InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Solstice ❯ Chapter 2 - Building Tension ( Chapter 2 )

Solstice

Notes: 7,600 words – Woohoo! I added another chapter of this story, I really LOVE the concept for this story, I just wish it had sparked more interest. Anyway, I'm going to work on Kurayami next so keep an eye out for that.

Curious about the status of my stories? - Look me up on Twitter under Pokahydee_chan to get and up-to-the-minute status of my writing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters thereof. Even though that is the case, please don't steal my plot, concept, or story out of respect for my creative endeavor as I wold not do this to anyone out there.

- l - l - l - Change of scene, time, etc.
'Thoughts/dreams' will be in single quotes (IE: '')

Chapter 2 – Building Tension

Kagome screamed as she felt her body falling. The echoing cry cut off abruptly when she struck ground... hard! All of the air in her lungs rushed out upon impact so she didn't have the ability to scream when she felt a strong jaw latch onto her upper arm and drag her forcefully across the hardwood floor.

She was dazed and completely confused as she fought to pull air into her prematurely deflated lungs. About the time she saw spots before her eyes from lack of oxygen, a blast of icy air hit her and she managed to gain the strength to roll onto her side. She drew a ragged breath into her aching lungs as she tried to rid the feeling of panic that came with the inability to breath (AN: this happened to me when I took an elbow to the chest in soccer... VERY scary...)

Kagome shakily rolled onto her knees, drinking in the frigid air that now filled her lungs and just vaguely noting that there was snow underneath her hands as she knelt on the ground. She gasped in fright as she heard a persistent growling next to her and looked up to see the white wolf growling menacingly at something that was, apparently, behind her. She turned slowly, dreading what she was going to see and bit back a cry of fear as she saw a pack of around six wolves standing behind her.

She rose up onto her knees instinctively and slid back until her shoulder blades hit something solid that effectively blocked her escape route. So... her choice was to either get eaten by the large, white wolf, who suddenly looked slightly undersized next to the massive brown wolves. Or get torn to shreds by a whole PACK of wolves, since they were obviously not of the same pack. From what she could gather, the largest brown wolf, who had strikingly blue eyes, was stepping forward to challenge her golden-eyed captor. She shrunk back to appear as harmless as possible and couldn't help the shrill cry of pain that ripped through her body as she felt a pair of teeth sink into her hip.

"... Please... no..." Kagome begged as she felt the fearful tears sting her eyes. She didn't want to die without knowing how her family was. She didn't want to die away from her best friends. Hell... she didn't want to die at ALL!

She squeezed one eye open when she didn't feel another strike and stared dumbfounded at the scene before her. The white wolf, with her blood dripping lazily from his muzzle, was standing over her and growling menacingly at the larger wolves with a predatory glint in his golden eyes.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she took in how PROTECTIVE the white wolf was behaving. She wasn't sure if it was protecting her or protecting his meal. It made sense that if a stronger opponent showed up, he would relinquish his kill and wait until they were finished then come back afterward for any leftover scraps. This much she had seen on the animal channel at home, but this behavior was odd to her. No matter that he, she was assuming it was a 'he' because of his immense size, was badly outnumbered, but he was still standing in front of her as a shield from the larger, slobber-dripping wolves before her.

She began to feel around on the ground around her, sinking her fingers into the loose snow as she searched for any sort of weapon she could use to defend herself. She ignored the freezing cold substance as she scooted back as much as she could against the wall. A pang of triumph shot through her body as her achingly cold fingers closed around something smooth and round that felt like a broomstick or something similar. Moving slowly, she began to pull the stick out from under the bottom ledge of the 'wall', which she now realized was a fence. As discreetly as she could, and with no sudden moves, she brought it around in front of her, still buried in the frigid snow.

She looked up sharply as the snarling grew louder and her eyes bulged out of her head as she saw the largest of the brown wolves lunging toward her. She flattened her back against the fence and yanked the broomstick out of the snow and held it up defensively. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do, but she knew she wasn't going to go down without a fight. What she didn't expect was for the white wolf to leap at the charging wolf and attack with his own vicious snarl.

