Kuro no Fuyu Ch.2

Chapter 2: Recovery of sickness and a Decision Made

Even though he was still human he could still slightly smell the sweet scent wafting from the girl next to him, he buried his nose into Kagome's hair and breathed in deeply Mmm…what a nice scent, she's been using that Jasmine shampoo again… . He sighed in content and snuggled her closer ignoring the sharp stab of pain that came from the moment, running his clawless fingers through her soft hair he was perfectly happy to just lay there with her in his arms. Once again the memories of the last snow storm they had been in raced through his mind, plaguing him of what could have happened if he had not been there.

Flashback

Kami I hate this! Inuyasha thought as his bare feet began to get numb to the point were he could not even feel the ground under them, his little dog ears were flatted to his head blocking the blowing snow from getting into them, his hair was blowing all over and his fire rat gi was hardly any help at all, he stopped for a second to smell the air, thought the smell of crisp winter snow and air he smelt Kagome's sweet scent, the smell of honey and Sakura blossoms, but there was something extra mixed with it, it smelt like turnips that had gone bad, the smell of sickness was on her Great she's sick! Inuyasha thought as he was about to turn around his sharp hearing picked up a sound,

Thump

Before he even turned around Kagome fell to the snow covered ground with her pack pushing her further under the freezing snow, Inuyasha gold eyes grew wide with worry as he ran over to the fallen Miko, he looked at her sprawled form on the ground, he kneeled down and picked her up feeling her ice cold skin against his hands and arms, he noticed that her face was very pale with a light shade of blue, her breathing was raspy and her lips were much bluer then her pale skin, her hair almost looked like his own by how much snow had fallen on it. He placed his hand on her neck and felt her pulse, it was a little weak but was there She's gonna freeze to death if I don't get her warm fast! he thought, he pulled her pack off her back and threw it on his shoulder and ran off into the cold blizzard to find some kind of shelter.

End of Flashback

Kagome he nuzzled her hair thanking what ever god that would listen that had helped him keep her alive that day, and for bring her into his life and keeping her there despite the way he had treated her since day one. She was slowly changing him, making him able to trust others besides himself, helping him be able to accept himself. Kikyo had never really accepted him as a Hanyou, the way he saw Kikyo now was different; the Kikyo of old had been nice to him and talked to him. They were both the same in a way, a young miko woman who was bound to protect the Shikon jewel and wished to be free of that responsibility and a Hanyou who was shunned by demons and humans alike simply for his mixed blood, they had both wanted someone to confine in and to be around. Kikyo had indeed been kind to him and he had protected her when the need came about, but after coming out of the fifty year sleep Kikyo had put him under and had learned of Naraku and Onigumo and what exactly had happened that day all those years ago, he had began to think things about Kikyo more clearly.

What he and Kikyo had, had not been love, if it had been love then they would not have been so easily fooled by Naraku, they would have trusted each other more and seen that the other would never do such a thing, what he and Kikyo had was friendship at most nothing more. Kagome however, since he met her and started traveling around collecting the Shikon shards and teaming up with their friends along the road, he had begun to notice the small changes to his attitude toward the girl resting beside him, changes that only he would notice since he went to great lengths to hide them. He began to stop getting angry over Kagome leaving because of the shards, but now got angry of her leaving because he got bored and missed her when she was gone. He lashed out as her in annoyance to hide himself, instead of how he use to do it out of lack of trust since no human other then his mother had shown him affection and acceptance until Kagome came into his life. Her scent could cool his most heated rage and calm him; Inuyasha sighed and kissed her forehead before resting his cheek on the crown of her head Kagome, what are you doing to me?

Kagome woke to Inuyasha playing with her hair and pressing her close to him, she held back the smile that was tugging at her lips from his silent show of affection. When she felt his lips on her fore head she couldn't help but blush and hope Inuyasha had not noticed she was awake, he obviously didn't when he settled down resting his head on hers and she felt him go limp again. When she was sure he was sleeping she sat up and looked at him, his now black hair was fanned out behind him and his soft breathing was the only sign that he was alive. She lifted the blanket to see if the bleeding had stopped completely to find that while the bandages had some blood on them it seemed that the wounds were no longer bleeding to were it would be dangerous to his human form Must be his demon blood starting to come back, it is almost dawn , but she would have to get a good look at them first, and right now Inuyasha had to rest and recover from what little damage Hypothermia had done to him. She was sure though that she had gotten him to shelter before it had set in, but better safe the sorry was a saying that she believed in.

