InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Centre ❯ Healing...is a bitch ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 14: Healing…is a bitch.

Ouch! Kagome thought as she sat up, rubbing her head. What happened? There was this light…. Her legs burned and she looked down. Dang it. Her pants were feint remnants of material clinging to her skin, shoes charred beyond recognition. Luckily her skin seemed fine. Not even a scratch. Something rough rubbed her neck.

The firerat robe was still intact…although the shirt under it had sort of been ripped to oblivion. She clutched the material to her, finding ways to wrap it so she wasn't wandering around like some wannabe Victoria Secret model.

"Where am I?" she said aloud. She seemed to be surrounded by trees. She ran a hand up to her hair, wincing as singled hairs tangled. "Figures…" she said. Then she frowned and felt her brow. Where her eyebrows should have been. And weren't.

"That…that…pricks! Blowing off my eyebrows! I'm gonna go back and give him a piece of my mind, purify the little thunder dunder!" she vowed, pushing herself up shakily. Now….where was here and how did she get from here to where everyone else was?

Light? Ah, there! The trees thinned out. She couldn't be more than half a mile from where she'd been.

Did I slide here? What happened? Did I set up a barrier without realizing it? She thought, her mind working a mile a minute. Her hip was burning, sore from the impact of being thrown to the ground. Wouldn't be the first time I've done something unexplainable. I hope everyone's alright.

It seemed to take her an eternity to reach the clearing. Hiten and Manten were gone…correction, their bodies lay strewed about. Manten was dead, but intact…Hiten was headless, a shocked expression upon his face laying some ten feet from the rest of him. Kagome winced at all the blood.

They were all fine. She could see them bent over a pile of ashes, not facing her. Inuyasha seemed to be doing something. He pulled off his shirt and ripped part of it off, putting ashes in it. Everyone seemed so sad. Why? She wondered. Sango was wrapped in Miroku's arms, crying her heart out. The tough woman never cried. Rin was quivering and Sesshoumaru was totally silent, unmoving.

"Is this some sort of after battle demon tradition or something?" she asked, peering over shoulders to see if she was missing something critical. Rin suddenly gasped.

"Kagome?" Sango asked, voice cracking. "But…you're dead!"

"I am?" Kagome asked, looking down at herself.

Inuyasha heard her voice but his head didn't believe it. Slowly he managed to turn his body, eyes trying to focus. It was like a dream. She was there…wrapped in his firerat….smiling and hugging people. Was it a ghost come to say her goodbyes? Gods, he'd never told her anything!

"I'm fine! My clothes…well they're gone, but really, except for my missing eyebrows I'm just a little sore. I am a miko remember!" she joked, soothing the crying Sango.

"We thought you were dead and Inuyasha-" Rin began, choking on the words.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, her head turning to look at him. He staggered to his feet, his face a mixture of sadness and confusion. Blood was everywhere on him. Dried blood on his claws and fresh blood pouring from wounds all over his body. His stomach had a rather large, nasty looking chunk in it, partially black burned flesh marring his chest. Kagome found herself speechless. How could he be walking?

"Kagome?" he whispered weakly. "Don't go…"

Suddenly the ground seemed a great deal more uneven and unsteady for Inuyasha. His vision blurred and Kagome's concerned face turned to one of horror as everything went black.

Kagome quickly released Sango, rushing forward to catch Inuyasha as he stumbled into her arms, his golden eyes rolling back into his head.

"Inuyasha? Inuyasha! INUYASHA!"

<Kagome's apartment>

"How bad is it?" Sango asked Rin who was being treated by, of all people, Shippou. Sesshoumaru was standing over the kit with a deadly glare, but said nothing as Shippou stitched her up.

"Sess, stop glaring! I'm drunker than hell and don't feel a thing!" Rin snapped, her patience wearing thin. "Go dust something…" she suggested. Sesshoumaru lifted a questioning eyebrow. Rin had never before ordered him to do….servants' work. His eye twitched a bit, but he held his tongue. She would get it when she sobered up.

