InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome's Heart and Inuyasha's Feelings ❯ Chapter 4- A Dangerous Encounter ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Dammit! Where in the hell is she? I can hardly even pick her scent anymore! Inuyasha thought furiously to himself as he sprinted across the forest path, the sleeves of his fire rat haori flew out from behind him and his waist-length silver hair blew wildly from behind as well. The hanyou twitched his ears to every single small sound he had picked up in hopes of it being Kagome. He stopped in nearly every place where her scent had been the strongest, dug through bushes and searched for any sign of priestess but he had found nothing.

The sunset was nearing and so was the hanyou's time of vulnerablity. What would happen if he didn't find Kagome before the stars began to show one right after the other in the massive celestial sphere above them, when the gold left his eyes leaving them a deep blue-gray hue and his hair changed to black? When his white dog ears on top of his head lowered themselves to his jawline, forming in a perfect human ear and when he was stripped of any demonic power that he may possess, what would happen then? Tonight was to be the night of the new moon. Inuyasha would completely lose any youki he attained until daybreak when the sun's first rays hit him, bringing him back into power once more, but so many things could happen in one night. Only too many times had Inuyasha discovered this and every single it time it happened, Kagome had been right by his side. She had always sort of been like his comfort zone during this time when he became defenseless, but if she weren't there now, what would he do? His comfort zone not being there...how would the hanyou handle it?

Inuyasha always hated this time. He always became vulnerable to everything, overtaken by any normal human strengths and weakenesses and able to express normal human emotions just like any normal human being would and he hated that. Kami, how he hated that. It made him look like a weakling to the others around him. He couldn't protect them and fight with them like he normally could when he was back to his normal self, a hanyou, especially Kagome. On more than one occasion did Inuyasha recall Kagome's protecting of him, saving him and helping him. There was always something about her though when he was in human form that calmed him, made him feel at peace with himself, despite the fact that she had been angry the first time she saw him as a human. Inuyasha would never forget the first time he had transformed in front of her.The half-demon had just been stupid enough to not tell the others that he was nearing his time of vulnerablity. The hanyou couldn't help but feel defenseless when that time came. He had learned as he grew, not to trust anybody, especially at this time, for that was the only way he knew how to protect himself.

~*~*~*~*~

His entire head had been coated in the white, sticky substance as they made their escape from the temple the spiderheads had attacked. Tetsusaiga had not transformed and that infuriated him even more. He could feel the transformation now taking over his body and it was completely out of his control. There was nothing that could be done. His friends were about to find out, there was no more hiding it. Kagome, Shippou and Myoga followed him outside near the trees where he landed on his knees, clutching the hilt of Tetsusaiga.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha spoke softly, Kagome right behind him.

"What's with you?" she asked in a concerned tone, for she too had noticed Tetsusaiga had not transformed in the battle against the spiderheads. "You're acting weirder than usual."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Inuyasha snapped at the girl.

Kagome's big brown eyes widened in slight surprise, and Inuyasha knew she was wondering why on earth he'd snap at her like that. Inuyasha also knew that Kagome could tell something was definantly wrong and the last thing he wanted was for her to find out his secret, but it was a bit too late. He almost even wanted to keep the sticky spidersilk covering him so Kagome couldn't see his transformation.

"What has gotten into you!?" the miko demanded as she began pulling the sticky, white from his hair. She let out a soft gasp as the removal of the spiderwebs gave her an image of something she fully did not expect to see. Inuyasha's hair had turned raven black and his normally golden eyes turned a deep, steely, blue-gray.

"Forget about me for now, you should be more worried about yourselves," Inuyasha told her stoicly.

Kagome just stared after him in surprise. She didn't want to say or really what to think, only she noticed that his hair had changed. "You're hair has gone black!" she pointed out softly as the hanyou moved out of her reach and leaned up against a tree. He did indeed look upset and maybe even somewhat angry.

"If you're relying on my strength to save you this time, you'd better thinf again," he warned the girl and the others.