She got up and very carefully opened the door and looked outside, she was shocked to find the blizzard was still in full force and was snowing them in; she sighed and closed the door so as to keep it warm. For now she would worry about that later, it wasn't as if they were ready to leave the dojo in the state they were in. She heard a noise behind her and turned around, missing his source of warmth and having been hit accidentally by the cold air outside when Kagome had opened the door, Inuyasha had rolled up back into a ball taking the entire blanket with him to stay warm. Cold from the now slight chill in the dojo from opening door she walked over back to where Inuyasha laid asleep, she untangled him from the blankets happy that she had not woken him up in doing so. She settled back down snuggling to Inuyasha's back and was glad to feel warmth radiating from him, his body was starting to regain the heat it had lost out in the cold. Yawning she snuggled closer and boldly wrapped her arms around him Get better soon Inuyasha…

Later that Morning

Inuyasha awoke to the sting of his transformation back to his half demon self, he laid there until the transformation was over and were a human boy once was, was now a Hanyou boy in his place. Inuyasha stretched and then noticed something around his waist; he looked over his shoulder to see Kagome snuggled up next to him with her arms wrapped around him. He felt the blush rise to his face at her being so close, why was it so easy for him to have her this close last night when he woke up, but very un nerving when he was in this form and she was this close Because humans LIVE on affection, and don't have that much of a problem giving it as demons do… he guessed blushing a deeper red as he felt her squeeze her arms tighter around him and snuggle closer, he removed her arms from him to take a long at how his wounds were.

He removed the wrappings from his waist and the now dry herbs used to speed his healing fell to the floor, he sighed when he looked at the wound and confirmed what he knew last night. The wound was healing nicely no longer bleeding at all and wasn't as bad as it was the other night, however a gaping hole smaller then it use to be was still there. At least the wound isn't going all the way from my front through to my back anymore Inuyasha thought touching the area of his back that the wood had ripped through after being stabbed into him, the skin was healed over the wound and he could feel the internal damage done healing since it was itchy. He took at look at the gashes he had gotten from Kagura's wind blade attack on his shoulders and thighs, he smirked when he saw how all that was left of them was red lines were the skin was still healing, at least those had healed.

He stood up and put the used bandages in a pile by the door, and opened the door a little to take a look at the conditions outside after the blizzard, and was shocked as he was buried under a waterfall of snow. Hearing a yelp of surprise Kagome awoke and looked to her side to find Inuyasha gone, she then turned to the door which was now open allowing the piled up snow to fall into the dojo, from the snow two feet and arms stuck out along with a pair of white dog ears, barely visible due to the closeness in color with the snow. "Inuyasha? Inuyasha is that you are you okay?" she asked running over to see Inuyasha climbing out of the mini snow hill in front of the door, "I'm fine but its gonna be hell digging our way out of here" he said shaking snow out of his hair and looking beyond the door. From the tiny amount of space between the top of the door frame and the snow he got a look outside, the tall fence that surrounded the dojo was buried to were only the top could be seen, the whole yard was a pile of white snow, it was as if the snow was trying to replace the grass that once grew in the yard.

"Are you feeling any better?" he heard Kagome ask and felt her put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm fine now, if it wasn't my human night last night I would have been fully healed by now" he said looking at the small hole in his side, he felt Kagome grab his hand and blushed as she lead him over to the blanket "Come on, I need to put fresh bandages and herbs on your wounds". Inuyasha nodded trying not to show how flustered he was and sat down and waited form Kagome to return with bandages and herbs for his wounds I don't know why she likes bandaging my injuries so much, there going to heal before the herbs start working he wondered not really bothered by Kagome's want to care for his wounds. Besides you like her coddling over you when you're hurt A voice in his head said in a teasing manner. Who the hell are you? Inuyasha asked wondering if the others might have found them and Shippo was playing another prank on him, I'm your human side of your brain, the SMART side that you like to ignore all the time it said flatly.

What do you mean? I never heard you before Inuyasha said trying to remember if there ever was a time this had happened, You know that voice you hear? The one that speaks up when you say something to Kagome or the others that you know will ether get you "sat" or thrown a comment? That's me Inuyasha blinked Wouldn't that be my conscience? he heard the voice sigh. Since you stopped paying attention to your conscience years ago I stepped in, but you won't even listen to me it said in a dull tone, Besides, I'm able to speak to you like this now since with you liking Kagome so much, your going to need help from me . Inuyasha felt the blush rise from his neck right to his face I DO NOT LIKE KAGOME! he screamed his voice squeaking a little, Sure, you don't like Kagome and Shessomaru will start walking around with little pink bows in his hair it said dryly. Inuyasha however was snickering at the mental image of Shessomaru prancing around his palace with his silver hair full of pink silk bows, WILL YOU PAY ATTENTION! the voice screamed spooking Inuyasha.

