InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cannot Be Broken ❯ New Moon and Sweet Misery ( Chapter 15 )

Taiga trudged through the wet powdered snow. For hours in the still forest, all Kagome heard was thruge… thruge… thruge as the horse's hooves steadily moved along the forest floor.

 

The sun had long set, casting them in a ghostly darkness. The moon reflected off the particles of snow, making the land blue and its frosted blanket celestial, as if a mirror to the heavens.

 

Kagome had long since gotten over the novelty of the beauty surrounding her, concentrating instead on the growing cold. She wrapped her mantle around her more fully, but still shivered slightly since her hands and face had no cover, and the winter wind was beginning to bite. She was tired, hungry and freezing.

 

Her mind was already teasing her, reminding her of a feathered bed, hot meal and a warm fire at home.

 

Home.

 

Kagome wondered when she considered InuYasha's manor as home. But it did feel that way. Shippou was probably lying by the fire, munching on something sweet. Miroku was most likely reading or `meditating'. Sango laying down petting Kilala, her pet neko youkai, while swatting Miroku's hand away while he `meditated'. InuYasha could be anywhere, since he was responsible for so much. Maybe surveying his territory, or checking up on the villages, or possibly he was resting.

 

Kagome shook her head. In all the time she had known him, she has never seen the hanyou rest. He was always at something, whether training, scouting or complaining.

 

She smiled slightly. But contrary to what she once thought, he was a good leader. He may be an ass at times, okay, all the time, but his people still respected him.

 

Through his rough exterior, InuYasha did care for his people, and they knew it. Every snide comment or rude gesture he made, the villagers just smiled and waved off. He was a good provider and a good protector. He made wise decisions and just punishments. He was very much a dedicated leader for his people, even though he said he thought every single one of them was a waste of air.

 

Kagome smirked.

 

He was even a good friend, though looking at the way he treated Miroku and Sango, and even poor Shippou, it was hard to believe at times. But they stayed loyally by his side.

 

She had eventually come to see what they saw, and she came to realize that she too was attached to him. She flushed slightly. Attached was putting it mildly.

 

Kagome sighed and cleared her thoughts. Regardless of what she thought or felt, she could not deny that it was dangerous for her to be around him now. With the threat of the necklace and the unexplainable powers she had been possessing since she has been with him, any ties with InuYasha would be made as a rope to hang her.

 

The quicker she got to Otou-san, the better she would feel, about everything.

 

A gust of wind caught her mantle and whipped it around her. She shivered violently. Her body began to sag on Taiga's back as exhaustion and cold stabbed at her. She looked up at the passing trees and groaned. Thruge… thruge… thruge….

 

Got to keep going.

 

I wonder if they know I'm gone?

 

Where am I even going?

 

Does he know I'm gone?

 

Damn, everything looks the same, am I even going west anymore?

 

He's probably looking for me right now.

 

Fuck, its clouding over, I can't tell. Was that the North Star or a planet?

 

If he's looking for me, that means he'll come after me.

 

Moss grows on the north side of tree or the south? Fuck, I can never remember.

 

He'll see the tracks in the snow.

 

It's so bloody cold and I'm so tired.

 

He'll know where I'm going.

 

I think I hear rushing water.

 

He'll bring me back.

 

If it's the river, I'll just follow it up, I think I know the way from there.

 

Kagome's eyes shot wide open. Oh shit, if he knows I'm gone, he'll come get me and I will never be able to get to the Western Territory. And worse! He'll never let me out of his sight!

 

She nudged the horse on. “I'm sorry, Taiga! We have to go!”

 

The horse leapt wearily ahead and made it to an open clearing. Ahead Kagome could see the wide meandering river. Snowdrifts collected on each side.

 

Kagome cringed. “Shit, I forgot we had to cross that.”

 

Looking back and forth, there was no better option. Boulders protruded from the depths in front of her and Kagome guessed this spot as good as any to cross. She tentatively guided the horse forward.

 

Taiga tossed his head roughly and refused to move.

 

“Come on, boy, its only a few feet.” Well a couple of dozen feet.

