InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Love of a Hanyou ❯ The Love of a Hanyou- Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

***

When she opened her eyes, she was quick to close them back again. The stream of light that came in through the small window on her right offered her poor eyes no respite. She lay there a few more moments, allowing herself to slowly become aware of her quiet surroundings, of the dull aching of her body.

What was going on? What had happened to her? As she continued to lie back with her eyes closed, she allowed thoughts to filter in through her conscious mind. She remembered begging Inuyasha to allow her to travel back to her time. What was the reason again? Exams maybe?

No, it was so that she could go out with her friends to celebrate Yuka's eighteenth birthday. Yes that was it. She smiled to herself as she remembered the cute pouting face of her dog eared savior as he stood inside Kaede's hut, his profile turned to her, arms crossed as he refused to even contemplate her leaving.

Inuyasha was always adorable whenever he tried to stop her from going back to her own time. She had always wondered why that was, only to shut herself off when they became too hopeful towards how the hanyou felt about her.

If she ever allowed deluded thoughts into her head that tried to persuade her that perhaps Inuyasha might have stronger feelings for her other than friendship, it was not for long. It was never for too long. The constant reminder of Kikyo loomed ever present at the back of her mind. It was she that Inuyasha loved and would continue to love. She pushed those depressing thoughts aside and decided to save them for another time.

She vaguely remembered being at the club with her friends, of losing them and then off heading towards the station. She remembered standing on the train dais waiting and then nothing but the darkness. What happened from there she did not know, it was all a blank.

Feeling as though she had allowed enough time to pass, she slowly opened her eyes, squinting slightly when the glare of the sun reflected off the window attacked her again. She blinked rapidly, only to widen them in confusion when she stared at barren white walls of a small room, instead of on the brightly painted pink walls of her own room at the shrine or the wooden walls of Kaede's hut.

“Where am I?” She was mildly surprised when she asked the question. That voice had not sounded like her own but instead of like that of a weak, frail person. She shifted her arms in an attempt to give herself leverage, but found even that simple task difficult.

Her arms trembled mightily before giving out completely and she found herself lying flat on her back. The dull aching pain that had only until that moment been unnoticeable, flared up with wild abandoned. The ache was gut wrenching, almost like a hammering that pounded down her lower half. She curled in upon herself into the fetal position and gave out a weak whimper. Her breathing was shaky, erratic, coming out in great puffs.

She was completely unaware of the door being slammed open, of the strong masculine arms that scooped her up from the bed, of the scent of forest and sweat rising up around her, or even of the low resonating hum of a man's voice whispering into her hair.

***

 

After the police officers had left them with a promise to return later that day when Kagome had awakened, time seemed to flow by quickly. The sun had begun to rise when Higurashi- sama had decided to find the healer that had taken care of Kagome. Throughout the early morning, Inuyasha had stood vigil in front of Kagome's door.

His thoughts continued to race as he pondered more upon the information the police had given him and the scents that he had come across at the scene. The police wanted to see the area that Kagome had been found and he had agreed to take them later because he himself wanted to take another look to make sure that he hadn't missed anything the first time around.

There were very few leads that he could follow that would help him to find his targets. He had their scents but the city was full of thousands of other scents that could either confuse him or lead him onto a completely false path. No, now that he had the chance to think rationally on this, he realized that the aid from the police was very tantamount to his hunt.

They had access to a wealth of information, not to mention contacts within the yamaguchi- gumi that could help him. He decided then and there that he would offer the police his skills and help them in their investigation.

His thoughts were interrupted by weak whimpering coming from the door behind him. He forgot all else and slammed open the door only to find Kagome curled up on herself and crying. He rushed forward, scooping her up into his arms, muttering nonsensically in an attempt to soothe her pain. He fell back into the chair behind him and rocked her back and forth, all the while tightening his on her.

“I'm here Kagome. I won't let anything hurt you, I swear,” he spoke softly but vehemently. They stayed that way for a few minutes until her sobs began to subside and even then, he refused to loosen his grip.

“Inuyasha? What's going on? What happened to me? It was something bad wasn't it”, tears pooled at the corner of her eyes. She gazed up at him when he continued to remain silent. “Inuyasha… please tell me!”

She clenched her fists in his hoari and watched the myriad of expressions flit across his handsome face. A face the she had spent many a long hour gazing at, day dreaming of him exchanging loving expressions with his beautiful golden eyes. The grim look on his handsome face was a tale onto itself. She watched his face hardened into a mask of cold resolve before turn completely blank.

She was sure that he did not realize that at that moment he so much resembled his more stoic older brother. The similarities between the two were startling, although to the eyes of an outsider, the brothers were as different from each other as night and day. They were both stubborn in their own unique way, their actions, as well as the reasons behind those actions, basically motivated by similar thought processes.

