InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Moon Fever ❯ Brave the Long Night ( Chapter 7 )

DISCLAIMER- These characters are Rumiko Takahashi's. What I own, I own only in my dreams.

A/N- Yay! Another chapter! More romantic fluff- woohoo! Actually, it feels like half fluff/half Emergency Room drama. Sorry that Chapter 6 ended in such a weird place, but I'll try to make it up to everyone with this one. Enjoy, and review please!

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Last time…..

Kagome and Miroku sprint as fast as humanly possible to the village, and there they find Inuyasha and Sango being tended by the village priestess. Sango's leg is wrapped fairly easily, but Inuyasha is a different matter. His body ridden with pain and fever, Kagome is the only one he will allow to touch his wounds. She is left alone to clean and wrap his stomach, and attempt to keep him alive until the morning.

Now….

"I'm ready….." his eyelids encased his eyes again, and she watched as he shifted on his forearms, trying to conceal the trembling of his limbs.

Now that he seemed more alert than before, she felt more relieved, if not a little self-conscious. Here he was, his muscled chest bared to her, alone with her at night, waiting for her to wrap his wound. Trying to push her momentary discomfort from her thoughts, she pulled a roll of bandages from her medical kit and began to unravel it slowly.

Slowly, she positioned herself between his legs, and, with the greatest of care, reached around his waist to begin covering his lower half with the thick bandage She watched his face, expectantly. Under the dark bangs that hung across his forehead, she notice the crinkling of his brow and the way his jaw fluctuated every time her hand moved against the wound. When her hand brushed against the flesh of his back, he suddenly roared in anguish.

Jumping back, startled, the bandages rolled to the floor as her hands shook. "INUYASHA! Oh no…what did I….?!"

He shook his head bravely, waiting for the pain to fade a bit before he actually tried to speak. "There….in my back…….something- sharp….." his breath came to a ragged peak as he spoke the words.

Kagome's face drained with worry, and she moved behind him to check his back. Supporting his shoulders with her palms, she looked down at his lower back. With a gasp, she noticed a sharp point protruding from the skin, obviously buried deep close to his spine. Slowly and carefully, she moved her hand to hover over the gash in his back. Some of the demon's claw had obviously shattered and lodge itself within Inuyasha's torso.

"Do it. Fast. Take it out- please, Kagome!" A shuddered breath issued from between his lips. She was glad for once that she could not see the pained expression on his face-if she had, she wouldn't have been able to rip out the claw piece.

Without more hesitation, the young miko snatched at the glistening shard of the claw, ripping it unceremoniously from the boy's back. Within seconds after she had removed the splinter from his skin, it seemed as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his body.

"Is….that….do you feel any more pieces, Inuyasha?" Letting a sigh escaped his lips, he shook his head slowly, his arms faltering a little as they supported his body. "I have to finish bandaging your wound, now….I'll try to make it as quick as possible."

Regretting having to touch the deep slash in his abdomen again, she at least tried to make Inuyasha more comfortable as she fixed him up.

Gingerly, Kagome scooted forward, placing her knees beneath Inuyasha's bare shoulders. She let her palms graze the flat of his arms, motioning for him to lay back against her. Compliantly, the feverish man lay sprawled tensely on her lap, his muscles still flinching for the pain every time he moved.

Reaching for the forgotten bandages once again, Kagome started where she had left off, tightening the thick cloth around Inuyasha's slimly cut waist. He was squirming less now, the removal of the claw seeming to have dulled the pain. Working on putting the dressings on comfortably for her now-human companion, the miko leaned further forward over his torso.

This proved to make her job even more uncomfortable. Despite the fact that she was in charge of healing this awful injury, it didn't help that Inuyasha was lying across her thighs, his head nestled in her lap. Memories of the first night she had learned his hidden secret rushed back to her...the echo of his soft words and sweet compliment of her scent.

She tried harder to focus on the bandage rather than the presence of his handsome form so close to her.

As she pulled the cloth extra-tight, another hiss was drawn from Inuyasha. She flinched, flustered, as his warm breath brushed against the skin of her cheek, causing a blush to spread across her features. She once again reprimanded herself for thinking this way around the injured boy. After all, the only reason they were in this compromising position was because Inuyasha had been near death. If not for that, they would be resting or eating a meal together, but certainly not tangled up bodily against one another in an empty, fire-lit room.

Resolutely, she ringed the dressing around the wound one last time, and fastened it securely. "Inuyasha….we're all done now!" She struggled to put a cheerful note in this comment, though she was still worried about his pain-wracked body...still confused about her own feelings towards him.

