InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shared Blood ❯ Discovery ( Chapter 10 )

First off, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Ely-chan, who has helped me a great deal! If it wasn't for her, let's just say you might not have seen anything until next year. ^__^ Also, to Steffie-imouto-chan, who also gave me inspiration, although she's not aware of it. Arigato, minna! This is also a thank you for all the reviews I've gotten! I've never gotten such feedback for a story, and it really makes me want to work my hardest of this. To all of you who reviewed, a double thank you!

Small note: I will be out of town from December 24 to the 30, so no story at all from that time! If we're lucky, I can squeeze in a chapter 11, I have lots of ideas, but Laz is too tired to write them at this time. It's almost two in the morning, and I do have work the next day. *smiles* I'll stop babbling! Enjoy the fic.

Shared Blood

Chapter Ten

By: Lazuli

lazulidreamer@yahoo.com

"Ah, so you are finally up." Inuyasha looked up at his cousin groggily, wondering what he was doing back in his home when he knew that he had left to go back to his house with Kagome. Kagome! He sat up quickly, trying to ignore the pounding in his head.

"Where is she?" He growled, grabbing the front of Miroku's shirt and bringing his face close to his. "Where's Kagome? I swear that if you have touched her..."

Miroku brushed Inuyasha's hand off of him easily, and looked down calmly. "She is not here, cousin. I regret to say that Sango and I found you practically dead on the streets, and brought you inside. Someone apparently knocked you out with some foul smelling poison. Kagome was already gone when we got there."

Inuyasha clenched his fist, and stood up unsteadily, feeling sick to his stomach as the room spun around him. He collapsed ungracefully on the floor, breathing hard. What the hell had attacked him? He remembered going outside, and walking down the street to a restaurant that served both youkai and their slaves...bumping into a short kid carrying what looked liked a stuffed animal--then nothing after that. He swore violently under his breath. Someone was going to die for this.

Miroku looked at the bloodlust in Inuyasha's eyes and shivered. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of his anger...anything that crossed his path would surely die painfully, and he hoped that Kagome would be found soon.

"Well, Inuyasha--now that you are up, shall we get you back to your household? I am sure your mother is worried over you, and both your mother and father should be notified over the disappearance of Kagome. She is not just your mate, but a member of your family--anyone caught with her in their possession can be put to death, you know."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "If they ever got the chance to see my parents. I will rip them apart myself when I find them." He cracked his knuckles, and tried to stand up again, but instead clutched his middle.

"Kagome..." He muttered. The ring he wore around his finger flared briefly, and he swore under his breath. "She's sick...and I can't get to her. I can't protect my mate..." His voice trailed off, and he stared out the window, his eyes sad.

Miroku shook his head. "It's not your fault, Inuyasha. Whoever did this knew what you were sensitive to. They had to get you out of the way first."

Inuyasha stood up again, walking slowly towards the door. "They will regret it, trust me." He paused and smirked. "Although they may have a surprise with Kagome. She can be quite violent when provoked."

Sango chose that moment to speak up. "Provided she didn't run off now that she's a free human. Ever think of that?" She taunted. "Don't be so easy to believe that she was kinda...ugh.." Sango's words were cut off when Inuyasha's hand moved around her throat, closing off her air supply.

"You do not know Kagome. You do not know of our bond." He held the ring up to her face, his eyes glittering dangerously. "If you knew what I was feeling at this point, your doubts would be nothing! I know that my mate is in pain, sick, and possibly dying. Yet you accuse her of something only a mindless idiot like you would do."

Miroku raised an eyebrow at the choked sounds Sango was making, and touched Inuyasha on the shoulder gently, reminding him that it wasn't Sango who had taken Kagome. Inuyasha abruptly released Sango and sent her falling to the floor.

"Sango, its best not to provoke Inuyasha at this time. I know that spell that is on those rings. He would know if Kagome had run off on him--not that she would be able to. She is bound to him as securely he is bound to her." Miroku paused to regard the pissed off hanyou that he called a cousin.

"She can't be that far away from him without pain, can't do anything to harm him without feeling the effects herself. They can hear each other's thoughts, and know what the other is feeling. If Inuyasha says that she did not run off, then do not make accusations."

Sango nodded warily, too proud to put a hand to her throat where she knew bruises would be forming. She was lucky that he didn't crush her windpipe, and was surprised that Miroku-sama had intervened to save her.

"Listen, Inuyasha...wait until tomorrow to go back to your house. There might be a clue to where Kagome is, but for now--rest. You're sick...and it will only get worse if you exert yourself. You need to be in your best shape to fight whatever has Kagome."

Inuyasha glared. "I can't! I'm in good enough shape to find Kagome." As he spoke, the room wavered, and he fell to the floor, his head aching worse than ever.

