InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Slayer of Nightmares ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

--------------------

Chapter 8

--------------------

It was several hours past the two hours she'd promised when Kagome returned to her apartment.

Nobody in this damned city has the guts to stand up to the Slayers. This is wrong!

She'd hit every magic shop and bookstore in the city -- and, at last, her backpack was now stuffed with books and supplies she thought she needed. This was only because she'd finally gotten smart, called Shippou, and gotten him to go into a store and buy what she needed, since the city's shopkeepers were obviously collaborating against her in some sort of conspiracy. Apparently Sandy had called every other book store in the city to alert them.

Shippou's shapeshifting abilities appeared to be dramatically approved. He'd morphed in front of her and had gone in as a middle-aged woman -- grey haired, overweight, wearing too-tight knit pants and a midriff revealing crop top. Given his preferred form was male and rather sexy (which she still found too weird for words) and his real form was a five foot tall bushy-tailed humanoid fox, she figured nobody would ever suspect that woman was Shippou!

Still, to avoid raising suspicion, they'd made multiple purchases at different stores. Candles at one, books at another, incense at a third, a focusing crystal at a fourth.

"Do you know what to do with all this?" Shippou had asked, skeptically, after the fifth purchase, of an assortment of herbs, plus chalk and candle holders.

"I'll just follow the directions in the books for breaking a binding. It can't be that hard. I'm not completely clueless."

"You're not a Wicca," he said, skeptically. "You're a miko."

"Yeah. I wish I could've talked to someone who might have given us some guidance. But there's a couple different binding-breaking spells in here that I can try. If one doesn't work, I go on to the next one. At least I know I do have the magic necessary, it's just not my normal style. And I've got the determination."

"Yes, that you do," he agreed, with a grin. "Still, let me see if I can't round up some help for you that is willing to cross the Slayers. Not everyone's terrified of them."

So Shippou was off talking to his friends, and Kagome had hurried home at last -- it was far later than she'd promised Inuyasha, and she was a little surprised he hadn't called her on her cel phone. She opened her apartment door and stepped into the dark interior.

"You're late."

"Gomen nasai, Inuyasha. I ran into a bit of trouble."

"Figures."

He was curled up on a couch watching the TV -- though given that an infomercial about a vacuum sweeper was running, she wasn't sure if he'd actually been paying attention to what was on the screen.

"How do you feel?"

"Shitty. You got what you need?"

"Mostly. Shippou's trying to track down a few experts 'cause I'm not, but I think this is doable, Inuyasha."

"Keh." He coughed hard for a moment, then said shortly, "You're lying to me."

Damn him, she thought, and settled onto the couch beside him. She'd never been able to successfully lie to Inuyasha. He was just too suspicious and wary, too cynical. "Inuyasha, I will give everything I have to save your life. You know that."

"Feh. Won't be enough." He rolled over onto his side on the couch beside her, head settling into her lap, knees tucked to his chest. His t-shirt was damp with sweat.

She stroked his shoulder gently. Tears pricked at her eyes, because she was scared she would fail him. He squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable, glanced up at her, and then scowled and sat back up when he saw she was crying.

"Don't do that," he sounded cross. When her tears flowed more freely, his eyes widened and he said in a tone approaching panic, "Don't! Kagome!"

He coughed again, fighting for air with his lungs full of crap from the pneumonia. She sucked in a ragged breath of her own, aware she was upsetting him, "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. Maybe I should leave you alone. This is ... this is hard, it hurts, this wasn't how I envisioned meeting you again."

"Keh. Don't go. Just don't cry!" He coughed until he turned blue and then he started drawing rapid, shallow breaths, trying to get enough oxygen. She thought he was worse despite the antibiotics, and wondered if it wasn't time to take him to the hospital. If I do, getting him out again is going to be difficult ... damnit, I don't know what to do.

"Okay, I'll stay." She stroked his hair. "Just relax."

"Kinda hard to do, can't fucking breath, Kagome." He glanced up at her.

When had his cheekbones gotten so sharp, his eyes so dark and sunken? He'd lost weight in just a day or two -- had he been eating? No, she didn't think he had. French fries, a soda, a couple of bowls of noodles. Not much in two days.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, softly.

"Nuh-uh. Too hard."

"Thirsty? I can make some hot tea. It might help."

"Just stay here." He reached an arm out, scooped the remote off her coffee table, and changed the infomercial to a cable channel that was playing soft jazz. "Crappy TV. That's better."

"Okay." She leaned back against the couch cushions, hand resting on his shoulder. Her miko senses said he was really sick. Again, she wondered if she shouldn't load him in the car and take him to the emergency room. Maybe a different antibiotic, oxygen, other medications ... maybe they might be able to buy him some time ... because she was scared that he was not going to make it to the night of the full moon.

