Bitter Winds

Disclaimer: “I don’t own Inuyasha, I’m just steal . . . ah . . . “ borrowing a bit from those who can afford it, and boy am I in debt!” ” *grins* ( I don’t own that quote either.) *rolls eyes*

‘. . .’ = thoughts
“. . .”= speech
(. . .) = translation
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Last time
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‘How am I supposed to destroy something that has no substance? What would Kagome do?’

At that moment she was wondering that very thing.

‘What am I going to do?’

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The current under the ice had moved her away from where she had fallen through. She slowly let out the stale air in her lungs as she fought the icy current. She tried to find a hole in the ice, or an air pocket, anything! Her lungs were burning with the need for air.

‘What was that? I felt it! Space between the ice and the water!’

She grasped at what tentative hold she could find on the underside of the sheet of ice and moved her face to the small air pocket. She inhaled deeply giving into her lungs’ desperate craving. She realized she should take shallow breaths to conserve what little oxygen was left in the small pocket.

‘The ice seems to be thinner here I think I can break though. Nothing to lose from trying.’

The resistance of the water slowed the momentum of her fist as she hit the ice with her futile efforts. The icyer aer and lack of oxygen were taking its toll. If she didn’t break through soon, she would either freeze to death or suffocate. She took one last deep breath, and positioned herself so that she could put all the power of her body into one last blow.

Shippo saw a small explosion in the ice.

“Kagome!”

The small kitsune(fox) ran to help her. She had made a s hol hole in the ice, she could breathe freely again, but the hole was not large enough for her to get out. She began hacking at the ice with one hand while holding on with the other. Shippo helped as well sending his kitsune bi(fox fire) to break the ice being very careful not to harm Kagome in the process. By the time the hole was big enough for her to pass through both of her hands were torn and bleeding from the sharp ice.

“Sh-ship-po.”

“Yes Kagome”

“I . . . n-n-need . . . h-help . . . o-o-out. R-rope . . . m-m-b-bag.”

As she fought to stay awake, Shippo dug through her bag to find the rope that Kagome often used as a cloths line, and ran back as fast as he could. Slipping on the now wet ice he nearly slid right past her.

“Now what Kagome?”

She grabbed one end of the rope and wrapped it around herself, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t tie it.

“H-h-help . . . t-tie.”

Shippo nodded and tied it quickly and securely

“What now?”

“A-a-a-round . . . t-tree . . . p-p-pull.”

He scampered as quickly as he could to the nearest tree and ran around it with the rope and began to pull for all he was worth. He didn’t know how he was going to do it by himself, but he had to, for Kagome. He didn’t know it but the tree was giving him the extra leverage he needed. Kagome helped as much as her weakened body would allow as soon as her hips passed the hole she rolled over to lift her legs out spreading her weight across the ice and passed out from exhaustion and exposure. The kitsune continued to pull her till she was closer to the bank and covered her with a blanket he had found in her bag he then stayed by her head stroking her hair and gently crying.

“Kagome, please wake up Kagome, please.”

Meanwhile . . .

Inuyasha was getting frustrated, he had wasted enough time on this stupid youkai, and Kagome was in danger. Suddenly it came to him he h pla plan, he just hoped that it would work. He taunted the youkai into following him, and put the river between him and the youkai and let Tetsusaiga do the rest. He sent a wave of Tetsusaiga’s power ripping through the ice.

“Ha, you missed! You’re a poor excuse for a hanyou. . . . Wa-What?!”

The youkai failed to notice, till it was too late, that the shockwave from Tetsusaiga had created a wave of water in its wake that shot up and over him. Toukan Gyakufuu was so cold he was frozen solid within a matter of moments, and came crashing down to the ground shattering into hundreds of pieces. Inuyasha retrieved the shard, and then rushed to find Kagome.

When Inuyasha got to Shippo and Kagome’s side, he saw that she was blue with cold.

“Kagome!”