Silently, Inuyasha gave a little nod, laying his head further back upon her legs. Now that she had finished her work, she couldn't prevent the red to escape her cheeks. Noticing the sweat appearing on his brow, and the flush still apparent on his face, she reached for the bowl with the soaked cloth- she was not only aiming to soothe the black-haired boy, but to also distract her from the thoughts that swamped her brain.

She swathed the heated skin slowly with the damp cloth, looking for his facial muscles to relax a little bit. She tried to make her voice sound clean, soft and soothing as she cooled his fever. "Try to sleep a bit, Inuyasha….." He grunted a bit, shifting his body slowly.

In the stone silence, she was given time to study his face. Even in his human form, which he despised so much, he was still beautiful. Still perfect, even when injured. His sharp chin, broad jaw, full lips, all were perfect. Unconsciously, she stroked a fingertip across his cheek. If there was one thing, though, that she missed most about him as a human, it was his deep, expressive golden eyes, that glinted in shadowed fear, anger, hate, passion…..and love.

Without warning, his temporarily gray eyes had locked upon hers, still glazed from fever and pain, yet sharp and knowing. She started a bit, the embarrassment returning. He tried to a smirk a little, though the pain kept his usual attitude at bay. "Don't pretend…that you're not tired, wench….."

She furrowed her brow at him, pretending to be offended at his often-used name for her, but her heart was flitting within her. When he was human, his voice was tender, almost timid. Even his regular tough exterior was a little softened during his transformation.

Leaning back over him again, she feigned anger. "I can't afford to be tired with you on the brink of death!"

His lips twisted slightly at her remark, his eyelids fluttering shut again. He reached back slightly, his roughened hand stroking her upper leg quickly, coaxing her to move. Kagome was more than a little flustered, not only at his touch, but at what his intentions were.

Moving against the pang of the wound, he tried to move off her lap. When she thought that he was shunning her help and her presence, he opened his eyes to her again. "You need your rest too, Kagome." She once again noted the unusual thoughtfulness that shone through on these nights. "Lay….lay down with me." (A/N: No, you pervs! Not like that. He's injured, dang it, give him some leeway- he wants his girl's comfort, that's all… ^_^)

A little taken aback by his request, she maneuvered next to him, cautiously laying beside him. His eyes were closed to her again, and she thought he was asleep. Kagome leaned her head back against the hard floor, knowing that she would probably never get any rest, but could at least stay beside him.

Surprisingly, Inuyasha's strong arm had moved to encircle her shoulders, pulling her swiftly close to him. His strength, even when he was deathly hurt, was shocking, and she was soon in a bone-crushing hug against his ribs. She let out a gasp of astonishment, feeling his warm chest so close, his hot breath blowing against her head, his thick hair pressed against her cheek. It was unthinkably intimate, though Kagome could see that Inuyasha wasn't letting her go any time soon. In fact, Kagome wasn't sure if she wanted him to.

"Kagome….." she lifted her face slightly to look into his glinting eyes. "Thank you." Her breath moved in as a sharp gasp when she realized he had pulled her up to meet his face. Their noses were inches from each other, and she stared back into his gray-violet eyes, almost drowning in the fullness of them. She shuffled through her brain, trying to think of some way to respond. Before she could think again, those beautiful lips had just barely grazed hers.

Before she could register what had taken place, he had settled his head back, and dropped his eyelids. She stared at him for just a moment longer, a new shock assaulting her mind. The memory of the little kiss still burned into her lips. A little smile creased her lips, and, as his grip on her tightened once more, she relaxed into his hold. She let herself enjoy the tough-muscled body against hers, his warm body heat radiating against hers, and the strong fingers clutching against her shoulder. Her tiny smile slowly spread as she grinned to herself.

They would survive the long night together.

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^_^ Well, I hope you enjoyed this weird, fluff-ridden chapter. It was a very challenging chapter, and it turned out fine, I hope. The ending is so cheesy, but we Inuyasha fangirls love that kind of stuff, don't we, girls? I hope to get some more reviews from my readers. If you're seeing this on fanfiction.net, it's a new chapter, but if you're on Mediaminer.org, I am SO SORRY for this horribly long wait. I've been really busy and also have procrastinated in every area of work in my life (i.e., summer homework ; ) ).

I hope to write one more chapter after this, just to end everything smoothly. Don't worry, if you enjoyed this fic, I hope to write another one sometime this fall- that is, if three AP classes don't kill me first! ^_^

Keep the reviews coming!

~Sadia~