Kagome watched were her mouth slightly agape as the two wolves battled it out. There was a series of snarls as the two animals tore into each other with razor sharp teeth and claws. Chunks of fur went flying and crimson droplets stained the pristine blanket of snow as the two animals quickly drew blood in their battle. She slowly rose to her feet, shivering from the cold and wishing she still had the down-filled jacket she had given to one of the children as she watched the battle play out. Despite the size difference, the two wolves seemed to be about evenly matched and both were quickly covered in various gashes and cuts, which slowly oozed blood.

With a final, painful yelp, the blue-eyed wolf was thrown back and the red-stained white wolf stood victorious, snarling his victory as if daring any of the other five wolves to attack. The large brown wolf slowly rose to his feet, licking one paw gingerly as he held it up off the ground. Kagome noted a flash of red go through the clear blue of his eyes that she KNEW she hadn't imagined before the large animal growled once more and turned around to head through a bush that was behind him. She watched alertly as the other five wolves, after making sure that the white wolf wasn't going to follow, trailed after their leader, growling warnings as they did so.

Kagome snapped her attention back to the bleeding, white wolf when she felt something clamp down firmly on her wrist. She wanted to cry out, but when the wolf let out a pained whimper and began to tug lightly on her wrist, she raised an eyebrow in confusion. His teeth were putting slight pressure on her skin, enough that she couldn't pull away, but not nearly enough to break the skin.

"Do you want me to follow you?" She asked gingerly as she met intense golden eyes. His eyes were oddly intelligent and his head bobbed up and down as if telling her 'yes', which caused her heart to leap in her chest. She felt her feet moving through the snow as the limping wolf led her off away from the deserted resort building and out into the wilderness.

She was trying to figure out just what was going on, the wolf had just NODDED to her for christ sake! Wolves didn't know what a nod meant, but this animal seemed to be able to understand her speech! Otherwise, how would it have known what a 'nod' meant? It just didn't make any sense to her, she knew they weren't normal animals, and she knew they were definitely more intelligent than the normal run-of-the-mill wolf, but to understand human words? That was just too much to imagine and it was making her head spin!

Not only that, but she was absolutely exhausted from the whole ordeal as the adrenaline began to drain away. For some odd reason, she didn't feel that her captor was leading her away to the dinner table any longer. His hold on her wrist was much too gentle for that to be the case. And regardless of being outnumbered and being injured during the fight, he had protected her from the larger, stronger pack that had attacked.

"Do you know where you're going?" Kagome asked quietly as she stumbled up the rocks the wolf was leading her over. It was decidedly difficult to climb when you only had one hand because your wrist was caught in the mouth of a wolf. Not only that, her extremities were now so cold that she couldn't even feel them and her teeth were chattering so hard she thought they were going to crack out of her head.

The wolf looked back with what was clearly a glare before turning around and pulling her further up the pile of rocks. He seemed to be patient as he waited for her to climb up, but she was still panting by reached the top of the stones. He paused there and let her catch her breath from the climb as she rubbed her hands together to try and bring some sort of warmth to them. She gasped as she felt something warm and moist on her hip and looked down to see the wolf licking her wound through the hole in her sweater. He made a noise between a whine and a growl when she tried to push him away, which she took as a warning and allowed him to continue lapping up the blood that oozed slowly out of the wound. She was surprised when the dull throb disappeared with the gentle ministration and her hazel orbs grew to the size of saucers as she saw the wound slowly starting to fade into a dull scar on her skin.

"No way..." She breathed as he pulled his face away from the wound and she ran her hand across the spot twice to make sure her eyes were working properly. There was a faint scar of two puncture marks with a faint red crescent moon between them left behind on her hip. "... how...?" She asked as she looked back up into the wolves eyes, as if the animal could answer her question. When he just stared back at her dully, Kagome swallowed thickly and forced her aching body back to her feet.

She didn't know how far the had gone through the forest, but surely she had to trust the wolf since he had kind of proved that he didn't truly want to harm her. Though what he could want her for was beyond her scope of imagination at this point. She was too worried about getting warm to worry too much about all of that. Not only that, but the snow had started to come down in earnest after they had climbed that ridiculously high pile of rocks and visibility was completely gone. She could only make out the wolf in front of her because his golden gaze kept flashing back to make sure she was still with him and she could still make out the blood caked into his fur.