“She won’t wake up Inuyasha. She won’t wake up!”

“I noticed a cave when we came through the pass, well go there.”

Inuyasha gently picked Kagome up and held her as close to himself as he c wit without crushing her.

“Get her bag runt.”

As soon as he got into the cave he set her down on the blanket ,she was wrapped in, where she would be out of the wind.

“Runt, you think you can gather wood and start a fire?”

“Hai”(yes) sniffled Shippo who was just sitting there staring at Kagome.

“Then do it!” Inuyasha growled.

“Hai Inuyasha!”
Shippo jumped up, startled out of his worrying for Kagome and ran out of the cave to get the wood.

Inuyasha then winced, anticipating the sits he would receive for what he had to do next. He removed all of her wet clothing her skin was cold and clammy and her body was stiff he covered her with his haori(formal coat/outer kimono) and began to rub her arms and legs to get warm blood to the surface. Kagome began to shiver. He was slightly relieved to see this.

‘Good that means her body is fighting back.’

Shippo then came in with the wood and started the fire.

“Shippo, I need to make Kagome some tea to help her warm up on the inside, you think you can find some fresh pine needles?”

“Hai Inuyasha!”
Shippo took off at once.

Inuyasha found Kagome’s tea kettle and only left her side to go outside to scoop up some clean snow then put the kettle next to the fire. He got out her sleeping bag and laid it where it would receive the most benefit from the fire and moved Kagome to the sleeping bag and covered her with the blanket she had been one the then rummaged in her bag until he found her first aid kit, took some salve and smeared in on the cuts her hands had received and wrapped them in gauze.

“Inuyasha, I have the pine needles! Will they really help Kagome?”

Inuyasha turned around to find that Shippo had a whole branch. He gave the kitsune a questioning look.

“What?”

Inuyasha looked at the branch.

“I didn’t know how many you needed.”

The little kitsune had innocence and worry written all over his face.

“That will be more than enough twerp, if you want to get a few more branches we can make a windbreak for the cave entrance.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the kit took off to find some more branches. Inuyasha bruised and broke some of the pine needles in his hand and placed them in a cup and poured the hot water over them letting it steep. Kagome, who was becoming more aware of her surroundings, began mumbling and thrashing. She woke crying trying to speak through chattering teeth.
“I-Inu-ya-ya-sha, I-I’m s-s-sorry I-I’m s-so mu-ch-ch tr-tr-trou-ble.”

“Ke. Baka(idiot) Im not angry. Here drink this it will help warm you up.”

Inuyasha scooped out the pine needles from the cup of tea and helped Kagome to sit with her back propped against him and held the cup to her lips to help her drink. Shippo came in dropped the branches and launched himself into Kagome.
“Kagome I was so worried about you! You wouldn’t wake up, and you scared me, and I was so worried, and don’t ever do that again!”

The little kit sobbed into her stomach. Kagome stroked the little kit to soothe them both.

“I-I p-prom-mise I-I’ll d-do m-m-my b-b-best”

Soon Kagome was asleep again.

“Oi, twerp you sleep in front of her to keep her warm, and I’ll sleep behind her.”

Inuyasha took off his juban(undershirt/ki) an) and hakama(mens formal divided skirt/loose pants) leaving him only in his funoshi(loincloth like underwear) then crawled under the blanket behind Kagome making as much skin contact as possible to further warm her. Being careful of where he put his hands, one arm under his head for a pillow and the other protectively wrapped around her torso. When Kagome started thrashing around and crying out in her sleep Shippo started to worry all over again.
“What’s wrong with her?”

Inuyasha felt her forehead with his clawed hand and inhaled her sent.
“She has a fever.”

“I wish Kaede ba-chan(granny) was here.”

“Well she’s NOT! So we’ll have to take care of Kagome ourselves!”

“ What are we gonna do Inuyasha?”