It cleared its throat, Anyway, if you don't like Kagome then why do you like it when she takes care of your injuries? Inuyasha closed his eyes at the return of the subject of his feelings for the miko of the future I do not! It's…its damn annoying I can take care of myself! Inuyasha defended yelling back at the voice, Oh yes! You did a great job of that when you didn't listen to Kagome, she said you should hurry and find shelter to make sure the two of you weren't out when the storm hit, but nooooooo you have to always be right. Yes almost dieing from the cold is a great way to take care of yourself! Inuyasha winced at that but still yelled back Look, from what I smelled the storm wasn't suppose to hit when it did! Inuyasha could almost feel the owner of that voice roll his eyes if he had any as he spoke.

Look in case you don't remember last night was a NEW MOON! Your demon abilities disappear as the day goes by, you should NEVER rely on your sense of smell on a day of you human night, especially in the circumstances that you were in yesterday. Not only could YOU have died out in that storm but so could have Kagome! Inuyasha sucked in a breath at the realization of just what could have happened, but as that was spinning in his head the voice continued What if she didn't find shelter? You and her would have died and it would be YOUR fault because you want to be mister tough guy, you want to act like your fine that nothing is wrong with you. But if memory serves right all the time you were walking with Kagome in the storm you were saying in your head how dizzy you were getting, I'm sure that was due to blood lost and from your human blood starting to take over it finished waiting for Inuyasha to say something, either disagree with it or actually agree that he had been pig headed.

Inuyasha didn't say anything just sat there on the floor, with his bangs covering his eyes hiding any emotion he was feeling at the moment from view. His ears twitched at the sound of soft foot steps from the hallway, the voice spoke once more Look, you like Kagome so stop denying it already. But if you want to go ahead and keep denying it then stop leading her on, you do everything in your power to get her to notice your feelings without even noticing it. But when she does return it you throw it right back in her face, weather it be insulting her, acting like a basterd or insulting her cooking. I think its time you took a leaf out of your own book as Kagome would put it, Didn't you tell Souta when he wanted to confess he liked that Hitomi girl to just come out and say it? what he had told Souta that day echoed in his head.

"Are you a man or aren't you? Didn't you tell me the other night that you love this girl? Have courage and go for it!"

The foot steps outside were getting louder signaling that Kagome would soon re enter the room, the voice of his human mind spoke once more before leaving Inuyasha to think about what he and his human mind had spoke about. If you want Kagome then you have to talk to her, just because your to chicken and blinded by your old memories of Kikyo doesn't mean Kagome should be alone, you get pissed off when ever another male comes near her. If you want to be with her then say something, if not then let her find someone who does want to be with her and stop chasing off other males with that his human mind returned to the corners of his mind to leave him to think, Inuyasha sat there in deep thought and listening to Kagome's foot steps get closer until he heard the door slide open. Kagome walked in carrying fresh bandages, a clay bowl and a clay pot of new herbs and a clean cloth.

"Hey Inuyasha guess what, I found a pot we can use to boil some water. I never cleaned your wounds since I didn't have anything to clean them or to hold the water" she said brightly walking over to the pile of snow on the floor, she scooped some snow into the bowl and then closed the door to keep the cold out. She returned to the site of where the fire had been and saw that some boards remained unburned, she started a fire again and let the snow melt in the fire and let the heat kill any germs that might be in the snow, it hand been on the ground after all. She dipped the cloth into the warm water when it was melted and started cleaning the wound on his side, "We should find the others when we get out of here, I hope they were able to find shelter from the storm" she said ringing the water out of the cloth and dipping it back into the water, "I hope their all okay" she said softly as she began to clean his wound again. Inuyasha was aware of Kagome talking to him but was deep in thought.

Flashback

He felt himself waking from the fog he had been in as a scent came to his nose that smelled familiar, in recognizing it he growled angrily as the owner came closer. "It's the scent of the woman who killed me" he he growled as a young girl came running over, shoulder long black hair, brown eyes and wearing a insanely short white and green "kimono". She ran to his tree and tried to catch her breath, his sensitive nose smelt a demon coming their way and her scent laced with fear. He smirked at the girl in front of him at the demon showed itself "What's the matter Kikyo? Just do it like you did me" he said in his arrogant tone, the girl looked up at him in surprise and then glared at him. "My name isn't Kikyo its Kagome, Ka-go-me" she said, he held back a snarl but yelled at her "Yes you are! Kikyo is the only ones who smells…" he caught another whiff of the odd girls scent; he took a few more sniffs to make sure and looked at her surprised.