When Kagome was beginning to doubt she could take another step, the wolf stopped abruptly and she nearly tripped over him in her mind-numbed stupor. She knelt down beside him, leaning against him for some support since her body was about to completely collapse and noted dully that he was scratching at a large rock on the ground. Curious, Kagome knelt down and using all her weight, shoved the stone back to reveal a narrow passageway beneath it. It looked strangely like a set of stairs carved into the rock so after a moment of hesitation, and of watching a white brush tail disappear down them, Kagome stepped into the stone steps, letting the stone roll back into place to hide the entrance way.

With the stone back in place, Kagome was plunged into semi-darkness as she descended down the few remaining steps. She was feeling very claustrophobic as her frozen fingers trailed along the stone walls on her way down.

Kagome was a bit surprised to see that the further down the steps she went, the brighter the light became. She ducked her head slightly when she reached the bottom step and walked into a large, open cavern that took her breath away. Growing up the walls of the cavern was some sort of bio-luminescent vine that glowed a bright green that lit the entire area before her. As she stepped slowly into the open expanse, she vaguely noted warmth kissing her cheeks from somewhere deeper within the cavern.

She stared in wonder as her eyes traveled around and fell onto two passageways that branched off from the one she was standing in to either side. She was still awed by the vine growth on the walls of the cavern and vaguely wondered where they were from. She had never seen plant life that actually glowed in ALL of her time watching the animal channel OR the science channel! And she tended to stick with the learning channels so her mind didn't go dull. She would need a scholarship to be able to attend college because of how tight finances were at home. Though she wasn't sure that would matter too much any more depending on how wide-spread this strange phenomena had spread.

Besides the vines, she didn't see anything that seemed to extraordinary about the cavern except for a small carving in the wall between the two passageways. With a perplexed look, Kagome approached the carving and ran her fingers lightly along an elaborate carving of a vicious looking dog with it's tail curving wildly around it. The minuscule carving stared out at her with piercing eyes of some golden stone and she couldn't help but swallow thickly as the intense gaze seemed to bore into her very being, seeing every misdeed and transgression she had ever committed and passing swift and harsh punishment on them.

She was drawn out of her daze but a muffled yipping sound and turned to see the white wolf standing in the doorway of the passageway to her left looking up at her expectantly. It was at that moment that she drew in a sharp breath as a riveting revolution rippled through her body as she stared down at the ragged animal at her feet. He wasn't a wolf at all! His eyes told her the truth as he looked up at her with his head tipped to the side slightly as if perplexed by her sudden breath intake, his tongue lolled out of his mouth lazily as he looked up at her. He was just a large, white dog!

She leaned down to look the animal in the face, he licked his lips as he met her gaze head-on, his gaze suddenly intense, dominating. She sat on the floor before him, sitting on her feet as she reached out a tentative hand toward him, palm to the floor to appear less threatening. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she had seen on the nature channel, which was a sign of submission among dogs and wolves according to studies, hoping to appear completely harmless.

She couldn't help the surprised gasp that escaped her throat when he leaned down and licked her wrist gently before he gently, reassuringly took her hand between his teeth and tugged her gently toward the passage he'd just come from. She stiffly rose to her feet, shivering severely as the strange warmth of the cavern slowly brought the feeling back to her numb appendages and making her muscles ache and hurt from the exertion of the trip through the forest to reach the underground cave.

Kagome tentatively followed the shaggy dog into the chamber and a small smile graced her lips when she found a futon rolled out on the floor against the back wall. The chamber was small with not nearly as much of the glowing greenery so it was dimly lit. As she gazed around the room, her eyes fell on a covered basket in the corner and made her way over to it when the dog released her wrist and lay next to the futon. She lifted the top off the basket and saw some cloth bundle in the basket. It looked to be an old-fashioned and doubtless old sleeping yukata as she pulled it out. The fabric was thread-baring and wouldn't do for sleeping in any more, but it would do nicely as makeshift bandages for her savior who's eyes she could feel boring into her back.

Moving slowly and carefully, she pulled the ragged clothes from the basket and began to tear long strips from them and laid them in a pile to her side. The cloth ripped easily as she followed the direction of the weave and she soon had a medium sized pile of 'bandages' lying next to her. As she rose to her feet to go bandage up the bleeding dog, she noted that there was a pile of red cloth underneath the moth-eaten yukata she'd used for her own devices. Surprisingly, the red fabric looked to be in really good condition as if it has only been placed in the basket a week prior. She shook this vague musing from her mind as she replaced the lid on the basket and scooped up her bandages to take care of the injured animal.

