InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time Changes Everything ❯ Fire and Water ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Fire and Water

InuYasha sat quietly in a tree not far out of camp, waiting for Myoga to show up. He wasn't quite sure how, but the flea always managed to appear just when he was needed. `That's probably why my father chose him to guard the false grave and keep an eye on me, like I need anyone to do that. That coward runs at the first sign of danger!'

"Ah…beautiful night, is it not Lord InuYasha? I've never seen the stars so bright."

"Hello, Myoga, `bout time you showed up ya coward! I've been waiting here for hours."

"Lord InuYasha, I'm hurt! Haven't I always been there when you needed me?"

"Feh! Only when your hide wasn't on the line!"

"Ahem…so I assume that this isn't a social visit then?"

InuYasha picked up the flea and set him on his knee to get a better view. "Is there any way that Kagome can stay with us?"

"What do you mean; is she no longer traveling with you?"

"Yeah, she's still here…for now, but who knows for how long? She keeps thinking about her having to go home one day and the jewel not letting her come back, you know, depending on what happens to it." he said blushing. He knew deep down, if it meant Kagome not being able to come back, he wouldn't dare make a wish. Kagome couldn't just keep walking around with the jewel around her neck though; she wasn't safe as it is let alone with it completed. "I see her heart break a little more each day. We get another shard and she gets down for a few hours. The others do too and it hurts her even more."

"Lord InuYasha, this isn't like you to talk so openly about your feelings. Kagome is a very eh…sweet girl and I would hate to see her leave…."

"You keep your mouth off of her you blood sucker and don't you dare tell anyone I talked to you like this or Ill kick your ass, Ya hear flea?!" InuYasha yelled reaching for him.

"Of course, I would never dream of it! I am sorry though, lord InuYasha. I know no way to help Kagome. I don't even know where to start asking."

InuYasha had such high hopes Myoga would know, he was visibly crushed. "Do you remember those times I thought Kagome had died? Well, she's not dying, but I'm never going to see her again, so it feels like she is. I feel so bad. At first I thought that it was because she looked like Kikyo, but then I realized that she's nothing like Kagome. Then I thought that it was because of the shards, but now I know, it's just that Ill miss her. The others are gonna miss her too. Not that I care too much, but Shippo will be devastated, and I don't wanna hear that brat crying over it."

"InuYasha, do you love Kagome?"

"What?! No! I…No! What the hell are you asking me that for? No I don't…I don't...love her!"

Myoga gave a small nod. "Ill do everything I can to find a way Lord InuYasha." With that, he jumped off InuYasha's knee and bounded off into the night.

Kagome woke up coughing and her throat was parched. The wind had shifted and the smoke from the embers of the fire had been blowing on her. She went to the bucket of water to find it had been knocked over by an animal. "That's strange…InuYasha?" she called turning to see why he hadn't shooed off whatever had been there, but he wasn't in the tree. "InuYasha?" she softly called again, trying not to wake the others.

Kagome picked up the bucket and headed down the path to the river. `Miroku told me not to go alone, but it's so late and I don't want to wake them up. I'll be fine, it's not that far and I'm sure InuYasha's close. He'll be able to hear if I need help.'

Working her way down the bank to the water, she found a big rock to sit on and remove her shoes. `Wow, the water is really nice. Maybe a quick swim to rinse the smoke out of my hair wouldn't hurt.'

Kagome striped off the rest of her clothing and dove into the water. `This is so much nicer without InuYasha trying to drown me! I wonder where he went anyway.'

She looked up at the stars, taking note of how big and beautiful they were in this time. In her time, the city lights would block out most of them and the pollution a good portion more. In this time, the sky looked like had five times as many stars.

Kagome floated on her back just staring into the night, not even noticing the jewel shard that was crawling slowly towards her clothing. She wanted to imprint that image of the sky into her mind forever.

She was lost to the world; her thoughts began floating into the night, her eyes not really seeing anything but the stars in the sky. She could feel the water lapping against her neck, slowly caressing her, almost like it was alive. She thought she could hear the night whispering to her. "…So beautiful. So peaceful. So Delicate."

