When Morning Comes
an Inuyasha story
by Ren
"Well, that sure was an interesting night!" Kagome piped up cheerfully from her seat at the back of their small boat.
"Speak for yourself," Inuyasha retorted.
Kagome just sighed and thought back on the previous nights events. They had been wandering along as usual, looking for shards of the sacred jewel, when a girl had fallen from a cliff. Inuyasha had leaped up to catch her, and upon realizing he was a demon, the girl tried to escape. Unfortunately for them both, this resulted in the both of them falling into the river. After reluctantly agreeing to help, Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo and the girl, Nazuna, had made their way back to the temple of Nazuna's master. Later that night, they had been attacked by a group of spider demons, led by none other than he who Nazuna had trusted as her master.
This had led them all to a startling discovery: on the night of the new moon, Inuyasha lost his demon powers and became fully human. Without his powers, and with the tetsaiga unable to transform, Inuyasha had been injected with poison from the spider demon. Myoga had managed to suck out most of the poison, but Inuyasha was still left unconscious and weak.
During that night, Inuyasha had admitted to Kagome that he had lied about her smelling bad, and that he really thought she smelled good. He had seemed surprised that she had cried for him.
Finally, dawn broke and Inuyasha's powers returned, allowing him to slay the spider demons. They had said farewell to Nazuna and made their way down the river.
Kagome stared thoughtfully at Inuyasha. "Did you really mean what you said last night? About liking how I smelled?"
Inuyasha turned his head away slightly, though she could see him blushing. "I don't know what you're talking about...that was probably just one of the effects of the poison," He snapped.
Kagome glared at him. "So what then, you were just lying? You still don't like me? Then why are you here?"
"I'm here, because we have to find the jewel shards that YOU shattered with your stupid arrow." He yelled. That did it.
"SIT BOY!"
With a deafening crash, Inuyasha hit the bottom of the boat face first, breaking a hole in the wood and falling into the water with a splash. He came up spluttering and turned to Kagome with a glare.
She looked at him sheepishly. "Oops."
"This is great... I wasn't properly dry from the last time someone made me fall into the river," Inuyasha complained as he sat by the fire, trying to dry out his damp clothes.
"Look, I already said I was sorry, alright?"
"Yeah? Well thanks a lot," Inuyasha replied sarcastically. Suddenly his nose twitched, and he brought an arm up to his face. "H- SCHHT! Heh-EkkSHH!"
Kagome blinked at him. "Uhm...bless you. Are you alright Inuyasha?"
He glared at her. "I'm fine...just water up my nose," he said with an accusatory tone.
The sat glaring at each other until Shippo interjected. "Can't you guys stop fighting for one night? C'mon Inuyasha, Kagome said she was sorry."
With a loud THWACK, Inuyasha whacked Shippo over the head and stalked off. Kagome stared after him angrily.
"Ow..." Shippo sat rubbing his head where Inuyasha had hit him. Kagome's face softened as she took the kitsune into her arms. "Forget about him, Kagome, he's just being stubborn like usual."
"You're right, Shippo. Let him freeze all night if he wants to."
With that, she pulled a blanket over Shippo and pulled one over herself, and they both lay down by the fire and drifted off to sleep.
Farther off into the forest, Inuyasha sat up in a tree, his arms around his knees. He looked over and saw the fire glowing, and Kagome and Shippo huddled together sleeping. For a moment he wished he was with them, but immediately shook the thought out of his head.
"Feh, I don't need them," he thought as he shivered in his cold, damp clothes.
Leaning his head back against the tree, he closed his eyes. He was just drifting off to sleep when he felt a tickle in the back of his nose. He wriggled his nose around to try and get rid of it, but that only seemed to make it worse. Desperately, he tried rubbing his sleeve against his nose, but to no avail.
"Heh...heh-ekkSHHhhh!" He sniffed and rubbed his nose again. He coughed into his sleeve and lay his head back again. He wasn't getting sick. Demons don't catch colds, so he couldn't be. Right?
He shivered again and wrapped his arms tighter about his knees, and soon he was asleep.
