InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Deep and Savage Way ❯ The Fever ( Chapter 1 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: DQBunny 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.03.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 623 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.03.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 623 | Status: Completed
“The Deep and Savage Way”
by DQBunny
DISCLAIMER: The works used in this fiction do not belong to me, but to their respective authors – even the ones already in the public
domain.
Any complaints and comments can be e-mailed to mlavey@charter.net or IMed to MegsLeigh on AOL Instant Messenger.
*****
Chapter 1: The Fever
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost”
- Dante’s “Inferno”: Canto I, Lines 1-3
*****
Everything hurt.
He cracked his eyes open and sunlight flooded his vision, causing his head to throb. Immediately he closed them and leaned against the hut wall. He could hear the village stir to life - smell the scents of breakfast, dirty diapers, laundry and all of the other necessary, normal smells of human life. While they normally reassured him that nothing was wrong, now they made him feel nauseated. Very nauseated.
Inuyasha slowly climbed to his feet, bracing most of his weight on Tessaiga. He forced his eyes open again and noticed that Miroku and Shippo were both gone, futon neatly folded and put away.
He stumbled out of the hut and toward the river, thinking that splashing water in his face would help. He took care of necessary morning business, then crouched on the bank to splash some water in his face. He nearly tumbled into the water as a wave of dizziness overtook him. He sat back on his haunches and willed the pain to subside. Pride refused to let him do anything but get to his feet and saunter back toward the village like he always did.
He saw Miroku and Sango arguing near the edge of the village. Inuyasha started to call out to them, but it felt like a thousand needles were lodged in his throat. His lips moved, but no sound came out. His world started to grow fuzzy and he struggled to keep his balance. Not far ahead, he heard Miroku call out. Once again he tried to reply, but instead stumbled over a root and landed on the ground. He barely heard Sango’s scream before he passed out.
*****
Kaede laid a hand on Iunyasha’s forehead and frowned. “His fever’s quite high,” she told Miroku, Sango and Shippo.
“I’ve never seen him like this before,” Sango whispered.
“I didn’t know he could be like this,” Miroku added.
“Anyone can get sick if they don’t take care of themselves.” Kaede dipped a rag in a bucket of water and bathed Inuyasha’s forehead. “Out of all of you, he takes care of himself the least. I see it, and I imagine Kagome has too. He never allows himself to fully heal from any battle, I’m willing to wager he gets next to no sleep and probably doesn’t eat much either.”
The three shuffled, gave embarrassed looks at the older woman. “Well…” Sango started to say.
“It’s not like we don’t share!” Shippo protested. “We always have plenty to eat! And he steals more than his fair share too - from me!”
“That's because you and Houshi-sama usually grab most of it,” Sango muttered.
“Now, now, it’s not time for us to argue over silly things like that,” Miroku said, holding his hands up. “Our primary concern is for Inuyasha to get well.”
“I agree. Which is why I say Houshi-sama donates his extra portion of dinner to him,” Sango replied.
“I agree!” Shippo cried.
“Yours too, Shippo-chan.”
“Rats…”
“It’s not just going to be food that gets him better,” Kaede spoke up. “I am going to make him some medicine. Sango, since Kagome isn’t here, will you assist me?”
“Of course.”
Miroku and Shippo watched the women leave, then turned back to the sleeping hanyou. Shippo climbed on the monk’s shoulder and they both watched Inuyasha start to thrash. Miroku laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and muttered a sutra under his breath. Eventually, Inuyasha stilled and returned to a fitful sleep.
“When’s Kagome coming back?” Shippo whispered.
“I don’t know. And with Inuyasha in this condition, there’s no way to go get her.”
*****
He was hot. So hot.
He pushed the covers away, felt them being dragged back over him. Hands pushed at him to keep him down, but he didn’t want to be still. They were wasting time. They had to find Naraku and the rest of the Shikon no Tama.
He was thirsty.
Water was pushed at his lips, followed by a medicine so bitter that he spat it out. More water – cool and soothing – was poured down his throat. He nearly cried out with pain, did everything he could to withstand it. He wasn't allowed to show pain. If he cried out, others could hear him. He had to remain hidden. It was the only way to survive.