"W-what do you mean?" Shippou asked, looking as shocked as Kagome had when his eyes fell on the half-demon turned human.

"Inuyasha? Is that you?" Kagome asked, still not daring to believe what she'd been seeing. Inuyasha could tell Kagome was confused and probably wondering how on earth could his hair just change from that beautiful, silvery white to jet black?

"No, I'm a talking puppet!" he replied sarcastically, rolling his dark, blue-gray orbs.

Shippou lept up from where he had been seated next to Kagome and hopped up on Inuyasha's head, feeling around the area where his fuzzy white ears normally sat perched. "Hey! Your dog ears are gone!" the kitsune acknowleged.

"You're not half-demon anymore, you're human!" the miko stated as she scooted closer to Inuyasha and perched up on her knees on the forest floor continung to stare at him in surprise.

The hanyou reached his hand back and grabbed Shippou from the top of his head where the little youkai had been digging around in his black tresses, searching for his dog ears. Changing into a human was already agitating enough, let alone having a little demon digging through his hair and reminding him that those dog ears were no longer there, serving as another hard reminder that tonight was his period of vulnerablity.

"You're lucky my claws and fangs are gone," Inuyasha snapped at Shippou as he slammed the little fox youkai down on the ground, perhaps a little harder than he anticipated to.

A frustrated and angry expression crossed Kagome's face as she continued to stare at the half-demon turned human in front of her. "All right! How about explaining to me just WHAT is going on!"

Myouga went into the explanation of how half-demons are always subject to a certain time when they lose their demonic powers and become human. Kagome didn't really understand what he meant at first, but the wise old flea youkai went on to explain it to her. He explained that from time to time, all half-demons are rendered no stronger than any other human. The flea youkai then went on to clarify that for Inuyasha his time was always the time of the new cycle, when the moon did not show in the sky, the night of the new moon. Myouga then went to leap onto Inuyasha's shoulder in apparent distress.

"Master Inuyasha, why didn't you tell us that you're period of vulnerablity was appending!" Myouga squeaked, leaping up and down on the hanyou's shoulder.

"Because if I had you would have taken off a long time ago," Inuyasha replied harshly at the bouncing flea demon on his shoulder.

Myouga stopped bouncing as a few sweat drops appeared on his forehead and he folded his four arms, turning his head away from Inuyasha looking stung. "Have you not a wit of trust in me?" the old flea asked, keeping his head turned from the irritated hanyou.

"Yeah! I trust you to run away when there's trouble!" the raven-haried man yelled. Truth be told, Myouga did always flee when there was any sign of danger, however Kagome didn't feel the same way, but Inuyasha didn't realize that. He was too busy worried about himself.

"Then what?" came Kagome's voice. Inuyasha turned back towards to Kagome and stared at the frustrated miko. "You can't rely on me either! If you'd had told me that you'd be losing your powers, I never would have insisted we stay in the temple with Nazuna. So much for being able to lean on your close friends!" the priestess snapped.

Inuyasha, who had been leaning back against a tree, leaned forward staring at Kagome angrily, his arms folded inside of the sleeves of his haori as usual. He didn't know why but it made him angry and almost irritated that they had discovered his 'secret.'

"I don't trust anybody...GOT IT!" the hanyou reamed the girl in front of him. Kagome gasped, bringing a closed fist to her chest, clearly stung by his words. He could tell she was, otherwise that hurt expression that he hated seeing on her wouldn't have crossed her pretty face. 'Dammit...I had to go and hurt her again by saying something I shouldn't have...'

"Keh, it's got nothing to do you with you," he replied arrogantly, turning his head away from her and Shippou. Inuyasha closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at either of them. "It's the way I've lived up until now. It's the only way I know how to protect myself."

"Inuyasha, I hear what you're saying...I just wish you'd opened up to me more as your friend," Kagome told him, her voice brimming with tears.