He didn't make a noise as she sat down with her legs tucked underneath her and placed her bandages on the ground. She reached out a tentative hand and a small smile graced her lips as he eagerly licked her outstretched fingers, all of the tension seeming to leave his battered body. She got to work immediately and used some of the larger pieces of cloth to dab away as much of the blood as possible. She didn't have any water available to cleanse the wounds, but she'd heard that when a dog licks their cuts, it had some sort of sanitation effect. Dogs mouth were cleaner than a human mouth when it came to bacterial growth, one of the many subjects that grade school students would do science projects on.

After she sponged away as much blood as possible, she began to gently wrap the makeshift bandages around his many wounds. She would wince and cringe slightly every time she heard him growl or yip in pain, but he never tried to bite or snarl at her throughout the whole process. Kagome was convinced that the dog somehow knew that she wasn't trying to hurt him and was, instead, trying to help him. He had already more than proven his beyond-normal intelligence.

When Kagome was satisfied with her medical treatment, she crawled into the futon and pulled the blanket over her, shivering still as her body slowly warmed. She noted a pair of golden eyes watching her, but felt too fatigued now to be afraid anymore. Besides, even if he did rip her from her hiding place, drag her off, and bite her, he had still saved her life. As terrified as she had been with the adrenaline pumping through her veins for so long, she just wanted to go to sleep.

She was surprised at how well the futon seemed to have held up, given the condition of all of the clothing filling that basket and snuggled further under the blankets, curling her body into a ball so she could get the feeling back into her hands and feet. What she didn't expect to feel was a heavy body settling around her protectively. She peeked her face out of her cocoon and smiled slightly as she saw the dog settled comfortably around her, adding his warmth to the blankets. His golden eyes stared intently at her face and he was situated in such a way that he was able to see the passageway that led back out to the main part of the cavern.

At this point, fatigue took over and Kagome's eyes slid shut of their own accord. She could hear the dog's soft breathing as his warmth added to the blankets had her comfortably warm in no time and let out a sigh of relief. She fell into a deep sleep actually feeling relaxed and safe, thought a bubble of worry gnawed at her as she thought of her friends still trapped in that attic and probably worried or shattered by her abduction. The weary feeling that gripped her whole body was too great and after a few drowsy minutes, fell into a fitful sleep filled with golden eyes in the night and blood splattered bodies littering the ground.

- l - l - l -

Sango rolled over again, trying to force herself back to sleep. It had been a really horrible night... She was sick with worry over Kagome and was just praying to a higher power that her best friend was still alive. From the amount of blood that was smeared on the ground, she really wasn't sure at this point. Miroku had gone down once they'd driven the rest of the birds out and had helped to reinforce the trapdoor, but he said the blood trail ended just a little ways outside a shoji door that had a large hole through it as if something just ran right through it. He hadn't gone beyond that door because the risk was too great even though it was still daylight out. He had seen a place in the snow that was stirred up and splashed in blood as if a fight had occurred there, but hadn't been able to investigate because his current job was making sure Sango and everyone else in the attic remained safe.

Sango's eyes were puffy and burning from all of the hysterical crying from the day before. She'd spent much of that time while she grieved with her face buried in Miroku's chest as he stroked her back gently. Even with a few hours of sleep, Sango still felt how puffy her face was and didn't really care because her best friend was out there somewhere with a monster that could have either killed her or done her great bodily harm. She was afraid that if Kagome managed to escape, she had gotten lost in the woods on top of everything! Kagome really had no sense of direction so Sango was really terrified by all of the horrible possibilities.

They had been turning their cell phones on from time to time to see if they could reach some emergency service department, but even when they could get a signal out in the middle of nowhere, the call would always either continually ring or would give them a message saying that the number was busy or disconnected. So basically, they were trapped in the attic until they either ran out of food and water, or were eaten by some psychotic animal with abnormal intelligence. From all angles, things looked grim...