Kagome's eyes began to get heavy, closing as if to concentrate on the voice whispering to her on the wind. She had never heard anything so enchanting, sounding like the singing of silver bells. So melodic, so hypnotizing. "Come Kagome," it continued, whispering to her, "Come to me, my precious beauty, my delicate love."

Kagome tried so hard, but she couldn't resist the voice and fell into its trance. She glided through the water, to the middle where she thought she was hearing that wonderful melody come from. When it started to hum to her and the water started to caress and comfort her, a single tear rolled down her cheek. She knew something was wrong, that she shouldn't be here, but she couldn't pull herself away.

Her eyes wouldn't open and it was like she had no control of her limbs anymore. She wasn't sure she wanted to either. The voice was so peaceful; it was draining all the stress from her. The more she relaxed, the deeper she sank into the water, until the top of her head was the only thing visible.

From the shore InuYasha could see Kagome and something wasn't right `She knows better than to go off at night alone.' A breeze picked up and he could smell she wasn't alone after all. "Kagome!" he yelled to her "Kagome, snap out of it!"

Startled, Kagome sank below the surface of the water for a split second before surfacing again.

"Kagome, get out of the water!"

Nodding, and looking around, she spotted her clothing. InuYasha met her there.

"Could you please turn around so I can get dressed?"

InuYasha gave a slight blush and faced down the river. "What were you doing out here by yourself anyway, stupid?! That water sprite could have drowned you!"

"Water sprite? I...I'm sorry, "she said as she pulled her shirt down over her head. "I woke up from the smoke blowing into my face and came down to get a drink."

"Smoke? You were upwind of the fire; All of you were."

"Yeah, well that's what I thought too." She said, pulling back on her skirt and zipping it. "The wind must have changed direction and blew...OUCH!" She yelled. "What the hell was that? It stung me!"

InuYasha turned in time to see a small white scorpion fall out of the waist band of her once again unzipped skirt.

"InuYasha, it has a shard in its bac…" InuYasha caught Kagome before she hit the ground in a faint.

He reached down, picked up the scorpion and pried the jewel shard out, letting it fall to the ground. He moved her hand to purify the shard before he picked it up and put it into the little glass bottle around her neck with the others.

Picking her up, he went back to camp and laid her down on her bedroll, pulling the whole thing closer to the fire. InuYasha pulled down her waist band to see a big red blotch low on her hip where the scorpion had stung her. "Oi, Sango, Miroku! A little help here!"

Miroku woke up slowly. He felt as if he had been asleep for several years. "InuYasha…InuYasha, what's going on? Why are you…yelling?" he asked trying to sit up. His body felt as if it was made of lead and he couldn't move his legs and arms. Struggling to stand up, he maneuvered to InuYasha, leaning heavily on his staff. "Something's wrong InuYasha, I can't move very well. What's going on?"

InuYasha looked back at Miroku. "Kagome's been stung by a scorpion and it had a shard."

"Hey, can you guys quiet down?" A muffled, sleepy voice came from Kagome's bag. "It's the middle of the night."

"Oi, Shippo, make your light again!" called Miroku, shaking his staff gently to remind Shippo that the leaf was still attached. The leaf flared to life again casting a gentle blue glow to mingle with the light of the dying fire.

"What's going on?" the little kitsune yawned, emerging from the bag.

Miroku stepped over to the other side of Kagome, kneeling down to get a better view. "InuYasha, Its getting bigger." He said, placing his hand on her hip over the blotch.

"Oi, Monk! Don't touch her there!"

"InuYasha, touch it, touch the mark."

Blushing, he reached out his hand and placed it carefully over the glaring red mark. "Its cold! It should be hot." InuYasha said, his face paling "I can feel her heartbeat. It's like that's her heart!"

Miroku nodded.

"What happened to Kagome?!" Shippo yelled at InuYasha, running to her. "What did you do to her?"

"Shippo, Kagome was stung by a scorpion with a jewel shard and she passed out." Miroku offered when InuYasha didn't answer.

"Where were you!? Why weren't you protecting her InuYasha!?" Shippo yelled.

InuYasha couldn't answer. He once again had failed to protect some one he cared about because he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"I bet you were off with Kikyo somewhere. Bad dog!" Shippo pouted, stroking Kagome's now sweat soaked hair.