That was the only thing that caused the hanyou to look back over at her, and he leaned in staring at her, watching the crystalline tears fill her eyes, and immediately he felt guilty. Without warning, Kagome buried her face in her hands and proceeded to breakdown in front of him, hurt and bewildered that Inuyasha had not told her that this was happening.

"No, wait!" he exclaimed, hating to see her cry. "I'm the one who's supposed to be down!" the hanyou tried to speak sympathetically to the girl. This had been the second time that he could remember he had made her cry and Inuyasha would never admit it, but it killed him to see her like that.

"If it weren't for your pride we wouldn't even be in this boat!" the miko continued to sob into her hands. She then lept forward into his face, pointing a finger at him furiously. "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS BIG TIME PAL! GRAB A BRAIN WOULD YOU, YOU DOUGH HEAD!"

Inuyasha lept forward right back into Kagome's face, causing the girl to fall back on her knees and flinch. He balled his hands into fists. This was NOT how he had expected Kagome to react to his change and if anything it infuriated him even more, but he also couldn't help but feel relieved that Kagome wasn't going to run out on him and leave him all alone. "YOU'RE THE DOUGH HEAD!" he shouted back in the woman's face who sat there surprised, still pointing her finger at him and staring.

"YOU COULD'VE SAID NO TO STAYING AT THE TEMPLE!" she shot back heatedly. "WHAT ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT!? WE'RE SAFE NOW AREN'T WE!? the hanyou snapped back at the fiesty miko. Atleast they were fightning. That was a good sign to realizing that Kagome never planned to leave his side at all, half-demon or not.

Inuyasha wouldn't admit it then and he wouldn't admit it now, but the hanyou had been extremely grateful that Kagome had been there with him that night. If she wouldn't have been there or if she would have listened to him when he told her to run, the hanyou surely would have died. He had heard about more attacks at the temple and given Kagome Tetsusaiga, explaining that the sword wouldn't transform for him tonight so it'd do him no good to keep it with him. As long as Tetsusaiga was there protecting her that's all that mattered.

The hanyou had then made his way into the temple, trying to remain confident in his susceptible state, he'd be able to take care of the demons himself. Was he ever wrong. Inuyasha had been attacked by the lead of the spiderheads with nothing to defend himself, considering he was only a mere human. The spider youkai had buried his fangs into Inuyasha's flesh, injecting massive quanitities of poison and he had been rendered completely helpless. The hanyou was left to hang there by the white spidersilk that bound him to the poles inside of the temple. He was surprised when the young miko burst into the room, clutching Tetsusaiga in her hands, Nazuna by her side. She had clarified that the priest had been decieving the young girl when her eyes caught sight of Inuyasha hanging helplessly upside down by the spidersilk.

"Ka-go-me, save yourself," he strained to speak to the woman who was ascending towards him.

"No chance!" she told him furiously as she continued to leap up the wooden poles.

"I'm serious...it's too late for me!" the hanyou stated, trying to will Kagome to get out of any sort of danger. Tonight he just couldn't protect her and if anything had happened to her because of his weakness, Inuyasha would never be able to forgive himself.

"I'm not leaving here without you!" Kagome insisted as she climbed up towards him, tears filling her eyes. "No...way!"

The girl took a diving leap forward with Tetsusaiga clutched in both hands, holding the weapon as if she were going to do chin-ups with it. Inuyasha blinked as he stared at the miko leaping towards him, crystalline tears were flying from the corners of her eyes and she slammed the sword into the spidersilk, breaking the hold it had on the hanyou. The two fell to the floor of the temple and Inuyasha was completely unconcious. With the help of Shippou and Nazuna, they had managed to get him safely into a room while thrusting Tetsusaiga into the closed door to buy them time.

It would ward off the spiderhead youkai and Kagome would be able to tend to Inuyasha until he regained his youki once more. Later that night, Myouga had taken to draw out the poison inside of Inuyasha and retreated to the corner where Shippou and Nazuna had fallen asleep. Inuyasha's breathing had become laboured, he had dried blood at the corner of his mouth and he was drenched in sweat. Kagome had taken a handkerchief from her backpack and began dabbing tenderly at his forehead when the hanyou opened his steely gray eyes staring upward at the beauty in front of him. She moved the cloth from his head and held it at her chest.