Sango sighed and tossed Miroku's coat from her body when she realized she wouldn't be getting any more sleep. Her mind was just working too frantically, not to mention the nightmares she'd been plague with the few meager hours she had managed to drift off. She could hear Kagome's terrified scream echoing through her head even now as she sat on the floor clutching Miroku's jacket to her chest.

A tear escaped her eye and slid silently down her cheek. She wasn't one to cry often, but she wasn't able to stop herself in this instance. She had been right there when it happened, and she had been unable to stop her best friend from being dragged off screaming for her life. She leaned forward and covered her face with her hands, pushing on her eyes until bright spots danced before them as she tried to force that vision away. She felt inexplicably awful... she blamed herself for Kagome being there in the first place, so far from civilization they could rarely get cell reception! It had been her idea to have this little trip! She had planned the whole thing and Miroku had just helped purchase all of the tickets and reservations, this had been her doing. Her best friend was gone... and it was all her fault...

A dry sob escaped her throat that she was unable to hold back and she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her and she was pulled against a hard chest. She gripped the front of Miroku's shirt and buried her face in the warmth as she shook with silent sobs. They had all been refraining from making too much noise so they could avoid notice. Since that wolf had broken in the previous day, they had not been bothered, thankfully. That's not to say that it could change at any time, though.

Because of this uncertainty, they had decided that they would sleep in shifts. There would always be two or three people awake at any given time just to make sure none of them drifted off at some point during the night. They were all on edge most of the time, the tension still thick in the air even while people slept. The children would cry quietly and ask their mother when they would get to go home, but she had no answer for them. They were truly trapped in this small resort in the middle of nowhere with no means of escape. Even if one of them could get the keys for their vehicle, there's no way everyone would fit and it would be extremely difficult to get everyone there in one piece. There were just too many risks and unknown factors for them to make a run for the cars.

"Kagome is strong, I'm sure she's fine." Miroku whispered quietly in Sango's ear. His voice sounded doubtful, but he really hated to see Sango cry. He needed to be strong for the both of them, though he wanted nothing more than to go after Kagome and hunt down that damn wolf that drug her off. He had made a silent vow that he would kill the beast as soon as Sango was someplace safe.

"Miroku we need to get out of here." Sango whispered brokenly as tears slid down her cheeks silently. "Kagome needs us. You know she has no sense of direction. She doesn't even have a coat!" Sango said as she stifled a low sob in his shirt.

Miroku gathered Sango into his arms, running his fingers through her loose strands that hung down her back. He had been trying to formulate a plan but he kept coming back to the same thing every time. A small group would have to sneak out of their hiding place and go for help. He feared leaving the remainder of their small group vulnerable, though. Undoubtedly, the strongest would have to be on any rescue mission, but then what would the rest of them do without that strength? It definitely seemed bleak for them... what they needed was a truck of some sort, like the large ones that were used to make deliveries. That way everyone was encased in metal with the exception of the driver and probably someone to watch their back in the cab. That was the best thing he could think of, but as far as he knew, the use of such a truck was an impossibility.

"Just face it already," Tetsuyo broke into Sango's grief rudely as he finished climbing up the ladder from the pantry. "Your friend is dead, so quit your wailing before you attract something to us!"

Sango's tear-streaked face flew up out of Miroku's chest and she fixed a nasty glare on Tetsuyo as she attempted to climb to her feet. Miroku gripped her wrists firmly, not allowing Sango to go pummel the insensitive man that flopped down clumsily to the floor. His gaze narrowed darkly on Tetsuyo as he rose to his feet and gave Sango a look over his shoulder that said 'let me handle this'. Miroku was a very observant man and he hadn't missed the way Tetsuyo had wobbled when he'd gotten to the top of the ladder. Nor did miss a very distinct smell that swirled over to him on the displaced air. He walked over to Tetsuyo motioning Sango to sit and, eyes sharp and piercing, took a seat next to the man and crossed his arms over his chest.

Miroku didn't say anything for several moments until Tetsuyo let out a loud belch and the unmistakable scent of sake filled the air. Miroku leaned forward and closed his eyes as if his suspicions had been confirmed, which they had in fact been validated. After a moment of gathering his thoughts, Miroku rounded on Tetsuyo with a stern look.

"You helped with the rules we set down and yet you've broken one of the most important." Miroku said as he glared at Tetsuyo, who was pretending to ignore him. "If I could dump the sake out without endangering us, I would have."

