Blind Passion

Disclaimer: I own nothing here. No owning of anything going on. Nothing here but us chickens.

Warnings: This is a death fic, i.e. somebody's gonna die. No flames please.

Note: I have yet to receive a flame, but I do like to reword the warnings just to keep you on your toes. Or, because I don't feel like copying and pasteing.

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His eyes slowly flickered open and it took a moment for his vision to
cease blurring. He blinked a few times, trying to make his surroundings
come in clearer, and he saw that the was laying on his side facing a
crisp, burning fire. He felt his body shiver despite the warmth the
flames were giving off, and he unconsciously curled around himself,
creeping into a fetal position on the ground. He moaned tiredly,
rubbing his face into his sleeves.

"Inuyasha? Are you awake?" came a familiar voice. The half-demon opened
one golden eye and found the small form of Shippo standing before him.
"You are awake! Good! Miroku and Sango should be back soon. They went
to find you something to eat." The fox demon sat in front of Inuyasha's
stomach, his warm body feeling comforting to the half-demon, and he
barely noticed himself moving closer. "They left a while ago, so they
should be back any minute now," Shippo continued. "They left me here to
watch over you until you woke up." A note of pride entered the young
demon's voice. "I made sure nothing bothered you while you were
sleeping."

Inuyasha shivered again. "Wh-wh-wh-what happened?" he inquired through
chattering teeth. "Why am I so c-c-c-cold?"

Shippo looked at him. "We looked for you and Kagome after we defeated
the Fire Lion," he replied. "We guessed you had fought the Ice Lion by
yourself. We found you unconscious on the canyon floor."

"K-K-K-Kagome..." Inuyasha chattered. "Wh-where is she? Is sh-sh-she
all right?"

"We were hoping you could tell us that," Shippo responded. "When we
found you, she was nowhere to be seen."

"D-d-damn," Inuyasha swore. "I have t-t-to find her." He raised himself
up to his elbows, his entire body shaking with cold.

"No!" Shippo protested, grabbing his sleeve. "You're too weak to go
anywhere! Miroku and Sango told me to not let you do anything!"

Inuyasha pushed the young demon away from him. "If K-Kagome is hurt, I
have t-t-to find her." He struggled to his feet and sniffed the air. He
did not pick up her scent, but he did pick up the familiar smells of
the canyon with his sensitive nose. Even though his trembling body and
Shippo protested, the half-demon began sprinting toward the rocky
canyon with his one objective to find Kagome in mind. Kagome meant the
world to him and he would never forgive himself if anything happened to
her. In no time at all, he reached the edge of the canyon and felt his
frozen joints beginning to come alive again. He knew it would just be a
matter of time before his body warmed up and he would be able to travel
at full speed. He tested the air with his fine nose and was successful
in picking up Kagome's sweet scent drifting around the canyon walls.
But then his nose picked up on something else that made the hairs on
the back of his neck stand up. That's
Koga's scent... he realized. And though he was aggravated that
the wolf-demon had stuck his nose in their business, he was also
thankful. After all, like Inuyasha, Koga would never allow any harm to
come to Kagome. Inuyasha sniffed the air and took off toward the north,
the direction in which both Koga and Kagome's scents led. It was
several more minutes before his body finally warmed up enough for him
to reach his full speed, and then he sped along the mountain trails,
stopping here and there to investigate a new smell or to pick up on the
trail again. Finally, he came to a stop just outside of a large cave.
The scents of his targets were very strong and he could hear Kagome.
But the sound he heard tore through his heart like claws. She was
crying.

"Kagome?" he called, leaping up to the cave entrance and peering in.
"What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Inuyasha!" Immediately his arms were full of her as she embraced him
in a tight grip that nearly cd thd the life from him.

"Gh! Kagome, what happened?" Inuyasha asked, pulling her arms from
around him and looking down into her eyes. He could sense something
different about her, but he could not tell what.

"Hey!" growled a familiar voice from the shadows of the cave. Koga
appeared then, grabbing one of Inuyasha's wrists. "Hands off, mutt!"

"Don't touch me!" Inuyasha snarled back at him.

"Koga, stop it!" Kagome uncharacteristically shrieked, pulling away
from the wolf-demon and hiding behind the firm frame of Inuyasha. The
half-demon blinked, confused. As many times as she had gotten angry,
Kagome had never raised her voice in that manner. She sounded
disgusted, panicked, frightened. He had never heard her sound like that
before.

"Kagome..." Koga began. Inuyasha could tell that the wolf-demon also,
had been taken off guard by her tone of voice. "Kagome, don't act this
way."

"How do you expect me to act?" she shrieked again. Inuyasha folded his
ears backwards. Her voice was too shrill for his sensitive hearing.
Then a wave of anger overcame him.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded of Koga. "What the hell did you
do?"

Koga narrowed his eyes menacingly. "I did what she asked of me."

