InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I'm safe at home... aren't I? ❯ Dreams Again ( Chapter 4 )

Hey people! I think this chapter is longer, which is what I've been promising- so here goes! And thanks to all my wonderful reviewers, myself not included. Lol! Here's your story.

Disclaimer- Still working on that plan…

Previously…

When she came back she held a bow and quiver of arrows. Handing them to Kagome, she told her, "This may come in handy." She waved as the group retreated into the trees.

Chapter four:

Dreams Again

Hours later…

"Inuyasha, can we stop?" asked an exhausted Kagome.

He glared at the girl. "Again? We just stopped a few hours ago! I told you we shouldn't have gone demon-hunting when you're injured!" He looked at her closely, and his gaze softened. Even at their slow pace she was panting, and her face was pallid. And every once in a while, when Shippo's tail brushed against her left arm, she would flinch ever so slightly, trying to hide it from her companions' worried eyes. She met his gaze staunchly, though, her chocolate eyes pleading.

Inuyasha sighed loudly. "Fine, wench. We should make camp for the night anyway; it's getting dark." The inu-youkai led the group to a nice spot under a tall tree, and he leapt into one of the high branches.

Kagome sighed gratefully as she put Shippo down. Gathering up fallen pieces of timber, she sent Miroku and Sango to find and catch something to eat. She arranged the sticks in a teepee form in a cleared area (one-handed, of course) and, looking around for her pack so she could get some matches, laughed as she realized that this time she had not come to the feudal era prepared. Inuyasha, looking down on her, grinned.

"Shippo," she called quietly. The sleeping kitsune opened one eye, then grumbled, "All right, Kagome." He got up and stumbled over to the firebed, yawning, "Foxfire!" Flames shot out at the kindling, lighting them instantly. Kagome thanked the fox, and he went back to his comfortable position.

Sango and Miroku chose that moment to come back from their hunting, each carrying a plump rabbit. Kagome shuddered at their open, glassy stares, but cooked them anyway.

The girl didn't need to call everyone to the fire when their food was done; the rich smell permeated the air and irresistibly drew them near. After dividing it up, everyone fell to eating hungrily, for it had been a long, hard day of walking. Finally they slowed down enough to talk.

"Inuyasha, do you think any of the rat-demons will have shards?" Kagome asked the inu-youkai.

"They might, You never know. But Kaede-hag didn't say anything about them not having shards, right?" the youkai replied. "So it's always possible."

"Yeah…" Kagome said, looking thoughtful.

"Well, even if they do not, we will have helped a noble cause, ne, Inuyasha?" Miroku said cheerfully.

"Feh," he scoffed. "They better have shards; otherwise, we'll have dragged ourselves down here for nothing."

"Dragged?" Sango said sarcastically. "By the way you've been whining every time we stopped, someone would think that we had been shackled to your legs the whole way."

"You might as well have been," Inuyasha replied, "by the rate we've been going."

"It's no one's fault," Kagome told the grumpy hanyou. "You-"

Shippo interrupted her with a loud snore, and the girl giggled. Kagome yawned, "I agree with Shippo- it's time to sleep."

"Yes," Miroku agreed. "If we are to be ready for a fight tomorrow, we must be well rested."

The group began to arrange their sleeping positions. Inuyasha took watch in the tree again, Sango lay on one side of the fire (after repositioning Miroku to the other side), and Kagome nestled between two large roots against the tree with Shippo cradled comfortably in the crook of her right arm. Resting her left arm gingerly on the tree root next to her, she sleepily called, "Good night everyone… sweet dreams." As Sango and Miroku murmured the same, she remembered the events of the last dream, and wished the same on herself, shuddering. The others needed their rest; she didn't want to wake them again with screams. Hoping the next day would bring no ill, she fell asleep.

*Kagome's dream*

Once again, she was surrounded by mist. Kagome trembled; she knew what was coming next. The mist parted for a large man, this time holding a knife. She gulped and backed up, protecting her still-bruised throat with her hands. He chuckled.

"Foolish child… do you think I would do the same thing twice?" She lowered her hands, and he cried, "Ha!" The huge man leapt forward and slashed at her neck. Kagome ducked, earning a slash on one cheek rather than death.