The door to Kagome's bedroom opened and Kaede came out, a bleak expression on her face. Kagome jumped up from where she'd been sitting on the floor, face full of worry. Kouga snarled to himself at the eagerness she displayed, the concern she had for the stupid hanyou's welfare. He was hoping the damn bastard would die and save him the favor.

"He's in bad shape," Kaede said with a deep sigh. "I don't know how much healing power his demon blood can give him. The best thing to do is to give him time and rest."

"Shouldn't we take him to a hospital?" Kagome asked.

"No. The hospitals won't be safe for now. They'll ask too many questions. You," Kaede said with a finger wagging at Sesshoumaru. "Stay away from him or else."

"Or else what?" Sesshoumaru countered. He didn't press the answer when dark waves of anger came from Kagome. She turned and gave him a frosty gaze that sent a shiver up even his spine. Her face said it all. Bother Inuyasha and he would deal with her. A fully trained, angry and powerful miko. The last time a full blooded demon and miko had gone at it like that both had been sealed, dead for eternity. Not even a chance of rebirth.

"I think I'm going to go," Sango said. "I found an apartment down the street. I think I'm going to sleep a week." Kagome nodded, giving her a weak smile.

"I'll walk you out," Miroku offered, holding the door open for her and Kaede. The room was deadly quiet after they left until Rin slumped across the chair she was in, totally limp.

"Shippou…you're really cute. Will you marry me?" she asked, eyes light and playful.

"You're like 86 years old, no way!" Shippou said.

"84!" Rin said with a pout. Kagome's head began to spin and she sat down.

"Ok, I want some answers," Kagome said. "Just how old are you all?!"

"I'm 84, why?" Rin asked. "Don't I look my age?" Rin thought what she'd said was extremely funny and began giggling uncontrollably.

"This is why we don't let her have alcohol," Sesshoumaru said with a sigh.

"I'm 27," Shippou said, "but the collar prevents aging so physically I'm still 4."

"The collar prevents aging? Is that why Sango and Miroku are still young?" Kagome asked.

"Yep," Rin said, giggling again. "Sango is… oh goodness, how old is she again Sess?"

"Human's ages are not my concern," he replied.

"So don't write a dissertation on it!" Rin snapped, her mood immediately changing. Sesshoumaru sighed. If he annoyed her too much she might latch herself onto the back of his neck again. Not an experience he wished to repeat.

"Sango came two years after Inuyasha was captured, Miroku a year before that. That was twenty years before the miko tried to purify me." Kagome looked at him, still expectant. Right, dumb woman didn't know anything. "Inuyasha was captured at 18 years of age, 70 years ago," Sesshoumaru supplied. "Sango is two years older, Miroku three."

"Fifty years ago…" Kagome said, something clicking in her memory. "That was the first group sent out! It was a miko?"

"They thought a miko would be powerful enough to subdue me," Sesshoumaru said. A deadly half grin touched his lips. "Obviously they were wrong. Any bitch marked as my brother's would be extremely….distasteful."

Kagome looked around her, suddenly feeling very young. Even Shippou was older than her…technically speaking. Her head began to hurt, trying to process the information.

"And how old are you?" Kagome asked Sesshoumaru. He gave her a look that suggested it was none of her damn business.

"263, give or take a decade," Rin answered. "You should see some of the remnants of his wardrobe!" That set her in a fit of giggling again. Sesshoumaru looked highly exasperated. As soon as Shippou was done he picked her up.

"Where are we going?" she cried out, clutching his shoulder in an effort to steady the whiplash her head was receiving.

"Home."

"Aw. Ok," she said, a wicked gleam in her eye. "Old man." Sesshoumaru growled something noncommittal as he opened the door, slamming it behind him. Kagome could hear Rin's giggles all the way down the stairs.

Sighing, Kagome made her way to her bedroom, hoping things weren't too bad in there. If she saw that much blood again she might get physically sick.

"Kagome?" a voice called out from the bed as she opened the door. She rushed to the bedside.

"How are you feeling? Do you need anything? Water? Tea? Warm compress?" she asked, keeping her voice extra soft so she wouldn't hurt his ears.

