Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Strength	By : inufan625 Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 9998 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha and will make no money from this work of fiction. This will apply to all chapters contained within.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Kagome closed her text book. She'd actually managed to get a little studying done, after convincing herself that InuYasha had to be getting better. Surely he wouldn't be having short bouts of semi consciousness if he wasn't improving. She didn't know if her hope was warranted medically, but she didn't care. She had to believe. It was either that or go crazy at this point.
She placed her book on the nightstand and then came to her feet. A soft groan escaped her as she stretched the muscles of her back and neck. Keeping a bedside vigil sure was hard on a person, but she didn't mind the aches and pains. After all, InuYasha was in much worse condition than she, and truthfully she would have suffered anything if it meant he would recover.
With deliberate care, she slipped into bed beside him and closed her eyes. She was still reeling a bit from everything that had happened earlier in the day, not the least of which was from having her first real kiss taken by someone who might not even remember. No, she wasn't tired, but being so close to him was comforting, and it would help her relax, so that she could figure out just what she was going to tell her friends.
She knew they wouldn't forget her promise, but she also didn't want to involve them too deeply in what was going on - not that she knew exactly what that was herself. In an ideal world they never would have had to know anything, but as it was, she would have to tell them something.
~ * ~
Kagome could have said that she was surprised to her friends waiting for her at the base of the stairs when she left for school, but it would have been a lie. No, her friends were nothing if not tenacious and determined, and Houjou, he was nothing if not persistent.
She could read their anxious expressions clearly and didn't even bother to sigh. "I can't talk about it here. We'll have to wait until we get to school and can go somewhere private."
Her friends agreed without complaint, and for that she was grateful, even if the silence as they walked was almost unbearable. At least, they hadn't been attacked, so far, but Kagome kept her senses on alert, just in case that fact should change.
Even though they arrived at school fairly early, the building was already crowded with other students that wanted to get in a few last minutes of studying before their exams. As a result, it wasn't until lunch time that Kagome was able to keep her promise.
As soon as the bell rang, announcing the beginning of the lunch period, Eri approached the teacher for permission to use the vacant room across the hall to help Kagome study. Their teacher, pleased that Kagome was making such an effort in spite of her frequent absences, granted her request, and even remarked on how nice it was to see students working together and taking their studies so seriously.
Kagome sighed as she settled into one of the empty chairs. Her friends all gathered around her. She ignored their impatient stares as she pulled a small container out of her bag. She opened it and drew out the cord that would soon be a set of enchanted beads for Houjou.
"Kagome?" Eri prompted.
Kagome pulled out a polished blue bead and closed her eyes, infusing it with her power, and then selected another as she said, "Okay, this is going to sound crazy no matter how I put it, so I might as well just say it. Youkai are real, and so are miko - Miko with real spiritual power who can shoot holy arrows and purify youki."
Kagome continued to string the beads as she waited for them to start questioning her sanity, but when it never happened she opened her eyes and looked up at her friends. They were all staring at her hands with wide eyes.
"Do you see that?" Ayumi asked.
"Her hands are glowing," Yuka added.
Kagome looked down and sure enough a soft pink light was emanating from her fingers as she poured her power into the beads in her hands. Well, at least she knew she was doing it right. She had been a little worried about not being able to construct a real blessed rosary. All of the other beads she had used had been blessed by Kaede and Miroku, but she had run out of those making the other three protection charms.
"Higurashi, you - you're a miko," Houjou said with a hint of uncertainty.
"Yes, and that man from yesterday was a youkai. I can't say too much because I don't want any of you to be hurt because of me, but he wants something that I have, and that's why he showed up looking for me," she explained.
"Why don't you just give it to him then?" Ayumi asked.
"I can't," Kagome replied. "It's my duty to protect it, and hopefully to destroy it, so that it can never be used to hurt anyone ever again. I never meant for any of you to get involved in this. I don't think they'll come after you, but the rosary will protect you, I promise."
At once all three girls reached for the beads around their necks. "We believe you," Eri said. "I mean how could we not after seeing what you did with those beads, but - but this just seems so unreal. Youkai and miko, they've always just been stories."
"I know it's really hard to believe," Kagome said. "When I first found out I had these powers and that youkai were real I thought I was losing my mind, so I definitely don't blame you for having a hard time taking it all in."
"Higurashi," Houjou began, "you haven't really been sick, have you?" Kagome lowered her gaze and shook her head. "So you've really been missing school to protect whatever it is you are protecting."
"Yeah. I'm sorry I lied to all of you, but I just couldn't say anything. I hope you can understand," Kagome told them.
Suddenly Eri gasped, "That friend of yours, InuYasha, he's not a hafu is he? He's a youkai!"