She inhaled a breath to scream, but his hands clamped down on her mouth and nose, smothering her.

*End dream*

Kagome opened her eyes wide, trying to pull in air through tightly locked hands. She pulled the hands off her mouth, realizing they were her own. Gasping, she sat up in the cradle of the tree roots, trying not to disturb a snoring Shippo, who was cuddled in her lap.

A sudden flare of pain on her left cheek made her wince and put her hand up to it. A trickle of blood met her fingers, and she gasped. How had that thug sliced her in a dream and then made it real when she woke up?

She carefully moved Shippo to her side, trying not to wake him. Kagome tore a strip of cloth off of her skirt and pressed it to her cheek, at least slowing the flow of blood from the shallow gash.

A rustle of leaves and a whispered, "Kagome?" told the young miko that Inuyasha was awake. She turned her face upward, scanning the tree for him.

The hanyou jumped lightly down, landing next to her. Touching the fresh gash on her cheek, she winced, so he drew back. "Kagome, how did that happen?" he asked, confusion showing in his golden eyes. Noticing she was shivering in her skimpy uniform, he tentatively drew her onto his lap and put his arms around her.

"I promised myself I wouldn't bother you and the others with this…" she said softly, "but it's getting too hard to handle." Taking a deep breath (and snuggling closer into Inuyasha's haori in the process), the girl began, "D'you remember I told you about the three men who did this?" She touched her left arm and Inuyasha nodded, restraining a growl at the thought of "those bastards" as he so nicely thought of them. "Well, the biggest one- I keep dreaming of him, and he always hurts me… like last time, when I woke up and screamed for you, he had been trying to strangle me. And this time- this time…" She trailed off, touching her newest injury. "I don't know how he did that," Kagome whispered. "But he did… while I was asleep!" She trembled, thinking of what he could do if he decided to kill her, literally in her sleep!

Inuyasha's eyes widened. A man who pretended to be a burglar, and then manipulated dreams? No, it couldn't be… one of them had to be false!

The youkai pulled Kagome closer, then leaned back against the tree. He had a lot to think about, and he couldn't exactly think while he was asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kagome woke up when the first few golden rays of sunlight pierced through the trees. Eyes closed, she sighed comfortably; she was warm, in the Sengoku Jidai wit her friends, reclining in Inuyasha's arms…

Wait. In Inuyasha's arms?!

Her eyes shot open, and she took in her surroundings. Sango was fast asleep on one side of the dead fire, Miroku was snoring peacefully on the other, and Shippo was tucked next her, twitching slightly in his sleep. She looked up at her holder. Inuyasha was dead to the world, with a goofy grin on his face. She smiled slightly and tried to wiggle free, but Inuyasha growled and tightened his arms around her. Grinning, Kagome pushed a lock of white hair out of his face lovingly and settled back in his arms, wishing that they could stay like this forever. She looked up at him again and giggled.

Kagome looked at his ears. She couldn't resist. The girl reached up and played with his ears, laughing softly when they twitched.

She scooted back down into his lap, leaning back against his chest. Yawning softly, she leaned her head on his arm, falling back asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Inuyasha woke up with a jerk. He looked down and gasped when he saw Kagome snuggled in his lap, asleep!

The hanyou smiled. She looked so innocent while she was sleeping… her raven-black hair falling in her face, a sweet smile spread on her lips. He had looked down on her before, from his high perches in trees, but he had never seen her up close like this before. Inuyasha gently pulled some hair out of her eyes, tracing the contours of her face. He pulled her chin up so he could look in her face, sighing with satisfaction. I wish we could stay like this forever… the hanyou thought wistfully.

A rustle from nearby and a muttered, "Sango…" from the monk made Inuyasha jump and clutch Kagome tighter. A second look earned him a view of a monk turning about on one side of the dead fire. Reminded of where he was, Inuyasha slowly slid Kagome off of his lap and put Shippo back in her arms. Allowing himself one more glance at the sleeping miko, he noticed she was shivering from the loss of her heat source, and he tucked his haori and her and Shippo before jumping back into his treebranch to wait for his friends to wake up.