"Kagome," he said, "I'm going to die."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact, and it chilled her to her bones. "We need to get you to a hospital."

Very firmly, he said, "No. Kagome ... no. They'll stick me full of tubes and needles and drug me until I hallucinate and I'll linger for days with some machine breathing for me and not even able to piss by myself." He started coughing again. When he was done, and he'd caught his breath, he added, "Fuckin' A. No damn hospitals."

"They can keep you going until I can break this spell on you!" she protested.

"Feh. I promise I'll stick around long enough for you to try when the moon's new. Don't want to die much; kinda like being here with you. But I'm seven hundred years old an' I've seen good deaths and bad deaths. Don't want no bad death for me. You fail, you let me figure out a way to die easy. No fucking hospitals. That a deal?"

She didn't want to make that bargain. Didn't even want to think about it.

"Kagome, deal?" he repeated, lifting his head up from her knees.

"O-okay." She said, voice shaky. "Deal. No hospitals."

"Thank you," he murmured, and she remembered when he thanked someone, he always truly meant it. He paused, and added, "Don't you start crying again, woman."

"S-sure," she said, forcefully swallowing back a sob.

It was then that someone knocked on the door. Kagome jumped; Inuyasha drew a startled breath in and started coughing again. Kagome made a face; she did not want to answer the door. Maybe if she ignored them, they'd go away.

"Open the door, Kagome!" An annoyed voice demanded. The voice was female, and vaguely familiar. "Open it now!"

"Fuck," Inuyasha said, sitting up. "That sounds like trouble."

"Stay put," she told him, not wanting him to stand up. She walked to the door and opened it cautiously.

Behind her, Inuyasha growled a low rumble. How the heck does he do that when he's human? The growl was weak, but real.

It was Willow at the door, who gave Inuyasha a startled look before saying, "Uh, hi."

Kagome said coldly, "Unless you're here to lift the spell on Inuyasha, get the fuck out of my face. Be glad I'm not inclined to murder or you'd be dead, woman."

Inuyasha's growls turned into a fit of coughing. She turned back in time to see him hunch over and choke until he started to retch.

"Where's Buffy?" Willow put a hand out, stopping Kagome from shutting the door in her face.

"Haven't seen her since last night," Kagome eyed Willow speculatively.

"Since ... last night." Willow said, danger in her voice.

"Yeah. Get lost."

The witch shifted uneasily, looking past Kagome at Inuyasha.

"He's sick. Get out. He doesn't need to see you here; you did this to him."

"What. Did. You. Do. To. Buffy!" Willow said, dangerously. "We haven't seen her since last night. Spike hasn't seen her. Nobody has."

"Guess you'll figure that out when you find her," Kagome said -- unwisely -- but she was just about as angry as she'd ever been in her life, and it was all she could do not to swing a punch at this woman. Horrible grief was rapidly turning into blinding anger. Because this bitch was the one who'd hurt Inuyasha -- Inuyasha was going to die because of her unless Kagome could pull off a miracle.

The woman's eyes suddenly flared black and terrible, and Kagome remembered being told Willow hadn't always been on the side of the light. In a much, much more dangerous tone of voice, Willlow demanded, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO BUFFY!"

"Chill out, bitch," Inuyasha said -- from immediately behind Kagome, just as she was taking a step backwards. She bumped into him and his hands steadied both of them by grabbing onto her. "Buffy's fine. Minus a few super powers, but Kagome didn't actually hurt her ..."

"You stripped her of her powers." Flat, dangerous words. The hair on Kagome's neck was standing on end. Power crackled around the witch. She crouched, knowing fighting someone like that would lead to a very short and pointless battle with her losing in the end, but she was willing to try.

"Willow." One sharp word, from behind her. "Willow, stop."

Willow ... hesitated.

Two men hurried up to the apartment door -- one was Spike, but it was a dark-haired man with an eye patch who'd called her name. "Ah, shit, Willow. What the fuck did they do?"

"What," Willow said, mostly ignoring him and sounding just as dangerous as before, "Did. You. Do. To. Buffy."

"'T miko purified her." Inuyasha leaned against the door jamb and coughed into his fist. Kagome glanced sideways at him; his eyes were the only thing with any color in his face. "'S temporary, but I imagine she's sulking a bit right now. She lost but good."

"Purified her." Willow said, flatly. She sounded only marginally less threatening. Spike made an odd noise; Xander said a rude word.

"Drove the demon in her out," Inuyasha snorted. "She's fucking normal now."

"No Slayer powers?" Xander sounded almost as scary as Willow.

"She confronted us. I've seen her fight." Kagome shook her head and explained, "It seemed like the best way to defuse the situation. I don't -- I don't want anyone else to die. Not Inuyasha, not Buffy. Know what I mean? And she pissed me off, anyway."

