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Blackness began to fade and blurs of color swam in the emptiness. The first thing Kagome felt upon regaining consciousness was a hand on her forehead. She could feel the tips of claws ghosting over her skin and coming to rest at her neck; fingers pressed gently against her pulse for a moment. A deep rumbling sound reached her ears, comfortingly low and quiet. The hand slid down further, coming to rest at her shoulder. There was a soft rustle of fabric, and then the rumbling faded. In its place, she thought she could hear the faint sound of sniffing.
The pain was everywhere. It burned in her veins like hot acid, mercilessly spreading down from her injured shoulder across her entire torso and flowing through her limbs. Kagome tried to squirm away from the torture, but it was no use. Her body wouldn't obey her. She remained immobile, unable to even blink as she stared into the blurry mass of colors and tried to make sense of things.
What had happened? Kagome searched through the fog of her mind. There had been a demon… but she could only remember fragments of the fight. She had heard Shippo calling out… there was a streak of white, a blinding pain, a yell, a flash of red and silver… and then blackness.
"Kagome?"
That voice was so familiar. She tried to answer him, but her own voice wouldn't come out, her mouth wouldn't move an inch.
"Can you hear me, Kagome?"
Yes, she willed herself to respond. Why couldn't she speak?
"This is gonna hurt a lot, but you'll just have to bear it, all right?"
Kagome panicked as she felt the hand at her shoulder start to probe, claws digging carefully into the open wound there. The pain intensified, burning horribly as the half-demon's claws closed around something in her shoulder. In one swift movement, he ripped it out, and Kagome screamed internally at the sudden explosion of pain. But she remained motionless, and had been unable to utter a sound.
Apparently she didn't need to. "Sorry," came the voice. "Part of the fang was still in there. Had to get the damned thing out."
Her vision, which had mostly been occupied by a very dark blue with green smudges at the sides, suddenly switched to silver and gold.
"I'm gonna close your eyes, okay? Don't freak out."
Sure enough, she felt another hand move up to her face and her vision faded to black again. The dryness of her eyes eased a bit; how long had she been lying here, unable to blink?
The peaceful silence was suddenly interrupted by a loud thump and three very concerned voices.
"Kagome!"
"Oh no… Kagome…"
"Inuyasha, she's not—?"
"She'll be all right." The half-demon's voice came from right beside her. "The poison isn't lethal."
"How can you be so sure?" demanded Sango. "I've never seen her that still, Inuyasha…" Kagome could hear the worry in the demon slayer's voice as her footsteps got closer.
"I've had this stuff before." The hanyou's voice was gruff. "It's meant to paralyze, not kill. The bastard thought he could make her stay put and then eat her after the battle, I bet. Keh! As if we'd let him get away with that!"
A smaller hand brushed against her forehead this time. "Kagome…" Sango murmured.
"Don't move her," Inuyasha warned. "That'll just spread it around. The poison doesn't kill, but it hurts like hell."
The hand on her head retreated.
"But we can't just stay here," Miroku pointed out. "All kinds of nasty demons will be coming to feed off the remains of this one. And it's very likely that this area is close to the demon's nest. If we stay, we might have to fight more of them."
"He's right, you know," pitched in Sango.
"You guys don't get it," Inuyasha argued. "Every inch that she moves is gonna hurt her. I can't just put her on my back and run, that'd be torture."
Her friends' voices quieted a bit as they worked out a plan. Kagome wearily tried to tune it out, but was brought back to reality when she heard the heavy rustling of fabric again, very close to her ear this time. One clawed hand slid under her neck to rest beneath her shoulder, as the other gently nudged her knees upward.
"I'm gonna get this over with as soon as I can, Kagome." The half-demon's voice sounded rueful.
A split second later, the pain began. Kagome would have cried if she could have. She felt herself being picked up, the motion sending streaks of white-hot poison through her body. Inuyasha took a few cautious steps and then leaped, and the burning spiked again. Stop, she wanted to beg. Please, please just stop moving!
At last the pain began to recede, though it continued to pulse in her veins even after the movements ceased. Her foggy brain tried to comprehend the situation. She was still being held against the half-demon's chest… Inuyasha didn't seem to be running, but she could still feel the rush of cold wind in her hair, which meant… Kirara?
As if on cue, the cat demon growled softly, and Inuyasha answered with a rumble of his own. Kagome tried to relax during the ride, but that was easier said than done.
After a very excruciating landing—ironically, it was probably the softest one she'd had in her life, she realized later—Kagome found herself nestled against Inuyasha again. Though the paralysis still prevented her from opening her eyes, there was no mistaking the feel of his fire rat robe.
"We're staying put now," the half-demon reassured her.
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It was a long time before Kagome began to get her bearings again. As her mind became more aware, she realized that she was now able to breathe a bit easier, furrow her eyebrows, and swallow.
The young priestess opened her eyes, blinking slowly. Her vision was still a bit blurry, but it was getting better. Above her she could see Inuyasha, sitting very still with his back against a tree trunk. She was cradled sideways in his lap—it was as if he had been carrying her bridal style, and then had simply sat down that way. She could feel one of his arms still supporting her shoulders; the other was resting limply over her abdomen. If she hadn't known better, she'd have said he was sleeping—but no, this pose was one he often took while on guard during the night.
"I-Inu…ya…" she gasped. That hurt!
The half-demon's eyes snapped open. "Kagome?"
"Y-yeah…" She winced as her voice cracked painfully.
Inuyasha reached over to the yellow backpack at his side, pulling out one of Kagome's modern water bottles. He looked hesitant for a moment, but then unscrewed the cap and held it to the girl's lips. She drank from it gratefully. After he pulled it away, she cleared her throat and spoke again, only slightly hoarse this time.