"I'm sorry! Did I wake you up?" the miko asked softly.

"No," Inuyasha replied in a strained voice. He turned his head away from her, gazing off at nothing, wanting to ask her the question that burned in his mind. "Kagome," he began.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, leaning closer towards him, trying to see his face, but Inuyasha kept his dark head turned from her.

"Tell me something...why were you crying?" he asked, still not looking at her.

"Huh? Back in the other room?" Kagome asked him incredulously, probably wondering why on earth he had asked her such a question. Inuyasha closed his eyes as he remembered what he saw when Kagome had came to his rescue for a change. Sparkling tears had flown from the corners of her eyes she zoomed determinedly towards the hanyou, desperate to free him, to save him. It had shocked him.

"Because...I thought I was going to lose you," Kagome told him honestly. "I thought you were gonna...die," she spoke the last word with dreaded emphasis.

"You shed tears for me...cried for me," Inuyasha stated more to himself than to anyone. He would never admit this to Kagome but the fact that she had cried for his sake touched him more than she knew. Inuyasha could never recall a time where anybody had cried for him except his mother. "Kagome," he continued. "If it's not too much trouble, may I lie on your lap?"

Much to Inuyasha's relief, Kagome had agreed to it and she moved his head tenderly into her lap, so he could rest easily. "How do you feel? A little better than before?" the miko asked softly, gazing downward at his weakened state. His dark, blue-gray eyes remained closed.

"Yes," he replied softly, turning his head slightly towards her stomach. "Kagome...you smell kind of nice."

"Okay that's it. You made it a point before to tell me that you couldn't stand my scent!" Kagome pointed out. Inuyasha could tell she was shocked by his words.
"I did," the hanyou began as he turned his head even closer to her. "But I was lying..."

~*~*~*~*~

I truly had been lying...I never hated her fragrance. Not once. I was just so angry that Kikyou had killed me. I had taken it all out on Kagome before I ever even really got to know her, but now I do know her. Kagome's been able to heal the wounds in my heart. She's touched me in a way that nobody has ever touched me before and probably nobody else could have. Ugh! I'm starting to go all sappy! Curse these fucking human emotions! Inuyasha was lost in his thoughts as he gazed upward at the setting sun. The sky's hue was beginning to change from blue to a hazy orange and pink. It wouldn't be long now. The hanyou could slowly feel his heightened sense of smell beginning to ebb away and it was getting harder to hear things so keenly now.

However, something just ahead of him caught his eye and he skidded to a stop. Dust billowed out from underneath his feet. Inuyasha turned his silvery-white head and gazed downward at a pile of bushes that had been lain flat. Somebody had been inside of these bushes. Not wanting to waste time, the hanyou lept over to them and lowered himself, breathing in deep. Kagome's scent! Kagome was here?

"KA-GO-MEEEE!!" Inuyasha called out to the treetops as he stood up, clutching his fists at his sides. "You're there aren't you Kagome! You have to be close by, I can smell you!" He lowered himself back down to the bushes and picked up another scent that he hadn't picked up earlier. "Kirara...so, Kirara's with you then Kagome? I can't pick up your scent anymore...so that must mean that Kagome and Kirara are back at the village...unless..." Inuyasha stopped in mid sentence as he gazed down at where Kagome had been previously laying. He felt something creep up the back of his neck and a horrible sensation washed over him. What if something had happened to Kagome?

Why am I getting this foreboding feeling? Could...could something have happened to Kagome and Kirara on their way back to the village? NO! DAMMIT! YOU HANG ON KAGOME! I'M COMING! Inuyasha turned back to the trail and took off at a speed that he never thought possible. Whenever Kagome was in any sort of immediate danger, Inuyasha always felt a burst of adrenaline run through his body, willing him to go faster and get to her as quickly as he could.