Something pricked at his skin. A shout and then an echo of loud voices bounced over him. He struggled to pick them out. Miroku? Sango? Kaede-baba? Not her. She wasn't here. His pride slipped just enough to admit that. He wanted her. He ached for her. If she was by his side, all the pain would go away and he could just sleep.
“Kagome.”
*****
“You will not bleed him,” Kaede informed the quack who called himself a doctor. She and Kagome spent long nights discussion medical treatments in her time and one of the things the younger girl first cautioned her against was bleeding someone when they were ill.
“Kaede-sama, you know that is the best way to purge him of the bad humours in him? Considering he’s a youkai…”
“He’s lost too much blood already from previous battles!” Sango protested. “He’s been through so much lately, the last thing he needs is to lose even more.”
Miroku fixed the doctor with an even stare. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“Kagome.”
The four glanced down at the now thrashing hanyou, his hands flailing out. “Kagome!”
“That settles it.” Kaede got to her feet quicker than Miroku and Sango had ever seen her do so before. “Houshi-sama, Sango, come with me, please. Shippo, make sure this quack doesn’t go near Inuyasha.”
*****
“You must take him to Kagome’s time.”
Miroku clasped his hands behind his back and studied the elder priestess. "Kaede-sama, you know that none of us can pass through the well. Frankly, we’re not even sure how Kagome-sama can now that Naraku has all of the shards out there.”
“You’ve got to try. He’s been like this for three days now. If he doesn’t get any better, he’ll surely die,” Kaede replied."Kagome’s time most likely has the medicines needed to treat him.”
The color drained from Sango’s face. “Oh no, we can’t let that happen!” She reached out and plucked at Miroku’s sleeve. “Houshi-sama, we’ve got to do something.”
Miroku frowned and weighed his options. “We could put him in the well and see what happens. But there’s no guarantee that Kagome-sama would bother to check unless she’s ready to come back. I’ll write a letter and pin it to his clothing and we can try it.”
Sango closed her eyes, paced for a few steps. She tossed a glance back toward the hut, then back at her friends. “You know…there is a way,” she said. “How long is the average lifespan of youkai, Houshi-sama?”
“Several hundred years. Why?”
“We need Shippo-chan. We’re about to give him the most important task he’s ever going to do...if my theory’s right.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Let’s not try to dwell on that.” Sango headed back toward the hut.
*****
Kagome raced up the stairs to the ginja, shopping bags bouncing against her legs. She now had everything she needed to head back to Sengoku Jidai. Thankfully, Inuyasha hadn’t pestered her for an entire week and she was able to get quite a lot done.
She was headed for the main house when she noticed a man praying at the shrine. She gave him no thought, instead walking inside to dump her load. She pulled off one shoe, looked out the window and saw the man still standing inside the shrine. Something about him did not feel right to her. She slid the shoe back on and headed outside.
He didn’t have a shard, that much she could tell. Yet the man seemed familiar to her. She crept over to him, watched as he prayed. After a moment, his eyes opened and they met hers. She struggled not to gawk. The eyes…whosever they were...were extremely familiar.
They almost seemed like Shippo’s.
The man pulled a letter from an inside jacket pocket and handed it to her. “I was told to give this to you.”
Kagome opened it, keeping one eye on the strange man. She forgot about him once she read it.
“Check the well. Now. Inuyasha needs you.”
Her eyes widened and she looked up.
The man was gone.
“Who...,” Kagome started to say, then pushed the stranger from her mind. She ran as fast as she could to the well, grabbed hold of the edge and peered inside.
At the bottom lay a still, red-clothed heap.
Kagome’s heart stopped.
“Oh no. Oh no,” she whispered as she jumped into the well. She knelt by Inuyasha and saw his chest slowly rise and fall as he struggled to breathe. She placed a hand on his forehead, yanked it away immediately. Panic struggled to erupt from her. Instead, she climbed out of the well and raced for the house.