"Maybe I will stay." He conceded, and promptly passed out on the floor.

Kagome rubbed her forehead, trying to ignore the increasing headache. She wanted out of this room, and out of this household. Hojo had left again, but she knew that he was due for his 'visit' soon. He made them like clockwork, and she waited patiently for the idiot to appear. He still did not see that she was not going to stay here--she had been trying all day to make him believe that she was not a slave, that she was mated to a youkai.

The door opened silently and Hojo slipped in, ignoring Kagome's glare. "Ah, Kagome--you are still up. Are you well enough to sit and eat dinner with me?"

"Go away unless you intend to take me back to my mate." She muttered, not bothering to look up at him, just staring at some point beyond him. He seemed oblivious to the snubbing, but just set up a tray with miso soup and bread in front of her.

"Now, you don't have to pretend anymore, Kagome. You're free from being that youkai's concubine. You're safe here with me. Once you get settled in, you'll start some chores. Mostly cooking and cleaning of course. You're much to frail to be doing the heavy stuff. I'll help you out a lot. You won't have to worry about a thing."

Kagome lost her temper when he laid his hand on her arm. She reached out and yanked it away from her, using the momentum he provided to throw him away from her, her eyes narrowed in satisfaction as he went flying into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Too frail, am I? Leave me alone!" She snarled, then fell back, shocked at her own roughness--she had never harmed a human before. She looked down at her trembling hands, and hardly noticed when Hojo scrambled out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him. What was happening to her?

Kagome lay on the thin blanket, arms curled around herself. She hadn't felt so alone since before she met Inuyasha. Him not being not around her was a physical ache, and she realized that it had been like this since she had first met him--before they became mates. She had always loved him, always needed him in her life.

She slowly fell asleep, feeling pulled by some outside force, and she welcomed it, knowing that sleep would be better than the reality of the waking world.

Kagome felt Inuyasha nearby, and she quickly walked towards what her heart told her, and was soon running towards that unknown destination. She paused for a moment, her lips turning downward in worry. She felt him--but she couldn't see him at all! Why wasn't he there for her?

She collapsed on the ground, suddenly feeling weak. She needed Inuyasha--it was worse than before, when their bond was brand new. He wasn't there for her, it was like that horrible dream she had the first night they were mated. She was all alone in a sea of darkness...

Inuyasha wondered where he was--it was *dark.* He couldn't see a thing, but he knew that he was here for a reason. His heart hurt with an emotion he was all too familiar with--loneliness, and despair. He felt it reverberate through him, and hope shot through him. Kagome was on the other end of that emotion--that meant she was here in the blackness with him. He ran toward other presence, waiting to see Kagome.

She appeared in front of him so suddenly that he almost ran into her, and she opened startled eyes to look up at him. Her mouth opened but no sound came out, then she suddenly threw herself at him, crying loudly into his shirt.

His arms came up around her, hardly believing that he had found her, but he didn't deny himself instant contact with her warm body. He needed that feeling to know that she was real, that she wasn't something that he made up.

He gently traced her face with the tips of his fingers, eyes gentle and filled with tears of his own as he regarded her. "Kagome..." He whispered. Gods...he was aware of both of them kneeling in the darkness, her supporting him, her hands gently comforting him.

His heartbeat matched her own, both of them unsteady, nervous beats that they were finally with each other. She finally pulled away from him, smiling sadly.

"You know, Inuyasha, that this is a dream." She said softly. He nodded in agreement. The darkness around them was too dark, too thick for it to be real. He knew in his mind that he was still at Miroku's house, and a part of him seethed and vowed revenge on the one that kept Kagome separated from him.

"They can't keep our bond from reaching each other." His amber eyes regarded her dark ones, and he pulled her close to him again, his lips meeting her own.

He could feel the warmth of her lips, the pressure of them against his own, and knew it was not an ordinary dream. He increased the pressure until her mouth opened willingly beneath his, and the kiss become increasingly passionate as it went on. One hand moved up to tangle in her hair, while the other stroked down her back, his sensitive ears catching her small whimpers.

Her hands were still gripping his shirt, as if she refused to let him go away from her. He finally pulled away from her reluctantly, arms still around her, breathing deeply. He rested his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent, kissing the skin behind her ear gently.

He pulled her into his embrace in the darkness and settled her in his lap, and she sighed softly, her breath stirring his hair. "Inuyasha...I miss you. I need you." He felt her body shake with suppressed sobs, and he gently stroked her hair.

"I know, Kagome. Help me find you. I want you back with me." He wanted her with him--and she was the only one who could help him find her.