Kagome bit her lip. She really hadn't planned on outing InuYasha during this little conversation, but it looked like she wasn't going to have much choice. Once Eri got an idea in her head she didn't let go until she had seen it through. "Well, not exactly. InuYasha, he's a hanyou, and he helps me keep it safe. In fact the reason I‘ve been rushing home is because he was hurt really badly, and I needed to be with him to help take care of him. He finally seems to be getting better now though."
"Oh! And he can't go to the hospital because he's a hanyou, right?" Ayumi asked.
Kagome nodded. She was both relieved and a little surprised that her friends were taking things so well. It was probably a good thing that she left out the time traveling though. That might have been a bit too much.
"Higurashi, if your friend was so badly injured, then how much danger are you in?" Houjou questioned. "Maybe we could help you?"
"No!" Kagome snapped her mouth closed. "I'm sorry. I just can't let you all get involved and get hurt because of me. I'll be okay. InuYasha and I protect each other, and he really is getting better, so I won't be on my own. He'd never let anything bad happen to me. He always takes care of me, so you don't have to worry."
Kagome blushed as her girl friends sighed wistfully, and she realized that her tone must have revealed too much about her feelings for InuYasha. She chanced a look at Houjou who appeared both uncomfortable and disappointed. "Houjou..." Her voice faded. She wasn't sure what to say.
"Lunch break is almost over," Houjou said a bit too loudly. "We should get back to class. Thanks for trusting us, Higurashi."
He turned and headed for the door only to be halted as Kagome called out to him, "Houjou wait!" She hurried over to him and tied the rosary around his neck. "Thank you."
He just nodded and stepped out into the hall.
~ * ~
Kagome was nearly exhausted as she walked home. She had poured a lot of her energy into Houjou's rosary and that combined with the stress of taking her exams had really drained her. She counted her steps in her head just to keep her feet moving.
She looked up with relief as she reached the base of the shrine stairs. She was almost home. She had already promised herself a nice hot bath and a nap. Just the thought of the steaming water and a comfortable bed were enough to make her feel a little less worn out.
She was all set to make quick work of the many steps when a hand fisted her hair, jerking her head back. She didn't have time to scream as another hand closed around her throat. She clawed at the hand cutting off her air, but it didn't do any good, and she was too tired and in too much of a panic to try and save herself with her powers.
Tears leaked from her eyes, and her vision started to go dark.

"Hey!" Souta cried grabbing the arm of the youkai that had a hold of his sister. "Let her go!"
Kagome had to close her eyes against the bright blue light that engulfed the demon currently cutting off her air by squeezing her throat. She felt the hand around her neck loosen and then disappear altogether. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found her little brother staring at his own hands.
He looked at her with wide eyes. "Did I do that?"
She smiled even as she coughed and gasped for air. Her voice was hoarse, and her throat hurt terribly, but she still managed to pull him into a hug and said, "Looks like I'm not the only one with special powers in this family. Thanks, squirt."
"Are you really all right?" he asked.
She nodded as she let him go, one hand gently rubbing her abused neck. "Thanks to you I am. We should probably get up the stairs though before any one else shows up trying to kill me."
Kagome was surprised as Souta put is arm around her waist to help her climb the stairs, but she didn't protest, and was actually glad for it.
"I wish Inu-nii-chan was awake, so that he could look out for you," Souta said quietly as they crested the stone stairway.
"Me, too."
~ * ~
When Kagome at last collapsed into her bed beside her hanyou it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. Her mother had fretted over her for what had seemed like hours upon seeing the ring of bruises around her neck. Of course, in reality it had only been a few minutes, and her mother was only worried about her safety, so she had endured it without too much impatience.
She rested her head on InuYasha's shoulder and let his warmth and the scent of him enveloped her, and she was asleep in seconds.

InuYasha found himself awake, really awake for the first time in five days, though he himself had no actual knowledge of that fact. He tried to sit up only to find that Kagome was curled up beside him, her head on his shoulder and her arm across his chest. However, as much as he was enjoying their position, he did have a rather pressing need to attend to and with no little amount of reluctance he attempted to rouse her.
The miko slowly moved towards wakefulness, stretching a bit and then cracking open her blurry eyes. A startled cry escaped her as she found herself staring into pools of familiar gold. "InuYasha," she breathed.
"Keh," he offered.
"Oh, InuYasha," she cried hugging him tightly. "You're finally awake. I thought you were never going to get better. I was so worried."
Then she remembered herself and released him blushing deeply, intent on getting out of the bed, but was halted by his arms wrapping around her. She could have died at the feeling of his warmth around her.
"I heard your words," he admitted quietly. "They gave me strength."
Kagome looked at him, her cheeks still pink, as she realized that he had heard her confessions of love. He gazed into her eyes and then with no warning he pressed his lips to hers. Just as before, it took her a moment to react. Again she couldn't believe that he was kissing her, and what's more, this time he knew what he was doing. She was panting lightly as they parted.