“Mama! Jii-chan!” Kagome cried, throwing the shoji open. Tears streamed unchecked down her please. “It’s Inuyasha. Please, help me!”
*****
They put him in Kagome’s room, where the air conditioning was the most concentrated. Her Western-style bed would also be more comfortable for him, Higurashi Kasumi explained to her worried daughter.
Kasumi ordered Kagome out of the room, then stripped the clothes from the hanyou. With a sponge, she bathed his body, then dressed him in a simple white yukata. She allowed Kagome back in while she took his temperature and set up a humidifier to aid with his breathing. With that done, Kasumi laid a hand on the small of her daughter’s back and escorted her from the room.
Kagome leaned against the hallway wall, waited for the verdict. The look on her mother’s face did not reassure her.
“His temperature’s 105 degrees,” Kasumi explained, her voice soothing and gentle. “By all means, he should be in the hospital. We could never explain his appearance to the doctors and to be honest, I’m not sure how his body makeup is different from ours.” Although he appeared normal unclothed other than the claws and the ears, she silently added. And the scars.
“Is there nothing we can do?” Kagome bit her lip, hated how her voice quivered.
“There is an old family friend of mine, a well-respected doctor. I will call him right away and have him come take a look at Inuyasha. In the meantime, I think you better read this.” Kasumi handed over a letter with Kagome’s name scrawled on it. She instantly recognized Miroku’s handwriting. “I’ll go call the doctor right now.”
“Are you sure the doctor won’t be upset looking at Inuyasha?” Kagome asked.
Kasumi chuckled. “Kagome, I highly doubt Tofu-sensei would even notice.”
Kagome walked back in her room, noticed the fresh sheets on her bed and clothes on Inuyasha.. She pulled out her desk chair and rolled it over to the bed so she could be near him. Satisfied she was within an arm’s reach, she opened Miroku’s letter.
“Kagome-sama,
If you’re reading this letter, this either means that Sango’s theory was correct and Shippo gave you the first instructions or that you somehow found Inuyasha on your own.”
Shippo-chan? Kagome’s gaze shot outside to the now dark courtyard. There was no way the man who gave her that letter was Shippo. Or could it had been? Did youkai live that long? She turned back to the letter.
“Three days ago, Inuyasha took ill with a fever. We’ve not been able to rouse him using any of our medicines and we refuse to have a doctor bleed him. As each day passed, he got worse. This morning, he finally said something, the first thing in all that time. He said your name, Kagome-sama. So we figured it best to get him to you.
We hope that by putting him in the well that he will wind up in your time and you can take care of him with the medicines that you have there. Still, something about this fever does not seem quite right to me. It’s not something I’ve shared with Sango or Shippo, not wanting to worry them any further. Be careful, Kagome-sama. And make sure you both come back to us. Miroku.”
“Kagome.”
She looked up in time to see Inuyasha thrash out. Kagome tossed the letter aside and grabbed one of his hands, crooning in a nonsensical way that always soothed Sota when he had nightmares. He quieted down somewhat, but still tossed his head. She leaned over and ran her hand through his hair. She’d never encountered anything like this, or had felt this helpless before. With a tangible enemy, she could fight at his side. Not this time.
He had to fight this battle alone.
*****
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yes, this is a multi-part fic. It will have five chapters and an epilogue.
The title of the fic comes from the last line of Canto II of Dante’s “Inferno.” The line itself is used in a literal sense as the author, Dante, passing into the physical realm of Hell and beginning a spiritual journey into the nature of human sin (I love footnotes.) This will come into play later.
Thanks goes out to fellow authors Stefanie2 for being my editor and catching my mistakes. She is also the one I am mulling every single part of this fic over and I know I would not be doing this without her constant support and threats.
Kagome’s mom, as I paint her, Higurashi Kasumi, appears in the one-shot fic I wrote called “The Visitor.” It might make the odd reference she makes about the doctor a bit easier to grasp.