"Where are we?"
"Yesterday's campsite," he answered, eyeing her carefully. "How are you feeling?"
Kagome grimaced. "Sore."
"I'll set you down if you want me to," the half-demon said hastily. "Your 'sleeping-bag' thing is probably more comfortable—"
"No!" her response was a bit faster than she intended. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she mumbled, "this is fine."
Inuyasha's voice was gruff; his face was a bit red too. "Can you move at all yet?"
Experimentally, Kagome tried to move her hand, but found that only a single finger twitched. At least her head could move a little, she thought hopefully, as she shook her head in response to his question.
"Damn it," Inuyasha muttered.
"Sorry," she responded meekly.
"Huh? Not you!" The half-demon's eyes were wide. "Damn that snake and his stupid poison!"
Oh. Kagome still felt a little guilty, though. Wasn't she always the one who needed saving?
"What happened back there?" she asked him. "I don't really remember…"
"That white snake was being a pain. You know the Jewel shard power you saw in his forehead? Turns out it was huge. Maybe the size of five normal shards."
Kagome slowly pieced together what was left of her memories. "Sango got hit, didn't she?"
"She's okay. Kirara took most of the blow, and Miroku caught Sango when she fell off. They're scouting the area now." Inuyasha paused. "But Kirara had a hard fall during the fight. Shippo ran out from the hiding place to see if she was injured."
That's right, Kagome realized. She remembered hearing the little fox demon's shout and watching him run out onto the battlefield… she remembered grabbing her bow and running after him…
"That was when it all went to hell," Inuyasha said, as if answering her thoughts. "Snake demons crave young meat more than anything else. You were keeping Shippo safe with your arrows, so he went after you instead." The anger in Inuyasha's voice faded into bitterness. "Freaks like him can be really fast when they want to be. I didn't get there in time."
Kagome recalled the streak of white, the sudden pain, and the last glimpse she'd had of red and silver before losing consciousness. "I think I remember," she said hesitantly. "It was a close one. You might have deflected the attack a bit, actually."
"Didn't make a difference." The half-demon sulked, and Kagome didn't have the energy to argue any further. The blurriness of her vision was making her dizzy, so she closed her eyes and let her mind drift. Several minutes passed in silence, only broken by the soft sound of rustling leaves.
"Hey." It was almost a whisper. "You awake?"
"Mhmm…"
"Are you…. uh…" Inuyasha sounded flustered. "I mean… does it… still hurt really bad?"
"A little," she answered honestly. "Not as bad as before."
The half-demon muttered another curse, and took a deep breath. "Look, I don't know what you need. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, so you've gotta tell me if I am."
"You're not doing anything wrong," Kagome said as she opened her eyes again. She smiled a little, the best she could do in her current state. "Thanks for being so careful earlier. It helped."
His hold on her relaxed a bit. "So you were awake back there. I thought so."
"Yeah." She paused, considering. "You said… you've had this poison before?"
Inuyasha avoided her gaze, looking up at the night sky instead. Too late, Kagome realized this must be a touchy subject. But just as she was about to give up on getting an answer, he spoke again.
"It was really bad timing," he explained. "The stupid snake bit me right as the sun went down and no moon was coming up. And by chance, the stupidest monk in all of Japan was walking by right then."
The girl in his arms listened eagerly.
"That idiot obviously couldn't sense youki at all. He saw my black hair and had no idea I was a half demon. Keh—probably saw the snake and just thought he was a normal snake, too," Inuyasha said mockingly. "But whatever. He didn't fight the thing off… he just threw some stupid anti-demon charms at it. While the snake was busy he grabbed me, slung me over the back of his damned horse, and galloped away."
Kagome gasped, remembering how painful it was to even be picked up slowly. Horseback riding must have been horrible. "Oh, Inuyasha…"
"Saved my life," the half-demon pointed out. "But the pain was unbearable. And I spent the whole night thinking, what's gonna happen when the sun rises? He's a monk. Didn't matter that he saved me, he'd just kill me anyway. Good thing the poison didn't last long enough to find out."
"Yeah," Kagome agreed. "That was close."
They fell into easy silence again. Kagome wished she could have burrowed further into his robe, as it was starting to get cold, but her body stubbornly refused to obey her.
"How long does it last?" she asked him finally.
"Hard to say. For me, it was about half the night. Your bite doesn't look as bad, though." His gaze flicked to her injured shoulder, and then back to her face. "You sure you don't need anything?"
"I'm a little hungry," the girl admitted timidly, her face turning slightly pink. She knew that she wouldn't be able to feed herself in this state, but she really did feel starving. "I think there's a granola bar in the front pocket of—"
"No." Inuyasha shook his head a bit apologetically. "Not while you're paralyzed, Kagome. You might be able to swallow it, but you can't digest it yet. Anything else?"
"Oh." She hesitated. "Um… no, I'm all right. It's kind of cold, but…"
"Keh. Why didn't you say so earlier?" The half-demon was already reaching up toward the neckline of his fire rat robe. "C'mere." Lifting her up slightly, he shifted her position so that she was huddled closer to his chest. She felt the heavy fabric of his robe drape over her, the half-demon's arms settling protectively around her paralyzed form.
And Kagome realized—in this moment, alone in the woods with a silver-haired, clawed and fanged companion, she had never felt more safe.
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AN: I agonized over this chapter for way too long. I probably should have cut out a lot of it, but I just couldn't bring myself to delete any of the fluffiness! Inuyasha gets so protective of Kagome when she needs it most. After re-watching episode 60 of the anime, I think a scene like this would be totally possible.
Reviews are always appreciated!
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