"I didn't ask anything of you!" she protested, her eyes stained red as
tears streamed down her face. "You forced yourself on me!"

"You what?" Inuyasha shrieked
at the wdemodemon.

"I did nothing of the sort!" Koga snarled in response. "I saved Kagome
from certain death and brought her here where she willingly agreed to
be my mate."

"What?!" Inuyasha exclaimed,
staring wide-eyed at the girl next to him. "Kagome! You--? Why?" He did
not know why, but he felt a pain in his chest. He felt betrayed.

"I didn't agree to anything!" she wailed. "You took advantage of me!"

"You prodded me," the wolf-demon said. "If you had protested, if you
had told me to stop, I would have. But you willingly gave yourself to
me."

"But," she cried. "I didn't know it was you!"

"Didn't know it was me?" he blinked. "Then who'd you think it was?"

Kagome began to answer but stopped short. If she told him the truth,
that she had imagined him to be Inuyasha, what would he say? More
importantly, what would Inuyasha himself say? How would he react if he
found out that she would have given herself to him willingly.
Unconsciously during her inner debate, she had turned her head ever so
slightly to her right, eye eyes traveling to, but not focusing on, her
half-demon friend. However, it was enough for Koga to see and he
realized what she was thinking.

"You thought...?" he began. Kagome could almost see his heart breaking
in two. She bit her lower lip nervously.

"You thought what?" Inuyasha inquired. He looked from the wolf-demon to
the girl and back again, his mind and heart racing.

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered, her voice shaking as she lowered her face
to gaze at the ground. "I want to go home."

The half-demon nodded. He was not sure what had just transpired, but he
knew that she was extremely upset and that staying here near Koga would
not help her to recover. "Okay, I'll take you home. Climb on my back."

"Wait just a minute," Koga spoke up, a note of anger entering his
voice. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm taking her home," Inuyasha snarled. "So stay out of it."

"You're not taking her anywhere," the wolf-demon stated, stepping
forward. "Whoever she thought she was mating with, reality is that it
was me. That makes her my
mate. And wolves mate for life."

"Apparently you haven't noticed," Inuyasha retorted. "She doesn't love
you."

A look of rage crossed Koga's face. "What do you know?" he snarled.
"She's my mate!"

"Kagome," Inuyasha stated, setting her back down on the ground. "Just a
minute."

"You two aren't going to fight, are " s" she questioned. "Please, you
two..."

"I will defend you, Kagome," Koga stated firmly. "I won't let this mutt
face take you away from me."

"Don't push your luck," Inuyasha growled. He set a hand on the helm of
the Tetsuisga. "Or else you're going to regret it."

"Inuyasha," Kagome protested. "Koga, please... I don't want you two
fighting. I just want to go home, okay? We'll... We'll get this
straightened out later."

"You can't leave," Koga responded. "Not now. As mates, you and I belong
at each other's side."

"Koga, I just need some time alone right now," she said. "Some time to
just think, okay?"

"Then I'm going with you," the wolf-demon stated. "I won't let you out
of my sight for a second. It's my job to protect you."

Inuyasha stepped forward, his right hand still on the Tetsuisga's helm.
"Listen, she doesn't want you near her right now. How long will it take
to get it through that thick skull of yours?"

"Back off, mutt!" Koga snarled, growling a warning to the half-demon.
Inuyasha was able to draw the Tetsuisga half-way out before the
wolf-demon's fist struck into his jaw. He reeled for a moment,
recovered his balance and the Tetsuisga emerged fully from its sheath,
the white fang reflecting the sun's shimmering light. Kagome's plea to
stop went unnoticed as the half-demon charged, bringing his sword down
with a thunderous crash to the place Koga had been standing a split
second before. Koga's powerful legs projected him straight up into the
air and he came down quickly, Inuyasha barely avoiding a vicious kick
to the side of the head. The half-demon whirled around, nailing Koga in
the gut with his elbow, catching the wolf-demon off guard, and struck
him down with a flurry of Blades of Blood. Kagome could only watch
helplessly as the two demons went after each other again and again,
each blow hitting harder than the last. She physically cringed whenever
either of them made contact with the other, her tears still stinging in
her eyes. The fight lasted several more minutes, and Kagome saw
Inuyasha gradually getting the upper hand on Koga, until the half-demon
delivered a devastating blow that sent the wolf-demon rocketing toward
the cave wall, upon which the back of his skull hit and Koga fell to
the ground. Inuyasha landed neatly on one knee, bracing himself with
the Tetsuisga. Kagome ran to his side, keeping an eye on the wolf-demon
who had yet to move from where he landed.

"Inuyasha," she said. "Are you all right?"

The half-demon nodded, getting to his feet. "I'm fine. Now let's get
you home."

She hesitated. "What about Koga? Will he be all right here?"

"He should be," Inuyasha responded. "Don't worry about him. You've got
a lot more to think about."

She nodded. "Yeah." She looked up into his golden eyes. "Inuyasha, take
me home, please."