"Shut the fuck up, it's just a little sake." Tetsuyo grumbled with a little bit of a slur. "It's not like I'm under age."

"That's not the point!" Miroku snapped in a low hiss. "If something manages to get in while you're drunk, you'll only get in the way! You'll endanger ALL of our lives!"

"Humph!" Tetsuyo said as he glared back at Miroku before pulling his gaze away and glaring at the floor. "I'm not even drunk, just trying to dull the pain." He muttered. Miroku knew he was talking about the death of his brother that he seemed to ignore most of the time.

"We've all lost people precious to us. You can't endanger everyone because of that." Miroku said more softly, letting the hard edge to his tone die away. With that, Miroku rose to his feet and walked back over to Sango and sat up against the wall next to her. Sango instinctively curled into his side, letting his hand rest on her waist as he drew her close. It seemed everyone needed an escape from their emotional burdens, but they couldn't allow themselves to give in completely like Tetsuyo had at that moment.

Everyone was burdened with the situation so unless everyone kept it together, they wouldn't make it through this situation. Sango reached up and gripped the front of Miroku's shirt as he rested his chin lightly on the top of her head. Sango bit back her tears and stiffened her resolve as she allowed Miroku to be strong for them both. She couldn't give it to despair or she would find herself giving in to other things. Once the others were safe, they would search for Kagome. A fierce protectiveness gripped her as she steeled herself for what they may find, but it was better to know what happened rather than regretting life because they didn't do anything about their situation. Sango had a feeling in her gut that Kagome still lived, they just needed to find a means of getting the rest of them to safety, then they could find and rescue Kagome.

- l - l - l -

Kagome woke slowly surrounded in a comfortable warmth and was momentarily surprised to find herself on a soft surface rather than a cold, tile floor. The air felt slightly damp too, which surprised her a bit until her eyes slid open the rest of the way and she found herself looking around a small, stone cavern. That's when memories came flooding back and the groggy early-morning fog lifted from her sleep-addled brain.

She glanced at her side and found a large, white dog wrapped around her sleeping form, adding his warmth to her blankets. She took note of the bandages that covered the poor animal and felt her eyes drop in empathy. He had gotten those wounds protecting her, after all. As if sensing her thoughts, the dog opened his amber eyes and seemed to glare at her, telling her with his gaze to stop pitying him for his wounds. She stared back transfixed for several moments before she shook her head, ridding herself of that thought. Sure, the animal was intelligent, but she was reading too much into his look.

She tried to pull the blankets off of her body and was stopped when a warning growl left the dog's throat. He'd laid his head back down on the futon, effectively keeping her blocked in the bed. She rustled around a little, trying to sneak out of the blankets without further disturbing the dog. She seriously needed to pee and she was feeling more than a little hot covered in the blankets with the added warmth of the dog. His growl grew louder and she yelped in surprise when she felt a nip on the wrist that had been gently easing the blankets aside.

"Come on, I have to pee!" Kagome whined as she fidgeted uncomfortably under the blankets. He blinked up at her for a moment, then slowly rose to his feet, drawing the blanket back with his teeth in the process as if granting her permission to relieve herself. It was Kagome's turn to blink in surprise as she just stared at the dog with her mouth hanging open slightly. The dog had SERIOUSLY just pulled the blankets back as if he understood when she said she had to pee! 'No. Freaking. Way.' Kagome thought to herself, but had to shake herself from her thoughts as another quiet growl came from the dog.

"Oh!" She cried as she quickly stood from the futon. She laid the blanket back out quickly, not wanting to take the time to roll it just yet since she really had to pee! She was also feeling decidedly thirsty from the lengthy hike through the frozen wilderness the night before.

The dog walked ahead of her, almost as if he was leading the way, so she obliged him and followed him back out into the main chamber. She blinked into the brighter light, giving her eyes a second to adjust as she followed him into the other doorway. They traveled through a small passageway and she couldn't help but marvel at the refracted light that was dancing around the tunnel around her and the smell of sulfur filled the air. When the stepped out into a huge chamber, Kagome couldn't help it... her mouth dropped open in pure shock at what opened up in front of her...