Her scent was still extremely fresh so he knew they couldn't be that far away. Time always seemed to fly whenever there was something important he had to do. The hanyou didn't know nor did he care how long he had been running when he heard a screeching sound piercing the air just ahead of him. Inuyasha picked up a strange scent, but had no idea what it was. It was hard to decipher as the sun was now disappearing behind the peaks, but Inuyasha knew it could only be one thing...a youkai. He hurried as fast as he could when he heard another sound ring through the air, only this time it wasn't not an inhuman sound. It was a voice, screaming. A familiar voice, a female voice.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled desperately. Please tell me I'm not too late! Please tell me that she isn't hurt!

Inuyasha grasped the ragged handle of Tetsusaiga and began to remove it from it's sheath as the black armoured shell of the scorpion demon came into view. The hanyou withdrew the massive fang sword from it's sheath, followed by a blazing, yellow light. The scorpion had taken to wrapping it's tail around Kagome's body, lifting her up and swaying her around like a ragdoll.

"INUYASHA!" Kagome tried to scream, but only came out as strained tone.

Inuyasha could tell that the very breath and life were being squeezed out of the defenseless young miko. "NO WAY YOU BASTARD!" the hanyou yelled as he lept into the air, brandishing his Tetsusaiga high above his head. "NO WAY IN HELL WILL I LET YOU KILL KAGOME! HAVE A TASTE OF MY TETSUSAIGA!" he cried, slamming the massive blade down on the scorpion's head. It let out a thundering screech of pain and it's tail loosened around Kagome. The youkai tottered on it's feet, obviously severely thrown off by Inuyasha's unexpected attack.

She let out a blood curdling scream as the miko began falling through mid-air. The hanyou's instincts kicked in quickly as he lept through the air after her. No way in hell was he about to let her fall to her death. "KAGOME!" he cried out, opening his arms to her and caught her in them just before the scorpion youkai could turn and launch another attack.

Kagome clutched onto the front of his fire rat haori, coughing and sputtering for the breath that had been drawn from her. "Inu-ya-sha," she forced out as they moved a safe distance away from the angry demon. The hanyou landed flawlessly on his feet and moved Kagome to a place safer from the battle.

"You stay right here," the hanyou warned, crouching low next to her and gazing at her worriedly. He saw the blood drenched through her skirt and the wide open cut on her leg. Why the hell didn't I smell this on her earlier!? The hanyou thought furiously to himself. He gazed at Kagome, trying to keep a look of brashness on his face. "I'll take care of this bastard myself!"

"Wait, Inuyasha!" called Kagome, tugging on his sleeve. "The sun's almost set. You'll be human again in no time! Please don't do it!"

"Keh! That doesn't matter! I'll finish this guy off and send him to Hell before the sun goes down. Just you watch," the hanyou replied arrogantly, but in truth, Inuyasha was beginning to lose his confidence. I have to finish this demon off and fast before I completely change and won't be able to do a damn thing!

Inuyasha rose from Kagome's side and hurried back over to where the scorpion youkai was recovering from Inuyasha's brutal attack. It was already into full fledged attack mode now and there was no getting out of it until the best was dead. Inuyasha never noticed the sun as it finally disappeared from the sky. Instead, he ruthlessly fought the beast, trying his best to do everything he could to keep it from unleashing any attacks on Kagome.

"DIE ALREADY YOU BASTARD! I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE ON YOU!" the hanyou threatened as he lifted the sword above his head. He was about the perform the Kaze no Kizu when he felt the energy draining from his blade. No....oh no...DAMMIT TETSUSAIGA, DON'T TRANSFORM ON ME NOW! I NEED YOU TO FINISH HIM OFF! The sun! It's gone...please tell me I'm not going to start transforming now! I-I need my power to finish this thing off!

