders. Kagome fished her arms through the sleeves and began buttoning the front.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she buttoned her shirt, and Sango slid her underwear and pants onto her feet.

"Okay, I'm going to lift you up, so you can pull them on, okay?" Kagome nodded as Sango moved behind her, dragging her up to her feet, and Kagome quickly slid the pants on, relying completely on Sango to keep her upright.

"Inuyasha!" Sango called, and the door flung open almost immediately.

"Why is she up?" He chastised as he strode in while Kagome practically hung like a small kitten from her arms.

"I can carry her back if you don't want to do it."

Inuyasha glared at her, quickly lifting Kagome up into the air before she could even reach out for him.

"Don't say stupid shit," he muttered, shifting Kagome's weight a bit. He looked at the towel wrapped around her hair, scowling at it like it had reached out and fondled an ear without permission. "Why is her hair still wet?"

"I'm going to dry it in the room after I'm done washing!"

"Keh, she'll catch cold. I'll take care of it."

Inuyasha turned them both around, and Kagome could only look up at him.

"Stupid Sango," he muttered, tucking her up against him as he walked briskly across the yard back towards their room. "Leaving your hair wet."

"It's not that big of a deal," she said quietly and lowly.

"You could get sick," he snapped back as he stepped up onto the porch.

"Inuyasha," she sighed. "I've run around in the snow with wet hair before, and I haven't gotten sick yet."

He scoffed, edging the door open with a foot and stepping inside. He turned, nudging the door closed before moving close to the fire in the center of the room.

Most of the privacy screens had been moved, so that the room was open again.

It had made everything feel so small before. He set her down with great care, a hand on her back to make sure that she was stable before reaching over to grab a blanket and draping it over her shoulders, pulling her hair out gently from underneath.

She really wasn't cold, but he took a towel from the stack by her bag, rifling through the bag itself for something. He held up the brush.

"This, right?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I can do it," she said as he moved to sit behind her.

He scoffed, shifting so that his legs rested on either side of hers and the towel flopped unceremoniously across her face.

"Hey!" She giggled, as hands gently rubbed the towel across her head. She'd expected him to be rougher, rubbing her hair vigorously—much like he did anything else in life—but he was very careful, very gentle not to jostle her too much.

He always took such great care with her, no matter what was happening, but she had the sinking feeling that guilt was involved here. She didn't want him to think that any of this was his fault, because it wasn't.

He literally had nothing to do with any of this.

He was just caught in the crossfire of a fight that Kagome wasn't quite grasping. It wasn't like having her soul meant that Kikyo could come back from the dead, and she'd been fine before—well, mostly fine.

She'd always seemed to have it out for Kagome, but it had been a while; quite frankly, Kagome had thought she'd gotten through whatever issue it was but clearly not.

But then again, something was wrong with Kikyo, and Kagome knew that it was selfish to not say anything about it.

But it felt like opening a never ending can of worms.

He'd leave her behind—like he always did when Kikyo was involved. And she just wanted to have one more day with him.

He moved down towards the middle of her hair, gently squeezing it free of any excess water, and she pulled the blanket tighter around her as the imaginary cold seeped in between the cracks.


A/N: Happy Thursday! It feels like a lot really didn't happen in this chapter except some InuKag moments, but there are things lurking on the horizon. I promise.

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