This story was originally written in 2003, but with the release of the third Inuyasha movie, "Tenka Hadou no Ken," I decided to see how they treated Inuyasha's past and I was satisfied with the back story that the anime came up with. So, I'm redoing the entire story and plan to complete it. Not much was changed in this first part except to edit it and add in some missing honorifics.
by DQBunny
DISCLAIMER: The works used in this fiction do not belong to me, but to their respective authors – even the ones already in the public
domain.
Any complaints and comments can be e-mailed to mlavey@charter.net or IMed to MegsLeigh on AOL Instant Messenger.
*****
Chapter 1: The Fever
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost”
- Dante’s “Inferno”: Canto I, Lines 1-3
*****
Everything hurt.
He cracked his eyes open and sunlight flooded his vision, causing his head to throb. Immediately he closed them and leaned against the hut wall. He could hear the village stir to life - smell the scents of breakfast, dirty diapers, laundry and all of the other necessary, normal smells of human life. While they normally reassured him that nothing was wrong, now they made him feel nauseated. Very nauseated.
Inuyasha slowly climbed to his feet, bracing most of his weight on Tessaiga. He forced his eyes open again and noticed that Miroku and Shippo were both gone, futon neatly folded and put away.
He stumbled out of the hut and toward the river, thinking that splashing water in his face would help. He took care of necessary morning business, then crouched on the bank to splash some water in his face. He nearly tumbled into the water as a wave of dizziness overtook him. He sat back on his haunches and willed the pain to subside. Pride refused to let him do anything but get to his feet and saunter back toward the village like he always did.
He saw Miroku and Sango arguing near the edge of the village. Inuyasha started to call out to them, but it felt like a thousand needles were lodged in his throat. His lips moved, but no sound came out. His world started to grow fuzzy and he struggled to keep his balance. Not far ahead, he heard Miroku call out. Once again he tried to reply, but instead stumbled over a root and landed on the ground. He barely heard Sango’s scream before he passed out.
*****
Kaede laid a hand on Iunyasha’s forehead and frowned. “His fever’s quite high,” she told Miroku, Sango and Shippo.
“I’ve never seen him like this before,” Sango whispered.
“I didn’t know he could be like this,” Miroku added.
“Anyone can get sick if they don’t take care of themselves.” Kaede dipped a rag in a bucket of water and bathed Inuyasha’s forehead. “Out of all of you, he takes care of himself the least. I see it, and I imagine Kagome has too. He never allows himself to fully heal from any battle, I’m willing to wager he gets next to no sleep and probably doesn’t eat much either.”
The three shuffled, gave embarrassed looks at the older woman. “Well…” Sango started to say.
“It’s not like we don’t share!” Shippo protested. “We always have plenty to eat! And he steals more than his fair share too - from me!”
“That's because you and Houshi-sama usually grab most of it,” Sango muttered.
“Now, now, it’s not time for us to argue over silly things like that,” Miroku said, holding his hands up. “Our primary concern is for Inuyasha to get well.”
“I agree. Which is why I say Houshi-sama donates his extra portion of dinner to him,” Sango replied.
“I agree!” Shippo cried.
“Yours too, Shippo-chan.”
“Rats…”
“It’s not just going to be food that gets him better,” Kaede spoke up. “I am going to make him some medicine. Sango, since Kagome isn’t here, will you assist me?”
“Of course.”
Miroku and Shippo watched the women leave, then turned back to the sleeping hanyou. Shippo climbed on the monk’s shoulder and they both watched Inuyasha start to thrash. Miroku laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and muttered a sutra under his breath. Eventually, Inuyasha stilled and returned to a fitful sleep.
“When’s Kagome coming back?” Shippo whispered.
“I don’t know. And with Inuyasha in this condition, there’s no way to go get her.”
*****
He was hot. So hot.
He pushed the covers away, felt them being dragged back over him. Hands pushed at him to keep him down, but he didn’t want to be still. They were wasting time. They had to find Naraku and the rest of the Shikon no Tama.
He was thirsty.
Water was pushed at his lips, followed by a medicine so bitter that he spat it out. More water – cool and soothing – was poured down his throat. He nearly cried out with pain, did everything he could to withstand it. He wasn't allowed to show pain. If he cried out, others could hear him. He had to remain hidden. It was the only way to survive.