 

The horse shied from the water's edge.

 

“Okay, I can take a hint.” Kagome hopped off Taiga's back and walked to the river's edge. She dipped her foot down and was happy to find it was only a few feet deep. “See not so bad.” She lied, her teeth chattered unmercifully. She walked out into the river, lifting her heavy kimono out of the water's reach, causing the wind to sting her legs where the water did not already. A heavy currant was pushing at her and she had to step slowly in the water to keep her balance. She turned to look at the horse on the bank and stammered. “C… come on.”

 

She took a step back and slipped on the wet stone beneath her feet and toppled into the water. When she resurfaced she found she couldn't reach the bottom and realized the currant had caught her clothing to drag her further into the river. She floundered and gasped for air. The chill of the water shocked her system and it pained her to breathe. And she was sinking fast. Her clothing had become waterlogged. She tried to scream but instead she started to cough in pain, as her chest grew tight from the frigid air and water. Too cold! I can't get out! I can't get out!

 

She started to panic as she felt her body get pulled beneath the water. Her eyes were unfocused on the horse upstream, screaming in fear, before her head was hauled into blackness.

 

****

 

InuYasha was swearing profusely. The path he had taken was knee deep in snow and it made moving unbearably slow in his perspective. He thought he would be making good progress by now; first arrive in the Western Territory by dawn, kick Sesshomaru's ass at around breakfast, get the info he needed and be back to the manor about supper time. Now thanks to the damn snow, he was lucky to be there by midmorning.

 

Well, the snow and the damned new moon.

 

After all that has happened in the last few days, he forgotten about the new moon being tonight, the one night out of the month that he was fully human.

 

He growled profusely and tramped viciously through the snow. He was slow and weak and vulnerable as any human on this night, and he was caught away from the manor. What perfect luck! What else could go wrong? He sighed begrudgingly. At least he made it across the damn river with only his legs getting a soaking.

 

He buried his hands into his kariginu and ducked his head into the blowing wind. Particles of snow felt like shards of glass as they whipped by, causing yet again another stream of profanities from him. Thankfully he was close to the hideout. He would spend the night there.

 

InuYasha seethed at his luck and trudged along side the river he crossed earlier downstream. Just as he made it to the water's edge to turn into the glade, he heard a horse's scream. Upstream he could see Taiga pacing on the opposite edge.

 

Taiga? Does that mean…?

 

InuYasha looked down at the river and could see Kagome's head just disappearing under its surface.

 

“KAGOME!”

 

He ran along the edge, tripping up along the banks of snow before diving into the water where she submerged.

 

He emerged quickly, the cold knocking the air out of him. He looked frantically around for any sign of her. A wisp of her cloak breached the surface ahead of him before being swallowed once again.

 

“KAGOME!” His heart pumped so wildly that it felt it would tear out of his chest. He dove beneath the surface to swim with the currant, grasping out every which way trying to find her.

 

It felt like hours being under the water. His lungs stung bitterly and he had to keep himself from resurfacing. The fear that he would miss her ebbed him on to keep reaching out to find her.

 

Black sparks were flooding his eyes and his body was beginning to go numb. His hands felt stiff and the movement to grip them was agony, then fabric touched his knuckles, like an acidic caress.

 

With all his will, he clasped hard around it and wrenched himself up to the surface. Gasping in the frigid air, he thought for sure his lungs would burst, but still he clung to the fabric and he hauled it up with what ever power he had. Kagome's head burst out of the water. Her face was azure and her eyes hazy, but she breathed in deep, coughing violently.

 

InuYasha's heart hiked in his chest. She was alive! He had to get her out! With aching muscles he held her to him and thrashed himself to the shoreline. After dragging both their bodies out he collapsed in a shuddering heap beside her. No, can't stop. He pushed his body up.

 

Kagome was coughing hard and she shook violently. Her head was spinning and she could see dancing darkness in her eyes. She couldn't move. She felt like her body was burning in ice. She could see red move beside her before she was lifted clumsily into shaking arms and carried away from the river.