"I don't know where I am, Inuyasha. I'm in this small room, where this moron human is annoying me. He told me that he knocked you out with some sort of poison. I can't stay here much longer, Inuyasha. I feel so sick here...and....I'm changing. I threw him into a wall because I was so angry. I've never..."

He shushed her quietly with a gentle kiss to the lips. "You're going to change, Kagome. The more our bond increases...the more you're going to be different. Already by being my mate, you're different. That human has you in one of those anti-youkai rooms, doesn't he?"

She nodded tearfully. "It hurts..." She whispered, leaning her head against his chest, hearing his strong heartbeat, feeling hers beat in time with it. She looked up at him in shock.

"Inuyasha...our heartbeats are in synch with each other." She smiled at his surprise laying one hand gently over her heart, and feeling it for himself.

"I'll always know that, at least. That my heart beats in tune with yours." She smiled up at him shyly, initiating the kiss this time, her lips gently tracing his, the kiss feather light, but no less meaningful than the passionate one at the start.

He pulled away carefully, his voice soft but his eyes betraying his anger. "Don't talk like that! Like you're going to give up or something stupid like that. I'm going to save you. You're mine--I'm not about to lose you."

She nodded slowly, and rested her cheek against his chest again, just breathing in his scent, and the feeling of him being so close to her. "I trust you, Inuyasha."

She closed her eyes in contentment, not wanting to ever wake up from this dream she was sharing with him. She wanted to wake up to the reality that he was beside her, that she was back in their bed together, in his household where she first arrived and fell in love with him.

She pulled away from suddenly when a ripping pain went through her chest, and when she looked into Inuyasha's eyes, she saw the same pain reflected there. She held on to him tightly.

"I don't want to wake up!" She cried, but he was gone from her grasp faster than she thought could be possible. He didn't even fade from her mind, but was just rudely ripped away from her without warning. She did the only thing she could do in that situation. She cried.

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open and ignored his cousin as he strode out the door, not even acknowledging the shocked looks the other slaves were giving him as he leapt to the top of the building, on his way home. He had to speak to his mother--he had to find Kagome--and somehow he knew his mother would have the answer for him.

That dream of his...he realized that more than ever he wanted to be with Kagome. He cursed his mind for tormenting him with what he couldn't have, that it was only a dream that he just had.

His brother's smirking face was what he first saw when he walked in the door, and he grimaced in anticipation of what was going to be said to him. He frankly didn't want to hear it, and he brushed passed him, but his ears caught the taunts anyway.

"I always knew you were weak, brother. You come home without that human you call a mate--did she run off or can you simply not protect her?"

Inuyasha didn't turn around, but continued walking toward his mother's chambers. He needed to talk to her.

"Now, now, Inuyasha, its no way to treat family. You have the human bitch out of the way. Why not try and find a real mate?" Inuyasha turned around faster than even he anticipated, and slammed his fist into his brother's stomach.

"You shut that damn mouth of yours, Sesshoumaru, or else you won't have one to talk with." Inuyasha left his brother doubled over in pain.

Kagome's eyes opened to find herself in the same room she fell asleep in, and she wanted to cry. Why couldn't she be with Inuyasha? A hesitant tapping on the door made her sit up swiftly, wondering why anyone was coming to visit her. She wiped at her face in case there was any sign of her sorrow there.

"Kagome--are you alright?" Hojo slowly limped into the room, and Kagome couldn't help smirk in satisfaction at the obvious sign of her handiwork. Perhaps if she was more violent, then he would listen to her.

"Let me out of here, Hojo. At least to do work. If you don't do something, you're going to find a very dead girl in here soon." Her eyes narrowed at him, and she smiled inwardly when he flinched.

"I thought you said that you weren't a slave, Kagome. Why do you want to work?" His eyebrow rose inquiringly, and he looked almost eager to catch her in a lie.

Rolling her eyes at him, she stood up at stretched her arms above her head and slowly brought them down in front of her, staring in slight shock at the tips of her nails. They were longer and more pointed, and she wondered if this was one of the changes that Inuyasha had told her about--she was no longer human, and her appearance was making that clear.

"You *are* a moron, aren't you?" She muttered. "Look you idiot! Look at me very carefully, and tell me if you think I look like a normal slave, or hell, even a concubine! This types of changes only occur with a mating!"

Hojo carefully peered at her fingers and his eyes grew wider. "N..no matter. You're mine now." He smirked at her obvious shock. "I don't care what things you claim to be, but you will not get away with them here. You can't hurt me."

Shaking her head, she delicately caressed his face with her new found weapons. "Are you so sure about that?" She asked softly, drawing a thin line of blood down his face. "I was the one who threw you into the wall. Do you want that feeling again?"

Without really thinking about it, she grabbed his throat and lifted him up in the air easily, not caring that he was a human, that she never acted this way before. It was as if something inside her wanted to threaten the boy like this, and took pleasure in the absolute fear in his face.