Something pricked at his skin. A shout and then an echo of loud voices bounced over him. He struggled to pick them out. Miroku? Sango? Kaede-baba? Not her. She wasn't here. His pride slipped just enough to admit that. He wanted her. He ached for her. If she was by his side, all the pain would go away and he could just sleep.
“Kagome.”
*****
“You will not bleed him,” Kaede informed the quack who called himself a doctor. She and Kagome spent long nights discussion medical treatments in her time and one of the things the younger girl first cautioned her against was bleeding someone when they were ill.
“Kaede-sama, you know that is the best way to purge him of the bad humours in him? Considering he’s a youkai…”
“He’s lost too much blood already from previous battles!” Sango protested. “He’s been through so much lately, the last thing he needs is to lose even more.”
Miroku fixed the doctor with an even stare. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“Kagome.”
The four glanced down at the now thrashing hanyou, his hands flailing out. “Kagome!”
“That settles it.” Kaede got to her feet quicker than Miroku and Sango had ever seen her do so before. “Houshi-sama, Sango, come with me, please. Shippo, make sure this quack doesn’t go near Inuyasha.”
*****
“You must take him to Kagome’s time.”
Miroku clasped his hands behind his back and studied the elder priestess. "Kaede-sama, you know that none of us can pass through the well. Frankly, we’re not even sure how Kagome-sama can now that Naraku has all of the shards out there.”
“You’ve got to try. He’s been like this for three days now. If he doesn’t get any better, he’ll surely die,” Kaede replied."Kagome’s time most likely has the medicines needed to treat him.”
The color drained from Sango’s face. “Oh no, we can’t let that happen!” She reached out and plucked at Miroku’s sleeve. “Houshi-sama, we’ve got to do something.”
Miroku frowned and weighed his options. “We could put him in the well and see what happens. But there’s no guarantee that Kagome-sama would bother to check unless she’s ready to come back. I’ll write a letter and pin it to his clothing and we can try it.”
Sango closed her eyes, paced for a few steps. She tossed a glance back toward the hut, then back at her friends. “You know…there is a way,” she said. “How long is the average lifespan of youkai, Houshi-sama?”
“Several hundred years. Why?”
“We need Shippo-chan. We’re about to give him the most important task he’s ever going to do...if my theory’s right.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Let’s not try to dwell on that.” Sango headed back toward the hut.
*****
Kagome raced up the stairs to the ginja, shopping bags bouncing against her legs. She now had everything she needed to head back to Sengoku Jidai. Thankfully, Inuyasha hadn’t pestered her for an entire week and she was able to get quite a lot done.
She was headed for the main house when she noticed a man praying at the shrine. She gave him no thought, instead walking inside to dump her load. She pulled off one shoe, looked out the window and saw the man still standing inside the shrine. Something about him did not feel right to her. She slid the shoe back on and headed outside.
He didn’t have a shard, that much she could tell. Yet the man seemed familiar to her. She crept over to him, watched as he prayed. After a moment, his eyes opened and they met hers. She struggled not to gawk. The eyes…whosever they were...were extremely familiar.
They almost seemed like Shippo’s.
The man pulled a letter from an inside jacket pocket and handed it to her. “I was told to give this to you.”
Kagome opened it, keeping one eye on the strange man. She forgot about him once she read it.
“Check the well. Now. Inuyasha needs you.”
Her eyes widened and she looked up.
The man was gone.
“Who...,” Kagome started to say, then pushed the stranger from her mind. She ran as fast as she could to the well, grabbed hold of the edge and peered inside.
At the bottom lay a still, red-clothed heap.
Kagome’s heart stopped.
“Oh no. Oh no,” she whispered as she jumped into the well. She knelt by Inuyasha and saw his chest slowly rise and fall as he struggled to breathe. She placed a hand on his forehead, yanked it away immediately. Panic struggled to erupt from her. Instead, she climbed out of the well and raced for the house.
“Mama! Jii-chan!” Kagome cried, throwing the shoji open. Tears streamed unchecked down her please. “It’s Inuyasha. Please, help me!”