 

InuYasha held her loosely against his chest as he stumbled heavily through a copse of trees towards a break in the earth. He hated this place. He hated the smell and the sight of it, but it was all that kept them from death. He collapsed on his knees at the opening and dropped Kagome ungracefully in front of him before he crawled into the hidden cave, dragging her behind him.

 

The inside was dark, but dry. He quickly sloughed off his kariginu and searched dumbly for the dry wood and tinder left there years before. His head throbbed and body trembled. His hands felt sluggish and numb, so it made lighting the fire almost impossible. But by the mercy of Kami, it lit and a warm glow radiated along the cave's walls.

 

InuYasha turned slowly to look at Kagome behind him. She lay in a tight ball, shivering and chattering. She was staring indirectly at him, her lips a purple hue.

 

He crawled over to her, his face dead of emotion. His whole body looked slack and weary. She followed him with her eyes as he raised his fingers to fumble at the tie around her throat, releasing the clasp of her mantle. He quickly shed the obi around her and lifted her from her ice-laced kimono. He pulled her naked form with him to the back of the cave where a huddle of dry and dusty blankets lay.

 

He rolled her onto them before peeling his own clothing off. Naked and sickly white, he crawled in next to her and wrapped his body around her, heaving some blankets over them.

 

Kagome lay there stunned. Her jaw had locked from the cold, and all she could do was feel spikes as her nerves triggered her body to heat up. She shook so hard she thought she was convulsing. Feeling the man shake behind and around her, she knew he was feeling the same way.

 

After a few minutes, the fire burned brighter and hotter, and quickly the cold stone around them warmed.

 

Kagome could begin feeling her digits, and her flesh was itching and burning inside unbearably, though her skin was still cold. Her shivering eventually dulled down to a silent quiver, but the body beside her was still being wracked by muscles spasms and quakes.

 

The man coughed suddenly behind her and moaned heatedly.

 

Kagome turned her head slightly to see his face.

 

His eyes were closed and his expression was set in a pain filled frown. Wet black hair framed his pale face. His body was very cold. Kagome stiffly moved out of his arms to turn to look at him fully.

 

He opened his grey eyes and stared into her own. “Kagome?” He rasped, his wording slightly slurred as he reached for her shakily. His lips were pale and his wet hair still had melting icicles crusted into it. Faintly she could see wisps of blackness swirl around him.

 

She blinked and rolled over to him, using her body weight to push him onto his back before settling down on top of him.

 

He looked at her blindly. His hands moved thickly, trying to push her off before falling weakly to his side. She can't see me like this. She doesn't know who I am. How can she do this to a stranger when she couldn't even do it to me? He flinched in betrayal.

 

“Trust me.” She whispered, flicking her eyes over his.

 

She hitched a few moth eaten blankets over them as she gripped her legs around his torso. Turning his face towards the fire, so he could breath the warming air, she wrapped her upper body around his head, her own head rested lightly by the top of his, her heated breasts nestled on his neck. She could feel him shudder violently underneath her, so she held him tighter, making her balled form a cocoon around his life centres.

 

He breathed in deep, letting out a congested sigh. He must have swallowed too much water. He coughed weakly under her.

 

His eyes were still open and staring dumbly at the fire. Kagome is on top of me. Why is she doing this? I'm a man she doesn't know and she's…. How can she do this to me without qualm?

 

He moved slightly to push her away again but she hushed him and held tighter.

 

“Don't.” She whispered. “Stay still. Just get warm.”

 

His eyes widened slightly. She is trying to make me warm? Kagome…?

 

His thoughts stopped as she began to hum softly, as if trying to sooth a fussy baby.

 

He twitched his human ear and she breathed softly on it. His eyes fluttered closed at that simple gesture and he sighed beneath her.

 

For a long while she lay there on top of him, waiting until the shivering dulled. Still humming, she shifted her body down to rest on top of him fully, her head under his. She stroked his arms with her hands and caressed his legs with her feet.

 

How can she be like this, when she doesn't even know it's me? InuYasha's heart thumped in sweet misery. After a few more strokes, he fell asleep.