"InuYasha?" she whispered.
"Keh, we can talk later wench," he replied. "Right now I gotta get up."
She looked at him curiously and then her eyes widened. "Oh...Oh! Okay."
The young woman climbed out of bed and watched her hanyou sit up. He began to pull the blankets aside and then hastily dropped them back over his lap. "Uh, Kagome... Where are my clothes?"
The miko blushed again. "We-we-we had to take them off to treat your wounds and after... It was easier to change the dressings if we didn't cover you up again. I-I-I promise I didn't look at you, and I let Souta and jii-chan take care of the ones covered by the sheet."
Now it was InuYasha's turn to blush. "Keh. Well, I ain't injured no more, so you think I could get my hakama?"
Kagome nodded and hurried from the room. Her heart was racing. InuYasha was awake, really awake - and he had kissed her. It was almost too much to believe. She knew she hadn't been asleep very long but as she ran down the stairs she found that she wasn‘t tired at all, and even though she knew it was impossible her neck seemed to be less sore.
She retrieved his hakama from the shelf above the washing machine and hurried back upstairs, before someone could stop her and slow down her return to InuYasha. A twinge of guilt nagged at her. Her family had been worried about InuYasha too and deserved to know that he was better, but she still couldn't make herself go tell them. Surely they would understand her wanting to have him all to herself for just a little while.
He was still in her bed covered by the sheet when she returned. She felt her face heat as her mind latched onto the fact that he wasn't wearing anything beneath that thin blanket. She quickly tossed his pants to him and turned her back, hoping that he wouldn't notice her blush.
She listened intently to the soft rustling of fabric behind her. A soft groan caught her attention and she turned around. InuYasha had managed to get his pants on and his feet onto the floor, but was now grimacing with one arm wrapped around his middle. She moved quickly to his side and put an arm around his waist to help him.
"Keh, I got it," he said gruffly.
"You're still healing," she said. "Let me help you."
He snorted but made no further protest and let her support him as he came to his feet. He felt kind of stupid letting her walk him down the hall to the bathroom, but he decided it was worth it to feel her arms around him. They stopped at the door.
"I think I can manage from here," he told her.
She nodded. "Just call me if you need anything."
InuYasha closed the door behind him and leaned against the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror and took inventory of his injuries. His right shoulder was nearly mended, and he noted that it had been stitched shut. The same went for the large gash on his left thigh. Several of his ribs were badly bruised, and he figured that they had probably been cracked or broken when he had arrived. His right leg ached deeply, and he knew the pain meant that he had a newly mended bone to thank for it. Then his eyes traveled down to the large bandage on his abdomen. It was no doubt the injury that had necessitated his other wounds being stitched closed as opposed to letting them close naturally.
He peeled back the edges of the white square, his fangs peeking out from behind his lips as the tape was pulled free. It certainly wasn't an attractive sight. While it appeared that his muscle had reformed, there were only a few scant layers of nearly transparent skin covering them, and judging by the amount of pain he was in, he still had several more days of healing to look forward to.
He turned on the water in the shower just as Souta had shown him and waited for the water to warm up. He normally wasn't one to relish cleaning himself, but this was one time where he was really looking forward to it. While he could tell that he had been cleaned, he still felt the saltiness of dried sweat on his skin and his muscles ached.
He tested the temperature with his hand, and satisfied that it wouldn't melt his skin, he stepped into the water. As it poured over his back he carefully cut the stitches in his shoulder and leg and pulled the threads free.
As he cleaned himself, taking care around his stomach wound, he couldn't help but wonder how long he had been unconscious. It must have been quite a while for Kagome to have seemed so relieved by his waking. Yes, Kagome fussed and worried over him and was always glad to see him get better, but something felt different about it this time. After all, she had never confessed to being in love with him other times that he was injured - at least not that he heard.
He ran his fingers through his hair to wash out the soap and smiled. Kagome loved him. It was kind of unbelievable, not because he doubted her sincerity, or even because he hadn't thought she felt that way, but because she had finally said it plainly, leaving no room for him to misunderstand. He hadn't said it back, not yet, but he definitely would...soon. And he had kissed her.
To be honest he was a little unsure as to where he had found the courage to do that, but he certainly didn't regret it - not after the way she had reacted.
InuYasha shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. He didn't think he was quite up to shaking off, so he settled for using the towel that was hanging over the bar on the wall beside him. The shower seemed to have done him some good, and he didn't feel quite as stiff as he had upon first getting out of bed.
He slipped on his hakama with only a moderate amount of discomfort and opened the bathroom door. He wasn't surprised to see Kagome standing there waiting for him.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Keh, better," he admitted.
Kagome looked at her hands as she twisted the hem of her shirt. "Are you - that is, do you need me to help you back to my room?"