InuYasha's hand shot out and grabbed Shippo by tail, holding him in front of his face. "Listen to me brat, and listen good. I wasn't with Kikyo; I was with Kagome when she was stung and even if I wasn't, it's none of your business. Kagome walked down to the water to get a drink and I found her in the water bathing to get the smoke off of her." He told him, leaving out the fact that Kagome had been in a trance when he found her. "The scorpion crawled into her clothing and bit her when she put it back on."

"What do you mean, `You found her.' You didn't go down to the river with her?" Shippo asked.

"No, I was talking with Myoga and didn't hear her till I was on my way back to camp." InuYasha dropped Shippo with a thud and stared at the angry red patch still growing on Kagome's side. "I should have been here though."

Miroku stood and put his hand on InuYasha's shoulder. "You still wouldn't have been able to help her. We were drugged to make sure we stayed asleep." He told him, showing him the residue on his finger from the silvery fine powder that coated the beds. "Shippo was not affected by it because he was inside the bag and you weren't in the camp InuYasha. If you had been, there's no telling what would have happened to Kagome."

InuYasha nodded, knowing that Miroku was right.

Shippo went to InuYasha and put his paw on his leg. "I'm sorry, InuYasha. I didn't mean to blame you." He said when he heard the low growl from the demon.

InuYasha huffed and turned from the little fox. "Hey, where's Sango?"

Miroku walked over to her bed roll and pulled back the cover. "She's here, but it looks like she got more of the sleeping powder than I did. Shippo, wet a cloth and bring it to me." He sat on the ground and put her head on his lap. Taking the cloth from Shippo, he wiped the powder out of her eyes and mouth. "She's covered and this is just smearing it. We need to get her to the river. Shippo, grab my staff and follow me." he said as he stood and picked up Sango. "And grab one of Kagome's big towels too. InuYasha, I assume you're staying here with Kagome?"

"No," InuYasha said surprising both the monk and the kitsune, "I'll go with you. The current in the river is strong tonight and I don't think you can hold her and wash her at the same time. There was a water sprite down there having fun at Kagome's expense earlier. Shippo can keep an eye on her, he's strong enough" he said giving a worried glance at Kagome's still form and missing the way Shippo's chest puffed at the vote of confidence that was just given to him.

Miroku nodded and gave InuYasha a grateful look. "Shippo, yell if you need anything."

"Feh!" Shippo grumbled, sitting in a perfect imitation of InuYasha. "I can handle it. Go take care of Sango."

Miroku chuckled as he followed InuYasha to the water. "I think he looks up to you more than you know."

InuYasha just growled, dropping the towel and taking Sango from Miroku. He jumped into the water and turned as Miroku splashed in with the cloth. He watched as Miroku carefully splashed water over her face and wiped the residue off and shook it out of her clothing.

"Oh! Just look at what you're doing to my beautiful river!"

InuYasha and Miroku looked up to see a handsome water sprite

"We do apologize. We were trying to help our friend. We were dusted with a sleeping powder and she got the worst of it." Miroku carefully explained.

The sprite walked across the water and bent over to look into the sleeping woman's face. "That's the powder of a mushroom" he replied, tilting his chin to the side. Some one didn't want you to wake up for a long time, eh? You can finish here. She is a beautiful one isn't she? It would be a shame to loose that one." (Glancing at InuYasha) "You're the one that took the other girl from me! I was going to have fun with her!"

"You keep your hands off her ya fairy!"

"I'm not a fairy, I'm a sprite. I assume she belongs to you then?"

"Kagome doesn't belong to anyone!"

"The hafling sure does get worked up about this…Kagome and she doesn't even belong to him." the sprite said, arching an eyebrow at Miroku.

"Yes, that's something he needs to work on, I'm afraid. He has a most difficult time letting go of his past and admitting his feelings for her."

"HEY! I'm standing right here! Quit talking about me like I'm not before I kick both your asses!"

"This hafling amuses me. I shall help you with this woman." The sprite scooped a hand full of water and blew on it, making it glow. He slowly poured it on Sango's face. "Now dunk her under the water."

InuYasha looked at the monk and did as he instructed when Miroku gave a nod of approval.