"You're not her…"

End of Flashback

Kagome was still talking; something about how they had to go back to the now broken hut to get her back pack. "Maybe the others will be there to seeing if we returned, it would save us a lot of walking" she said as she put the cloth down into the bowl and began to place the herbs on his would, then began wrapping the bandages around his waist. Still Inuyasha's mind wandered to moments long pasted.

Flashback

He still could not believe she had pointed her arrow at Shessomaru and returned the Tetsusaiga back to its un transformed state; she had a lot more guts then any other human he knew or had seen. She had shot a second arrow at his brother even after he had threaten her, he shook the thoughts from his head looked at the ground "Hey Kagome, I never asked how you were doing your hurt too" he said, Kagome put her hand to her hand and smiled "Its just a bump, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you said stay away from Shessomaru. All I did was make things worst, you wouldn't be so injured had I listened" she said smiling but he could see pure guilt in her eyes. Inuyasha looked up at her, "No I'm grateful Kagome, if you hadn't used your arrow then I would have never been able to attack him", he sees a small about of shock cross her face before it's mixed with worry.

"Inuyasha are you feeling alright? You acting strange" she said kneeling and put her hand to his forehead "Are you running a fever?" she asked, Inuyasha could have sworn he had heard a voice nearby but brushed it off. "I've made a decision, things are get more dangerous by the day" he said looking her in the eyes as she spoke, "Yea your probably right" Inuyasha, shocked by the calm response and overwhelmed of what he has to do response in a more seriose tone, "What's that suppose to mean! Aren't you scared we are in serious danger, this time we were lucky but who knows about next time!" he watched as her face became just as serious as his own, "Well I'm not afraid, Naraku is a terrible demon, we got to do what we can to stop him" un able to stop himself he found himself grabbing her wrist and pulling her into his arms, holding her close to him.

"In…Inuyasha?" she heard her surprised voice but he held her closer closing his eyes, "I…I was afraid" he stuttered not use to voicing out what he felt to others, "W…what?" she asked as if not hearing what he had said, he opened his eyes and spoke again "I was scared I was going to lose you…" he said secretly grabbing the little piece of the jewel around her neck before pushing her away towards the well, she fell to the ground and looked at his shocked "Inuyasha?" it was now or never it had to be done…for her own good, for her own safety. "I'll hang onto the jewel" he looked to the jewel and then to her, he could feel something tearing in his chest as he gathered his courage for what he had to do "Kagome! Go back to your own era!" he pushed her and watched with sad eyes as she fell into the well and a blue light glowed from the well signaling Kagome returning to her time, for him hopefully for the last time…

End of Flashback

She wasn't supposed to come back, she was suppose to stay in her time were its safe. But she came back…she returned…she…wanted to see…me… He looked at Kagome stomping on the fire, the boards now nothing but ash as she poured the remaining water from the bowl into the ashes and mixed it around with the wooden sword, she had told him one time it helped to make sure sparks didn't start a forest fire. She had said she had learned from her father on one of their camping trips before Souta was born, at least she had experience in that area, she needed it with all the camping out they did when they didn't find a village. Frankly everyday he hoped that they didn't find a village, sleeping in those stuffy dusty inns made him feel like the walls were closing in on him, what was it Kagome said he probably was? Claustrophobic?

Flashback

He could feel it taking over his body, he felt like his veins were on fire as his demon blood continued to over power his human blood and take away his humanity. He could feel his eyes burning as they turned red and felt his eyes grow narrower becoming blue slits, the skin of his fingers stretch as his claw grew to deadly talons, his blood pounded in his ears and he could feel his fangs getting longer and shaper. He fought the demon blood fighting to get control of his body and mind, he felt stinging as purple streaks appeared on the sides of his face, every moment he fought back his demon blood was painful. Never before was transforming so painful, before it was his body pulsing while the stinging of his blood became stronger but without it burning like this, it was after that, that everything would go black until he became his normal self and got a look at what ever damage he might have done.