Instead of answering, he slipped an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled as she slid her arm around his back. He wasn't leaning on her quite as much as before, but he still probably would have had a very hard time making it back to her room on his own.
Once he was situated comfortably back on her bed, Kagome sat beside him. "What happened to you?" she asked. "I had this terrible dream. Naraku was after you, and you were calling for my help. I tried to find you, but I couldn't and then Kikyou showed up. She saved you and killed Naraku. When that happened I woke up and you were climbing though my window."
InuYasha looked at her for a moment and then stared at the floor between his feet. "That's pretty much what happened, except for me calling for you. I mean I was thinking about you, since I was trying to make it to the well... Kikyou showed up and killed the bastard, and pushed me into the well with the jewel. Then she- it wasn‘t supposed to happen like that. I was supposed to protect her..."
Kagome bit her lip as his voice faded. Hesitantly she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. When he didn't shrug it off she leaned against him. "I'm sorry about Kikyou, and that I wasn't there when you needed me. Maybe if I had been, then Kikyou wouldn't have... I should have been there."
InuYasha turned slightly, dislodging her from her position against him. "It ain't your fault. Some of it's mine, but mostly it's that bastard Naraku's. Hell, if I hadn't been so stubborn, I wouldn't have needed Kikyou to save me. Kaede told me you wouldn't be upset if I came through the well just for the moonless night, since Miroku and Sango were away at the slayers village, and I knew she was right, but I was still pissed about you wanting to be gone for so long."
"Did you really think that? That I wanted to leave?" Kagome asked.
"Seemed that way to me, what with all the threats you were making," he admitted.
Kagome lowered her gaze and her voice. "If it seemed that way, then it was only because I wanted it to be the last time that I ever had to leave you."
Just as InuYasha had decided how to respond, the door to her room swung open and her mother said, "Kagome, I've brought and ice pack for your..."
As her mother's voice trailed off Kagome jumped to her feet. "Mama, he's awake. Isn't it wonderful!"
Her mother smiled. "Yes, it is. We were all very worried about you InuYasha."
InuYasha felt his face heat. "Keh."
"Anyway, as I was saying, Dear, I brought you an ice pack for your throat and another aspirin," Asami continued. She set both items on the desk. "We'll wait and let jii-chan and Souta discover the good news for themselves, I think."
"Thanks, Mama," Kagome said with a blush.
Once the older woman was gone, InuYasha asked, "Oi, what's wrong with your neck?"
Kagome shook her head as she rubbed the white bandage she had lightly wrapped around her injured throat. "It's no big deal. I'm okay, really."
"I'll be the judge of that," InuYasha snorted, coming to his feet. He reached for the bandage and when she didn't try to stop him, he pulled it down. For a long second he seemed speechless, but it didn't last. "What the fuck! Who the hell did this to you, Kagome? You better fucking tell me, right now, so I can go beat the shit out of him and then kill him."
"It's not so bad," she tried.
"Not so bad! It looks like someone tried to squeeze you head off," he bellowed. "Tell me what happened. And I don't want to hear shit about the stupid laws in your time, either. I am going to kill the bastard, and nothing you can say will stop me. Nobody hurts you and gets away with it, Kagome, not as long as I'm alive."
Kagome was taken aback by the vehemence in his tone. He was always protective of her, but this was something different, something more, something that made her want to smile. "It was a youkai after the Shikon no Tama, but you can't go after him because he's already dead. Souta saved me with his spiritual powers."
InuYasha's eyebrows disappeared beneath his bangs. "The kid? Seriously?"
Kagome nodded. "I think we were both as surprised as you are."
"Wait a minute. I thought there weren't any youkai in this time," InuYasha said.
"I didn't either," she admitted. "But I think something changed. Today wasn't the first time youkai have come looking for the jewel since you showed up here. A couple of nights ago three showed up together. They were looking for the jewel and for... for The Dog Prince. That has to be you, right? I mean who else could it be? And they also said something about the last great miko disappearing five hundred years ago. I managed to get all three of then, but only because they were caught off guard by my having real spiritual power. I was so worried that I wouldn‘t be able to stop them, to protect you and Mama, and Souta, and Jii-chan."
As tears began to slide down her cheeks, InuYasha stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. "Oi, don't cry. It's all right."
Kagome sniffled and closed her arms around his waist. "I was so scared. I thought you were going to die. You were hurt so badly, and then with the youkai showing up... It was so hard staying strong, when all I wanted to do was cry because I didn't know if I was going to lose you. I never realized before just how much you protect me from. It's not just youkai, but also from having to be the strong one, the one who always holds it together no matter how hard things get. "
"Sounds to me like you did all right on your own," he said.
"Maybe, but I still couldn't help but wish I had you with me to help me," she told him, lifting her head to look into his eyes.
He touched her cheek gently. "Well, I'm here now, and we're going to figure this out together."
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Strength