Sango woke up, her body shaking with powerful coughs.

"She won't be able to move for a while, but her mind will be sharp. Take her and give her tea with this in it." He instructed, handing Miroku a small pouch. "It will lessen the effects of the paralysis." Turning to InuYasha. "Take care of that woman that doesn't belong to you. The next time I see her off alone, she will belong to me!" he said laughing and giving the furious demon a wink as he disappeared.

"Some one want to tell me why were all standing in the river and I can't move?" asked a very sleepy Sango.

InuYasha and Miroku climbed out of the river with Sango and stopped, both looking worriedly at each other.

"Ahhum….InuYasha, I don't think we thought this through in our haste. Now that she's clean…"

"Who's gonna dry her?" InuYasha finished with a blush.

"Will some one tell me what's going on? Where's Kagome and why the hell can't I move?!"

"Sango, you should calm yourself. Kagome is hurt and needs our help. Shippo is…Oh! InuYasha, Shippo can do it! Ill go and get him." The monk exclaimed, started up the path.

"Miroku, you stay with Sango, Ill get him. I've been away too long already. You can tell Sango what happened." he said, handing her to him. "You're better at storytelling anyway, monk" he called, bounding up the short path to camp.

Miroku sat down with Sango and brushed the wet hair out of her face. "Kagome, as I stated earlier, is injured. She was stung by a scorpion and is now unconscious back at camp. InuYasha told Shippo to stay with her while he and I took you to the river to wash the sleeping powder away. You got the majority of it and I couldn't get it off. It temporarily paralyzes you; the sprite said to give you some of this in some tea." he said, indicating the pouch.

He picked up the towel and started to dry Sango's hair, wondering what the hell was taking Shippo so long. "You've still got some of that powder on your face." He said, reaching back into the water and wetting the cloth again.

She watched him wet the cloth and saw the concern in his eyes as he wiped away the last traces. "Thank you, Miroku."

"For what?" he said, looking her in the eyes. Why had he never noticed how beautiful her eyes were before? She had captivated him from day one and still, this was the first time he had really seen it. He knew the color, where each little fleck of gold was hiding, the subtle change in hue depending on her mood, but never the absolute beauty that they hid. If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn that he was being allowed to look into her soul at that very moment.

"Thank you for…being so nice and helping me." She blushed. "I'm not sure what I did to deserve it, but thank you."

"You don't have to do anything. Just breathing is enough." he said, smiling at the way her eyes changed colors briefly. "Ah…so that's what color they turn when she's…'

"Miroku! Sango!" a little voice called to them, interrupting a perfectly good thought.

"Over here Shippo!" Miroku called, semi relieved he couldn't finish the thought. Just having her close like this was difficult enough with out his thoughts being there too. Perhaps later though, he could visit those images again...

"Sorry it took so long, InuYasha wanted a report on every little breath and sound that Kagome made while you were gone and he sent this for you to put on Sango. He checked and your other clothes were still damp." he said, dragging InuYasha's coat. "He didn't want you to get sick sitting in wet clothing."

"Its not a problem Shippo, Ill be right over here when you're done." He said, indicating a log not too far away as he set Sango down gently on the ground.

Shippo went to work and in no time Sango was presentable. Well, as presentable as could be in that impossibly short coat of InuYasha's. Blushing, Miroku wrapped the towel around her waist and carried her back to camp. "Shippo, would you be so kind as to pull my bedding near the fire and Kagome?"

Following Shippo, Miroku bent over and whispered "I always knew I would get you in my bed, Sango!" and laughed as her face turned red.

"Just so you know, Miroku, I am keeping track." She whispered back, eying her hiraikotsu.

This brought an even bigger wave of laughter from Miroku as he set her down, fully aware of the confused stares they were receiving from their companions.

"Just so that we're both aware of it then." He said, winking and sending her into a new fit of blushing. "I'll wash out your bedding for you later today." Miroku sat himself by her head, and leaned against the tree, pulling Sango's head into his lap for a softer pillow. He closed his eyes, relishing the trouble he knew was coming later and the fun ways he could get out of it.

InuYasha checked Kagome's wound once more before laying down next to her. Her dreams seemed to haunt his as well.