Kagome woke up and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Shippo stirred beside her, but did not wake. Noticing that Inuyasha had not returned, Kagome pulled the blanket around her shoulders and began wandering in the direction Inuyasha had gone the night before.
"Inuyasha?" She called. No answer. "Inuyasha!" She tried again. Soft coughing from above her came as a reply. Glancing up, she saw Inuyasha sitting on a branch and leaning against the tree.
"Good morning!" She called cheerfully. He looked down at her looking anything but happy to see her. Kagome's face fell. "Look, I...I'm sorry about last night. I really am," she tried again.
He turned away from her and buried his face in the crook of his arm, releasing a muffled "H'SCHT! Heh-EKkfshh! Ehhkkshhh!"
Kagome looked up at him worriedly. "Come down!" she called.
"Hmpf." He sniffed and crossed his arms, looking like he was prepared to stay up there all day if he had to.
Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "I can make you come down you know. All I have to say is s--!" She jumped in surprise as he leaped down and landed in front of her. "Alright, alright already." He grumbled.
"Come back to the campsite and have some breakfast," she told him. He complied, but in truth, breakfast was the last thing he wanted. He felt tired and achy and just wanted to go back to sleep, but he didn't want to admit that to Kagome.
"Inuyasha? You're back!" Shippo exclaimed as he sat up sleepily.
"Yeah? Where'd you think I'd gone?" Came the snarling remark.
Shippo shrank back behind Kagome, afraid to get another beating so early in the morning. Kagome glared at Inuyasha. "What's wrong with you? Why do you have to be so mean? Shippo hasn't done anything wrong you know." Inuyasha ignored her and started moving on down the path.
"C'mon, the sooner we leave the sooner we can find the rest of the jewel shards," he called back to them. Kagome and Shippo exchanged looks, but just sighed, packed up their things and hurried to catch up.
"Heh-EkkkChhh! H-EKKshfff! H-EHshht!"
Kagome jogged up to Inuyasha's side. "Bless you," she said gently. He looked away. "Save it," he muttered.
"If you're sick, you should be resting. We can set up camp soon," Kagome suggested innocently.
Inuyasha glared. `I ain't sick! Demons don't get...sick...H- ISHhht!" He sniffed and continued to glare at her, daring her to say something. She looked at him doubtfully but let it slide.
They walked on a bit longer, Inuyasha coughing discreetly and muffling the occasional sneeze, while Kagome and Shippo did their best to pretend they didn't notice. Eventually, Kagome couldn't stand it any longer. She walked up and stood in front of Inuyasha, blocking his path.
"Look, you're sick, whether or not you want to admit it. And you're obviously not at your best right now, and you'll be no good to us if you can't fight off demons. So we are going to set up camp, and you are going to rest, and get better, and THEN we can go on looking for jewel shards, got it? And if you even try to tell me you're fine, I'll S-I-T you into next week!"
Inuyasha just looked at her, startled by her determination. Reluctantly, he agreed to set up camp and wait a day until they continued their quest. They built a fire to keep warm, and Inuyasha sat close, albeit a bit unwillingly. Unfortunately, although his clothes had dried, they were still cold, and he shivered slightly as the night air hit him.
Kagome tucked a blanket around Shippo, who had fallen asleep already, and took her over to Inuyasha.
"I don't need it," he started, but Kagome didn't let him finish. She wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and sat down next to him, gazing into the blazing fire.
"Heh-H'ISHHT! EhhKKSHHH!" Inuyasha sniffed and rubbed his sleeve against the side of his nose to try rub away the itching.
"Bless you," Kagome whispered.
Inuyasha hesitantly glanced over at her. He hated admitting that he was sick, but he was too tired to care all that much. Besides, it was Kagome, and she truly seemed to care for his wellbeing. Still, he started when he felt her arm wrap around his shoulder and pull him towards her. He tensed for a moment, but finally let himself relax and leaned against her shoulder.
She reached up and stroked his hair and felt him begin to drift off.
"Kagome....thank you," he said softly.
She smiled and wrapped the blanket around him tighter, and watched the fire slowly burn away. When morning came, she was sure things would be better.
~The End~
These characters, previous situations, etc... are not mine, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This is for my amusement only.