"No way!" She cried as her eyes bugged out of her head. "This is seriously amazing!" She cried as her eyes traveled around the chamber to see a hidden, underground hot spring of all things! She wasn't too surprised to see a hot spring in this part of Japan, but an underground one? She wasn't so sure she'd ever even heard of such a thing! The fact that the dog knew where it was amazed her even more, especially since it was obvious humans had been here at some point.

As she looked out over the water, she noted that there was a small waterfall at one end of the chamber which seemed to be what fed the hot spring. From the steam that rose up from underneath it, she had a feeling that it was cold water that was coming down the waterfall. Over to her right, she saw what looked like a man-made dam of some sort that the water spilled over into a small stream that ran off out of sight underneath a low-hanging ceiling. Not only that, but the very presence of a futon and that basket full of clothes in the other chamber was evidence enough of humans, though it appeared no one had been within this chamber in a very long time!

"This is so cool..." She breathed as she headed for the spot where the water spilled over the dam and ran off into an underground stream. That looked like the best place to do her business since the water moved rather quickly so all of the waste material would be gone in no time. That way she wouldn't have to worry about the cave becoming uninhabitable. The dog seemed to have the same idea as he lifted his leg and nonchalantly relieved himself into the stream.

She followed his lead and walked over to the stream before sitting down and pulling off her socks, noting that they were still damp from the long walk through the woods without shoes. After that went her pants, which she laid out flat so they would finish drying as well. She noted vaguely that the dog turned away when she pulled her sweatshirt off over her head and folded it up, deeming that it was already dry enough and didn't need to be laid out.

She shivered briefly as she stood in the open wearing only her bra and panties, a cute pink lacy set that she had picked out on a shopping trip with Sango; not that anyone had seen the set besides her and Sango. Kagome was pretty self-conscious about her body and appearance and she really didn't have much time for boys since she was always working so hard to keep her scholarship and to help provide for her financially struggling family. She pulled down her panties and quickly relieved herself in the stream and began looking around for something to dry herself off with. To her good luck, there was another smaller basket on the edge of the stream that was hidden in the dark until she had hovered over the stream. She dug around inside and pulled out a piece of cloth that she dried herself with and then rinsed out in the stream afterward since the current had already washed everything away. She lay the cloth out next to the basket so it could dry. The fabric wasn't in much of a better state that the yukata she'd found the previous night, but it was all she had available and it would work for the purpose she was using it for anyway.

Not wanting to put her damp jeans and socks back on, Kagome decided she'd kill some time by taking a dip in the hot spring. She walked along the walkway at the edge of the spring, running her fingers along the wall as she walked. There were none of those strange, glowing vines growing on that particular wall, but she could see them growing up the other walls opposite them and up around the doorway, marking the opening easily. She walked over to the doorway and ran her fingers over one of the leaves, surprised as she felt a weird sensation run through her fingertips. She pulled her hand back abruptly when she felt a sharp spark of something shoot into her hand and bit back a cry of pain at a burning sensation that ran up her arm.

"What's with these things?" She questioned out-loud as she bit back her tears, breathing in deeply to calm her pounding heartbeat from the surprise the painful jolt gave her. Now that she stood back, she could feel something coming from the vines and her brows furrowed in confusion. She had no clue what that strange sensation was, but it made her skin prickle uncomfortably. She rubbed her arms as a shiver ran through her body and decided she would go into the hot spring to rid herself of the sudden chill that had gripped her body.

Kagome made her way over to the dam again and slipped out of her bra and panties, intent on giving them a good scrub while she was at it. She had, after all, been forced to wear them for nearly a week without a wash and was seriously feeling nasty about the situation. She and Sango would take turns watching the pervert to make sure he didn't peek and would wash their socks and undergarments in a bucket of water, but since they only had a limited supply of water, they would have to use the same water repeatedly so it would quickly get rather dirty and unsanitary.

She smiled softly as she passed the dog lying lazily on the edge of the water, his gaze pointedly looking away from her as if in embarrassment at her state of dress. She laughed quietly at the thought, feeling herself silly for thinking it, but then remembering his strange reaction when she'd said she needed to 'pee' earlier and wasn't so sure she was being silly any longer.