"Just…stay with me," Inuyasha said.

"Ok," she said, sitting down by the edge of the bed.

"Kagome?" he called out, eyes trying to focus in the dark.

"I'm right here," she said calmly, reaching out and taking one of his hands in hers. Such deadly claws, yet his hand was warm and soft. He was cleaner now, stomach and chest bound in bandages, the comforter up to his waist. Kagome suspected he was naked under it but she wasn't about to find out.

"Oi, woman, let go of dog-turn!" Kouga said from the doorway. Kagome bristled in anger. She turned to Kouga with a fake smile on her face.

"Kouga, could you go down to the convenience store and pick me up some milk?"

"Milk? What do you need milk for?" he asked. Kagome silently cursed his mild intelligence.

"A…uh, milk bath," she said, wanting to smack herself for saying something that was obviously a lie.

"Ok, I'll be back!" Kouga said and a few moments later she heard the door close. Kagome could not believe her luck. So much for intelligence.

"Shippou, put a note on the door saying we went out, lock and bolt it. Don't open it for anyone and secure the windows," Kagome said. "What is it with demon men? What are we? A slab of meat at the butcher to be picked up at sight?"

"Men like Kouga don't understand the word no," Inuyasha whispered from his spot, his hand clutching hers. "Kagome, where are you? I can't smell you."

"I don't know why you can't. I must smell to high heaven," Kagome said. "I still haven't showered or anything. Give me half an hour, I'll shower and be right back."

"But…" he began weakly.

"I'm still covered in blood, gore and other stuff I don't want to identify. Half an hour, tops. Go to sleep, I'll be right in the bathroom. I'll even leave the door ajar so you can hear me, ok?"

He did not answer so she took that as a yes.

While the shower water began to warm up Kagome inspected the firerat cloth that had probably saved her life…or at least was a major factor. Not a mark was on it. What the hell was this stuff? If a firerat was this tough how did one kill it to get its skin?

The warm water felt wonderful. Kagome reached for the shampoo only to discover she was out. Figured. It just wasn't her day. Then again Inuyasha probably felt more like shit than her.

Why did she let him stay?

Kagome stood there as the water sprayed over her, deep in thought.

Why was she so concerned? She barely knew him and yet seeing him fall was like someone ripping her heart out of her chest. And then Sango had explained he was scraping up the ashes because he thought they were hers. He looked like a soul torn in half, all hope and life gone from him. The tortured man looked nothing like the confident and powerful Hanyou she'd come to know. He looked like a man who'd lost everything.

"Kagome?" Shippou called out, poking his head in. Kagome turned off the water, hidden behind the opaque glass doors. "Inuyasha is asking for you."

"I'm coming," she said, grabbing a towel hanging on the side. Her pjs were sitting on the chair across from her, fresh and folded. Kagome smiled. Shippou certainly was thoughtful. She pulled them on, grateful for the soft cotton. She turned off the bathroom light and entered the dark bedroom, padding softly to the bed.

Of course that was when she realized the dilemma before her. Inuyasha was taking up the bed. The whole bed. It was only a twin. Where would she sleep?

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked. She stopped at the side of the bed, smoothing the bangs from his head. "May I…borrow your lap?" he asked. Kagome's eyes widened in surprise. "I want to be able to smell you."

Kagome's face softened. Hurt men were always the biggest babies. The tougher they were, the more they reverted back to childhood when in pain. Sesshoumaru was probably the biggest baby in the world. The thought of Sesshoumaru whining in Rin's lap made Kagome giggle a little as she climbed on the bed, moving the pillow and making herself comfortable before she let Inuyasha rest his head upon her legs.

"Is that better?" she asked.

"Hmm," he answered.

"If I find out you are pulling a Miroku on me I'm going to purify you," Kagome teased. Inuyasha made no reply. She looked down at him. His face was slack, chest slowly rising and falling with steady breathing. He was fast asleep.

All Kagome could think of was how cute he looked laying there asleep. Like an angel. A deadly, dangerous and sexy angel.