*****
They put him in Kagome’s room, where the air conditioning was the most concentrated. Her Western-style bed would also be more comfortable for him, Higurashi Kasumi explained to her worried daughter.
Kasumi ordered Kagome out of the room, then stripped the clothes from the hanyou. With a sponge, she bathed his body, then dressed him in a simple white yukata. She allowed Kagome back in while she took his temperature and set up a humidifier to aid with his breathing. With that done, Kasumi laid a hand on the small of her daughter’s back and escorted her from the room.
Kagome leaned against the hallway wall, waited for the verdict. The look on her mother’s face did not reassure her.
“His temperature’s 105 degrees,” Kasumi explained, her voice soothing and gentle. “By all means, he should be in the hospital. We could never explain his appearance to the doctors and to be honest, I’m not sure how his body makeup is different from ours.” Although he appeared normal unclothed other than the claws and the ears, she silently added. And the scars.
“Is there nothing we can do?” Kagome bit her lip, hated how her voice quivered.
“There is an old family friend of mine, a well-respected doctor. I will call him right away and have him come take a look at Inuyasha. In the meantime, I think you better read this.” Kasumi handed over a letter with Kagome’s name scrawled on it. She instantly recognized Miroku’s handwriting. “I’ll go call the doctor right now.”
“Are you sure the doctor won’t be upset looking at Inuyasha?” Kagome asked.
Kasumi chuckled. “Kagome, I highly doubt Tofu-sensei would even notice.”
Kagome walked back in her room, noticed the fresh sheets on her bed and clothes on Inuyasha.. She pulled out her desk chair and rolled it over to the bed so she could be near him. Satisfied she was within an arm’s reach, she opened Miroku’s letter.
“Kagome-sama,
If you’re reading this letter, this either means that Sango’s theory was correct and Shippo gave you the first instructions or that you somehow found Inuyasha on your own.”
Shippo-chan? Kagome’s gaze shot outside to the now dark courtyard. There was no way the man who gave her that letter was Shippo. Or could it had been? Did youkai live that long? She turned back to the letter.
“Three days ago, Inuyasha took ill with a fever. We’ve not been able to rouse him using any of our medicines and we refuse to have a doctor bleed him. As each day passed, he got worse. This morning, he finally said something, the first thing in all that time. He said your name, Kagome-sama. So we figured it best to get him to you.
We hope that by putting him in the well that he will wind up in your time and you can take care of him with the medicines that you have there. Still, something about this fever does not seem quite right to me. It’s not something I’ve shared with Sango or Shippo, not wanting to worry them any further. Be careful, Kagome-sama. And make sure you both come back to us. Miroku.”
“Kagome.”
She looked up in time to see Inuyasha thrash out. Kagome tossed the letter aside and grabbed one of his hands, crooning in a nonsensical way that always soothed Sota when he had nightmares. He quieted down somewhat, but still tossed his head. She leaned over and ran her hand through his hair. She’d never encountered anything like this, or had felt this helpless before. With a tangible enemy, she could fight at his side. Not this time.
He had to fight this battle alone.
*****
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yes, this is a multi-part fic. It will have five chapters and an epilogue.
The title of the fic comes from the last line of Canto II of Dante’s “Inferno.” The line itself is used in a literal sense as the author, Dante, passing into the physical realm of Hell and beginning a spiritual journey into the nature of human sin (I love footnotes.) This will come into play later.
Thanks goes out to fellow authors Stefanie2 for being my editor and catching my mistakes. She is also the one I am mulling every single part of this fic over and I know I would not be doing this without her constant support and threats.
Kagome’s mom, as I paint her, Higurashi Kasumi, appears in the one-shot fic I wrote called “The Visitor.” It might make the odd reference she makes about the doctor a bit easier to grasp.
This story was originally written in 2003, but with the release of the third Inuyasha movie, "Tenka Hadou no Ken," I decided to see how they treated Inuyasha's past and I was satisfied with the back story that the anime came up with. So, I'm redoing the entire story and plan to complete it. Not much was changed in this first part except to edit it and add in some missing honorifics.