Willow blinked a couple of times. Her eyes were normal, suddenly. She heaved a sigh, and glanced back at Xander, who held his hands up defensively. "Don't look at me."

"You're coming back to the hotel with us," Willow said, shortly. "Both of you."

"Inuyasha's sick!" Kagome protested. At this point, it appeared that the only thing that was keeping the hanyou on his feet was friction between his shoulder and the wood of the door frame. He was watching them with glittering, angry eyes but it was obvious he was at the absolute last limits of his strength.

"Carry him to the car. Spike?" Willow nodded at the vampire.

Kagome crouched, willing to fight to stop this. She didn't know what the witch had in mind, but she wasn't going to let them touch Inuyasha -- not even Spike, who up until now had seemed to be a friend.

"Don't," Inuyasha said, reaching out again to touch her. He shook his head slowly. He gave the vampire a dirty look, then transferred his weight to Kagome's shoulder. "I'll walk."

Please don't insist on carrying him, Kagome silently begged. She could see that Spike didn't think that Inuyasha could make even a few steps by the dubious look on his face. Inuyasha's formidable pride had surfaced, however, and he would be humiliated if he had to be carried. Bad enough that he needed any help at all in front of enemies.

If I fight them, he'll join in, and he'll get hurt. And I don't think I can win. She wrapped her arm around his waist and guided him in the general direction of the parking lot. She seethed as she walked. Can't they just let him be in peace? Haven't they done enough?

Willow's car was a rental -- a SUV, with three rows of seats. Spike flopped into the back row, Xander and Willow took the front, and Kagome helped Inuyasha into the middle seats. The ride was silent except for Inuyasha's harsh, rapid breathing, though you could practically taste the tension in the air.

"They were hunting me," Inuyasha said, finally. "Don't hurt Kagome 'cause of me. She wasn't even here. Your girls, they were hunting me. First time, I was -- was thinking about following her, ya know? Sitting on a picnic table in the park, all alone, alone ..." he coughed, wretchedly, "... I had nobody. Amelia'd always been there and then she was gone. 'N it hurt, it hurt so bad ... then they attacked me. Weren't bothering nobody. Just wanted to be alone with my hurts. Figured I'd killed the one who killed Amelia and we were square."

"Shut up. I don't want to hear this." That was Xander. "I knew those four girls. Found two of them myself. Helped train them."

"They attacked me ..." Inuyasha trailed off. "I was hurting so much ... still hurts. Still want to kill. Won't, though. Had enough. I've had enough."

He coughed, doubling over as far as the seat belt would allow. Kagome said bitterly, "Can't you just let him be?"

"Next time, it was just two of them. Stupid. Came at me with swords. Little girls. I killed little girls."

"Naomi was fifteen," Willow said, sounding too calm. Inuyasha's words were obviously bothering her. She flicked a turn signal on, made a left at a light. "Arial, twenty. But I always thought she looked about twelve."

"Didn't see that. Just saw people attacking me. Then I saw their faces. After. You ... sicced .... little girls on me." He coughed until he gagged, and slumped back against the seat.

"I've heard enough," Xander growled again. "Shut up, you."

"Maybe you need to hear," Kagome said, bitterly.

"Next time ... next time ... It was easier ... easier to fight back." He had his eyes closed. "I knew they'd try to kill me. Each time ... got easier. Then Kagome ... I tried to kill Kagome because all I saw was a Slayer. Didn't know who she was, and I no longer cared. Just tried to kill her because I figured it was me or her and I'd rather it be her ... I was so lost ... when she saved my life ... from you assholes ... I ... I started to remember ... to realize ... I killed little girls. They were just girls."

He trailed off, silent, eyes closed. Kagome slipped her arm around his shoulders. "They were trying to kill you, koi."

"So-so did Sango. She tried to kill me too. Remember?" He pulled away from her touch. "You probably remember better than me."

There was no comment from the front of the car, though Kagome saw Willow and Xander exchange a long look. From the back of the car, Spike muttered, "Life's so much simpler when you're evil, ain't it?"

"Shut the fuck up, Spike," Xander growled.

Inuyasha coughed -- but there might have been just a hint of the blackest of laughs in that noise. "You might be right. But the friends are better when you're a good guy."

He looked at Kagome when he said that. She couldn't help but smile, in response. Inuyasha nodded, ever so slightly, and closed his eyes and leaned against the SUV's window. He rode that way, seemingly almost asleep or unconscious, for the rest of the ride.

Kagome didn't quite manage to keep the tears from running down her face. Inuyasha was too out of it to notice; the others said nothing and avoided looking at her.

-------------------------

  < p>