"Inuyasha, why are you resisting? Isn't this what you wanted? Your true self, the demon that you wish to be?" came Kaguya's voice through the pounding in his ears; he felt the burning increase like lava was in his veins instead of blood. He screamed as he continued to fight the transformation, he would not become a monster. When he wanted to become a full demon and became one when Goshiki destroyed Tetsusaiga, it was not what he had imagined he would get out of it. He heard another voice through the insanely running through his head, a man's voice. "Inuyasha? Inuyasha you must not transform!" the voice screamed, a flash of purple and black was all he could see through the pain induced fog clouding his mind, his demon mind took over the situation before he could stop it, his claws slashed out at the blob of purple and black as he managed to pick up who's scent it was: Miroku

From what he could tell he had hit him, only cutting the monks arm leaving shallow cuts, he knew… he could smell the blood. His demon blood gave another pulsing attack at trying to destroy the human part of his mind and heart; he could feel his human blood begging sucked away, sucked away from the mirror that Kaguya held in front of her. In the mirror was the image he saw ever new moon, black hair, violet eyes, his human self, the one thing he hated and yet he found himself trying to hold onto it. "INUYASHA!" a female voice screamed out this time sounding desperate and yet full of hope, he felt something grab his arms and felt the front of fire rat rope become wet. "Inuyasha…Inuyasha please don't transform! I like you as a half demon!" the voice yelled, likes him as a half demon? Someone had told him that who was it? His demon blood already removing his memories he tried to grab at the one that would help him stop this, the image of a girl with black hair, brown eyes filled with trust and not a trace of fear of him entered his mind. That girl, she freed him from the spell, that girl was Kagome!

Now more then ever he fought blinding himself from the pain of his demon blood he could not, no, would not allow his demon blood to strike out at Kagome. "Inuyasha…Please, please don't transform. Please stop!" she was crying now he could smell the salt of her tears mixing with hers scent, his demon side relished in the fact that it was causing the female pain while his human side felt the helplessness he always felt when she cried, especially when he was the one who caused her to cry. He tried the grab her and push her away to keep her safe, but his demon side half in control of his body dug his claws into her arms as he went to push her away. He heard her let out a small cry as his claws pierced her soft skin, his nose stung with the copper scent of her blood. He wished it would end already, so long as she and the others got out of this mess. She was crying again, out of pain from the claw marks in her arms or worry for him he wasn't sure, but his foggy mind guessed both.

Her hair was under his nose allowing him to breath in her scent; it further allowed the fact that she was there to sink into his mind. Calming him down but his demon blood was still fighting for control, he screamed as another round of burning pain ran through his veins. He felt the girl move, and press her lips to his. Shock stopped everything at once as his mind put together what was going on, a shiver went down his spine and his demon blood began to calm as his feelings for the girl kissing him, his remaining human blood allowed him to feel the emotions needed to fight his demon blood. He felt the burning in his body cool, his claws shrank back to their normal length and he felt his teeth return to normal. The fog in his eyes disappeared allowing him to see clearly for what had felt like hours in hell, the first thing he saw was Kagome, her eyes closed as she continued to kiss him. Kagome… unable to hold himself back and not caring at the moment who was there watching, he kissed her back.

End of Flashback

Inuyasha stood up still looking as if he was in a daze, yet the atmosphere around him was thick with a serious attitude as if he had come to a decision and was planning to carry it out, come high or low waters he would carry it out. His hair still covering his eyes, he watched as Kagome stood up from the puddle of ashes on the floor and walk over to her extra sweater and coat and put them on before walking to the door, she opened it and ran before the snow could fall on her. "How are we going to get out of here?" he heard her whine looking at the snow that stretched as far as the eye could see, silently the Hanyou boy dressed in his now dry fire rat robe and walked over to the young girl. He surprised her when he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, resting his cheek on her head pillowed by her soft hair. Smelling her scent he sighed and nuzzled her hair feeling Kagome tense, not from fear but from their close contact.

"Inuyasha?" she said her voice soft but clearly sounded like she wanted a un spoken question answered, Inuyasha hugged her tighter determined to answer her questions, the question he knew she and been wanting answered for the past month since she had been the one sick, and the question of why he was acting the way he was right now. This type of behavior was not normal for him and he knew this, but Kagome never pulled away from him when he did. She was never scared of his demon form, she didn't hate him for being half demon but envied him for all the "cool" things his demon abilities allowed him to do. She had once told him she wished she could run as fast as he could, to run as fast as the wind and feel free. She even liked his ears, the part of him that marked him as a Hanyou. She found everything about him acceptable, his ears, his claws, his fangs, his human form, his Hanyou form…she wasn't even scared of his full demon form, when he transformed it wasn't herself that she was scared for…it was always HIM she was scared for. He sighed turned her around to face him, his gold eyes looking right into her brown ones.

"Kagome…we need to talk"