"I would kill you, but I think I will wait for Inuyasha to get a hold of you." She casually dropped him, and he stared at her.

At that instant, she fell to the floor as her whole body screamed in pain. She put one hand to her racing heart, wondering what that was...she felt a tear slip down her face as the ring she wore flared brightly, then dimmed. Inuyasha had been there with her in some small way--if only he could be here now.

Hojo's eyes were wide. "For a moment...you were a youkai..." He breathed out. "I have to talk to my Master about this." He crawled out of the room, hoping that if he kept low to the floor she wouldn't attack him. He made his way out the door, and made sure it was locked behind him. Shippou-sama would want to hear this.

Inuyasha knocked softly on his mother's door, waiting for her permission to let him enter. He needed to tell her what he knew, and to see if she could offer anything else to him.

"Enter." Inuyasha pushed open the door at the sound of his mother's quiet voice, and walked slowly into the room, trying to avoid her eyes--she could read him too well, and he didn't want her to see his pain.

"Mother, I want to speak to you about Kagome." He said quietly, and sat across from her. Her eyes showed no surprise, just nodded for him to continue.

"When I was coming back from Miroku's house, Kagome and I were attacked--they left me on the street, but they took her away from me. Miroku and Sango found me, half dead."

His mother looked at him, more concerned. "Did Miroku have any information on what happened?" She asked.

Shaking his head, he snorted. "Only what knocked me out, and that was obvious. Anyone who knows my breed knows that I'm sensitive to strong smells."

His mother was silent for a few moments. "I was afraid for your life when you did not come back and did not contact me. I could not bear losing you. You are my only son."

He turned away. "I'm fine, Mother--but what about Kagome? Did you know that this was going to happen?" He looked fierce. "Damn it, you were hinting about it ever since we met!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Watch your mouth. I raised you better than that." She took a small sip of tea, staring across the table at her son.

"I did not know that this exact event was going to occur. I just knew that something was bound to happened to Kagome because of her strong miko powers."

Inuyasha frowned. "Why did it have to happen to my mate?" He whispered. "She didn't do anything to be put through what she is going through now."

"What sort of things, Inuyasha? I thought you did not know what happened to her."

He glanced down at the cup of steaming tea a slave put in front of him. "I had a strange dream when I was at Miroku's house. It was like I was with Kagome again, talking to her--she told me that she was in a room meant to keep youkai out, and that she was hurting because of it."

He shook his head. "It was so...so real." He murmured. "I felt her in my arms..." His voice trailed off at his mother's soft smile.

"It was real because of the bond that you two share." She said, lightly touching the ring that he wore. "Have you forgotten already that you two are bound, mind, soul, and blood?"

"That's crazy, though! A dream is only something that your mind makes up." His voice was bitter. "A fantasy."

She shook her head. "You are wrong there, Inuyasha. The dream world is just as real as this world. True, not many people can see it for what it really is, but with two people with such a strong bond as you and Kagome, you can communicate there as if you were on this plane."

He stared down at the ring. "I know that we have a strong bond, Mother." He touched the ring gently. "It's also because of the blood bond that she is in so much pain. My blood is changing here, and my blood is making it hard for her to live in that room."

She frowned at him. "It is also because of your blood that she is still alive. Don't wallow in self blame, Inuyasha. That won't save Kagome."

"I'm not about to wallow in any self pity, Mother. I'm going to rip apart the person that is putting her through this." He smirked.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I seem to recall that you did not share your fellow youkai's love of killing humans, Inuyasha. What made you change your ethics so drastically?"

"Since they took my mate from me, and are putting her through unnecessary pain right now." His eyes flashed red for a moment, and his mother's eyes grew wider at the bloodlust she saw in there.

"Don't let your temper gain a hold of you, Inuyasha. It would be better if you handled this calmly."

His hand clenched around the Testsuaiga, the red fading from his eyes, and the normal gold color returning. "I will, Mother." He said softly.

"Mother, why is the bond that Kagome and I share so strong? I know that I can find her by asking her through our dreams, but why do we have the power to do that?"

She regarded him thoughtfully. "The bond between you and Kagome is unique. Your souls have been intertwined since before you met. Even though she holds the power to essentially kill you, her heart would never allow it."

She tapped an old scroll in front of her. "Also, I believe because of that bond, you and Kagome are the ones to fulfill this prophecy."

He eyes her strangely. "What are you talking about, Mother? Prophecies don't exist anymore. This isn't the feudal era."

Rolling her eyes, his mother handed the scroll to him carefully. "Read this, and tell me they don't exist. Bond like the one you share with Kagome only occurs once every few centuries. The last time a bond like this was formed was about five hundred years ago."