The half-demon brought the blade of the fang sword back downward and stared at it. His golden orbs widened and he was shaking his head in disbelief as it transformed back into a rusted, beat up looking blade in his hands. "What'll I do now? The sword's transformed! GAH!" He lept backwards as the scorpion made it's advance on the hanyou. "KAGOME! RUN!" Inuyasha told the helpless woman who was laying just behind him. The hanyou lept back as it made another attempt to swipe him. "YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF HE-AAAUUGHHH!!!"

"INUYASHAAAAAAAAAA!" Kagome screamed, anguish enveloping her voice.

Inuyasha's words were cut off with a wail of pain that escaped his throat. He felt himself being pierced by something directly in the middle of his stomach. Inuyasha's eyes continued to stay widened as the stinger from the massive scorpion impaled him senselessly. The pain was so intense as the sharp, pointed organ entered his flesh that the hanyou could barely withstand it. Inuyasha could feel the burning sensation as the youkai injected massive amounts of poison into his body.

"UUUUUUUUUGH!" Inuyasha yelled in agony as he felt himself weakening, his strength was slowly leaving his body and he had no more will to fight. The hanyou had been rendered completely helpless. He heard Kagome scream his name consistently, but now she had sounded so far away.

"Ka-go-me...I'm...so sorry," Inuyasha struggled to say and felt the blood gush up into the back of his throat. Everything around him was going hazy. His vision was blurring as the hanyou struggled to stay concious. Very far away he thought he heard the screams and yells of his other friends approaching, but maybe the poison was making his mind play tricks on him. Before he could even remotely tell if it were the others, Inuyasha's body fell limp as he drifted out of conciousness.

"HIRAKOTSU!" came Sango's voice as she lifted her colossal boomerang-like weapon and threw it with full force right at the youkai's tail. The weapon's attack was strong enough to completely slaughter the tail in half. Inuyasha came tumbling down along with the poisionous limb and landed heavily on his side.

"I'll take care of the rest!" Miroku demanded as he stepped in front of the demon slayer. He lifted his right head and removed the prayer beads that entwined his wrist and pulled back the cloth that held his dangerous limb at bay. "KAZAANA!" cried out Miroku as the forceful, sucking wind emerged from his hand. It was like a massive tornado had been released as brush and rocks were being sucked in, followed by the insane screeching and wailing of the scorpion youkai as it met it's demise to Miroku's wind tunnel. The houshi closed his hand back up and stared firmly where the youkai had once been standing.

Kagome had crawled across the ground over to where an unconcious Inuyasha lie. "Inuyasha...Inuyasha please wake up! Don't you dare die on me!" the girl cried out, trying desperately to pull the stinger out of his body.

She wrapped both arms around it and pulled hard, but couldn't get it out on her own. Sango and Miroku hurried over to help the desperate priestess. All three of them put their arms around it and pulled with all of the strength they could muster. The stinger released itself, oozing and hissing with yellow poison. Kirara had finally come to and Shippou, who had been seperated from Kirara, had met up with the others as they chased after Inuyasha and Kagome's whereabouts. Inuyasha's comrades walked over to where the hanyou lay as the stars began to twinkle in the sky. They all gasped softly as the Inuyasha's hair changed from it's silvery white to raven black and his dog ears disappeared from the top of his head. He no longer had his demonic powers which only made things worse. Inuyasha would no longer be able to heal as quickly as he normally could, which would mean he would be more subjected to the poison as usual.

"Inuyasha, please open your eyes!" Kagome pleaded softly grasping his hand in hers. It was like before when the spiderhead had attacked him. His skin was going pale and the expression on his face bleak. His eyes were closed and the sweat began beading on his forehead. Kagome reached a hand up to brush back some of his dark strands of hair. He was fully human now and nothing could be done until the sun rose. Would he make it through the night?

"Don't you go dying on me. Not yet," Kagome whispered as she clutched his hand in hers. The miko laid herself over his chest, still holding his hand in hers, buried her face into his fire rat and began to cry softly. "Inuyasha, please...say something!"