She walked into the water next to the dam, wading in up to her waist, not caring that she was still in her bra and underwear. The bottom of the pool was smooth from years of running water and was surprisingly not too slippery, which with her lack of grace, she was definitely thankful for. She slid her underwear off, careful she didn't step into a slippery spot and fall on her face into the warm water. She shuddered a bit as the cooler air met her upper body in contrast to the warmth wetness that encased her lower half. She quickly got to work scrubbing her underwear, gently rubbing the fabric against itself to clean the item. When she was thoroughly satisfied, well as satisfied as she could be without having a washing machine or even some soap, she laid it out on the bank with her jeans and socks.

"Ne Inu-chan," She called as she unsnapped her bra and slid it off her shoulders before submerging it in the water. "Do you have a name or anything? I feel funny just thinking of you as Inu." Kagome said, not sure what she was going to call her strange savior. Though how he was supposed to tell her his name was beyond her. She just felt more comfortable speaking to him like he was human because of the unnatural silence that surrounded her and the strange feeling that he understood what she had to say. It was more of a way to comfort herself, cope with the quiet that was only broken by the hushed babble of moving water, and the worry over her family and friends that clutched at her soul threatening to reduce her to hysterical sobs and tears. By speaking to 'Inu-chan', she felt that she would be able to keep her sanity until all of the uncertainty of this strange occurrence as he pressed down on her mind.

She laid her bra out on the stones next to her panties and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling suddenly so very alone in the huge cavern. She wanted her mother to hug her and Sango to reassure her that nothing bad was going to happen to her. She felt tears stinging her eyes as she looked down at her bandaged wrists. The bandages had been ripped from Sango's tank top that she had been wearing beneath her sweatshirt on their hike and was now a dingy gray color from being washed out and re-wrapped around her wrists every few days. Unfortunately for their group, they had been forced to use clean water every time the bandages were washed because of the risk of infection and they had been forced to use sake to cleanse her wrists, which was better than nothing Kagome supposed, but still extremely unpleasant. She was just hoping that the wounds wouldn't get infected, they had already been draining quite a bit but other than that seemed to be sealed at least.

Kagome sighed quietly and began unwrapping her wrists, determined to give them some air and hopefully dry up the drainage. As she rinsed the bandages out and laid them out to dry with her undergarments, she looked over at Inu-chan to see him studying her. She could feel the tears trickle down her cheeks and forced a small smile onto her lips in his direction. His body visibly loosened and he lay his head on his paw and closed his eyes, apparently satisfied that she was all right.

Kagome scrubbed at her tears with damp hands, determined to focus on the here and now and make sure she did what she could do. She was safe and warm currently and she knew Sango and Miroku were extremely strong and would be just fine. She also knew her mother was resourceful and decided she would trust in her mother's ability to keep her family safe if the strange animal behavior had reached all the way to Tokyo. She bathed her wrists in the water, wincing slightly as the feel of anything touching the wounds, but she bit her lip and stuck it out, keeping her hands submerged until she couldn't stand the feeling any longer. She pulled her wrists out and sighed in relief as the cooler air touched her wounds, sending relief up her arms. She felt a pair of eyes on her and glanced over at Inu-chan again to see he was pointedly looking away from her. She bit her lip gently and noted that he was studying the wall a little too astutely for that to be what he had been looking at the whole time. It was a very strange sensation she got being in the water bare as the day she was born with the dog laying several feet away on the stony bank. She felt strangely self-conscious all of a sudden and decided to wade out into the deeper water and submerge her bare chest below the surface of the water.

::FIN::

January 13, 2012

Notes: Well I bet anyone who's reading this can definitely tell who 'Inu-chan' is now huh? ~.^ I have TONS of ideas for this story that I just need to fit into the plot in logical places, this concept is going to continue to grow. I hope more people decide to give this story a chance, if you have any friends, I wouldn't be upset if you gently directed them toward this? I'd love to get some feedback to know if my plot is intriguing to anyone except for me. I was going for unique since I haven't come across anything quite like this before. And in later chapters, more characters will definitely appear. We've already seen too pretty big characters appear, Inu-chan being one of them. I'm planning on having Shippo-chan make and appearance as well as Sesshoumaru down the road, and of course Naraku will be showing up at some point^^

Can you guess? Who was the other character that was briefly mentioned in this chapter? Take a guess! I think it might be a bit obvious, but I want to see how many picked up on it.