She had realized long ago, that despite his human appearance, Inuyasha was very basic (some would say animalistic) in his way of thinking. For instance, his attitude towards the females in their little rag tag group. He respected both her and Sango but it was obvious that he still thought them to be of the weaker sex.

Kagome was careful to take into consideration the era that Inuyasha was brought up in as well as its antiquated views on women and politics, for even Miroku at times showed this same way of thinking. However, it seemed to her that Inuyasha was even more inclined to this way of thinking, almost as though it were instinctual.

He tried very hard to hide some of his reactions to her somewhat outspoken not to mention brazen moments, however it seemed obvious to her that he fought a battle within himself. It was as though he were in a constant struggle to tamp down the urge to subdue her in some way. Sango had helped to come to some of these realizations.

For the past year, the demon exterminator had done her utmost best to educate her in the way of youkai so that she could better understand the hanyou and why he seemed more inclined to fight with her when she sought to get her own way. Apparently it was all a dominance thing for Inuyasha; a role that she often tried to wrest from him whenever she sought to go home to her own time.

She tried her best to be mindful of the differences between their ways, however it seemed that the hanyou relished in provoking her to the very edge of her control. This was something that she could not understand, because every time she got fed up with the argument and sought to end it by either stomping off her sitting him, she was certain that there was almost always a glint of disappointment in his eyes.

She was shaken from her thoughts by the sharp pain that ripped through her side. She let out a loud groan as she squeezed her eyes tightly enough that tears seeped from the corners. The nearly desperate hold that the Inuyasha had previously held her in loosened automatically. His gaze soft with concern and remorse searched her face as though seeking a way to stop the pain there.

“I'm sorry, I got a little carried away… you okay?” his voice was low and soothing, the deep growl of it sending goose bumps racing up and down her spine. The occasions were rare that he spoke so softly, usually only when she was injured or on his human nights with thoughts of his mother fresh on his mind.

She loved all facets of her hanyou, his gruff demonic side as well as his softer human side. She wondered if he knew that. If he knew that she would always remain by his side no matter what his decision regarding the shikon jewel. All that mattered to her was his happiness. If she could give that to him then all the pain from his not loving her would be worth it. This train of thought brought on a different kind of pain.

She must have shown a bit of what she was feeling on her face because his response was swift to her perceived discomfort. His dark brows were drawn down heavily above the golden glitter of his eyes, his lips hard with frustration at not being able to relieve her of that pain.

His shoulders were stiff, tense, ready to strike at any danger least it present itself around her. She smiled to herself as she waved his concern away. Her smile fell as she shifted slightly in an effort to become more comfortable, a reminder that she was not where she was supposed to be.

“Inuyasha, tell me. Why am I in a hospital?”

He sighed heavily before lifting her back onto the bed. His body was rigid, his hands fisted so tightly that the knuckles were white.

“I don't know how to say this. Tch… I hate this”, he turned away from her angrily and walked towards the window to her right. He leaned heavily against the sill and did not move for several minutes. Fear crept up beneath her breast; it suffocated her. She knew her hanyou, knew that he was never at a loss for words. His rhetoric for any and everything were at times annoying but she could always count on him to be honest with her.

“Just tell me…please,” she whispered brokenly, a tear fell down her cheek, the anxiety of wanting to know and also of not wanting to know what he had to say was very much unbearable. So much so that sweat had broken out on her palms. She watched as he ran his hand roughly through the silken hair at his brow before swinging back to face her.

He strode to her side in two giant steps, grasping her cold, damp hands into his larger, warmer ones. She had never seen that bleak look of despair on his face before. It was hard for her to imagine what could have happened to put it there but she knew it to be something terrible.

“I wasn't there to protect you and for that I'm so sorry. If only I had come sooner instead of being a fool and making excuses. I never should have let you leave, not without me!” It was obvious that he was frustrated as evidenced by the flexing of his hands upon her. She felt a surge of anger wash through her.

Why would he not tell her? Why was he stalling like this? Did he not know that the longer he kept it from her, the more fear ate at her?

She watched him sniff at the air around her, knew that he smelled her anger, her fear. The widening of his eyes told her so. He shifted his weight onto the bed before letting out a sigh of resignation before looking at her.

“You were raped”, the words were like a punch to the gut. She felt the air rush from her lungs. She had not expected that, never that. She sat still unable to move, a dazed look on her face. She could see that he was serious, his expression alone enough to reveal the truth to her. The walls of the little white room started to close in on her, darkness tinting and eating away at the edge of her vision.

Why was it suddenly so hard to breathe? Her slip from consciousness was gradual, the husky timber of his voice whispering apologies and promises to never let anything harm her again. Her last thought in response to that was maybe it was already too late to save her.