“First your GONNA stop WHINING! Then your gonna use Kagome’s pocket knife thing and your gonna go to one of those willow trees by the river and then your gonna get noe bae bark than can fit in the bottom of this cup. Understand runt?”

Shippo nodded his head and wiped the tears from his eyes and quickly set about doing the task he was given. Inuyasha stoked the fire and got some more snow for the tea kettle. While he was waiting on Shippo to return, he again got behind Kagome and wrapped his arms around her stilling her thrashing and listened to her cries for help.
“I’m stuck. . . It’s dark . . . I can’t get through. . . Inuyasha help me. . . I can’t get through. . .”

“Shh it’s alright Kagome, I’m right here. Shh Your safe now, everything is alright.”

“Inuyasha. . . why did you take the shards. . . I can’t get through the well. . . It’s so cold. . . It’s dark here without you. . . I need you. . .”

“Shh I’m here Kagome. I did it to protect you, I thought you knew that. ‘That was so long ago’ Shh it’s alright, your right here with me Kagome. Shh I’m right here. I need you too.”

“Inuyasha. . . promise. . . Promise me you won’t do that again. . . I need to be with you. . . Aishiteru(I love you). . . Inuyasha. . .”

“Shh, I’m right here. I promise Kagome. Shh I’m right here.”

To Inuyasha it felt like someone had slowly started to close a hand around his throat and heart, and he couldn’t hold the tears back that insisted on coming. He held her tight then and hid his face in her hair.

“Oh Kagome, I wish I could tell you how much I love you. You mean so much to me, I need you more than you’ll ever know, but it would only bring you pain Kagome. I don’t wanna hurt you, I’ve hurt you so much already.”

Shippo wasn’t stupid he waited outside and listened to what was going on before barging in on the hanyou. Kagome meant the world to him and he wanted to see her happy and if it took a stupid, stubborn hanyou to do it, so be it! Shippo made plenty of noise when he did make his entrance. Shippo was still worried about Kagome, but he knew he wasn’t alone in his worry, and it made him feel somewhat better. It also helped that Inuyasha was taking charge.
‘But he won’t hear it from me.’

“Inuyasha, how do you know what will help Kagome?”

“Ke. You hang around mikos(priestess) long enough your bound to learn something.”

Inuyasha again propped Kagome up so that he could give her the tea he made. They all laid down again sharing their warmth and the comfort of closeness. While Kagome and Shippo slept Inuyasha kept watch over the young miko till her fever broke. Kagome’s fever broke and her temperature was back to normal before the moon reached it’s peak in the sky, after that Inuyasha felt like he could breath easier and was soon sleeping as well.

Inuyasha woke up with the rising of the sun and watched Kagome while she slept.
‘What did I ever do to deserve to have you in my life.’

He noticed her breathing change and knew she would be awake soon. He started hot water for tea and something to eat. Once that was taken care of he set her now dry clothes where she could reach them and sat facing the fire so that his back was to Kagome.

Shippo cuddled closer into Kagome, she automatically reached out a hand to stroke him. She started becoming aware of her surroundings and remembered the events of the day before. That is when she realized her state of dress or rather undress.
“Eeep.”

Blushing to the roots of her hair she clutched the blanket close, quickly found her cloths and dressed under the blanket.

“I had to do it! You know that!”

“Yes, but it doesn’t make it any less embarrassing!”

Brusquely he handed her some tea.
“Here, drink this.”

“Thank you, Inuyasha.”

“I’m fixing soup, and your GONNA EAT IT! I don’t want you fainting on me, you’ve already caused me enough trouble!”

“Gee Inuyasha, I didn’t know you cared!”

“KAGOME! I was so worried about you! Areyoubetter? Youlookbetter. Inuyashaletmehelpgetstufftomakeyoubetter. Wetookrealgoodcareofyou. IgotfirewoodandstartedafiregottheplantsInuyashaaskedformadeawindbreakandkeptyouwarm, and I didn’t fight with Inuyasha at all! Are you proud of me? ”

“Ke, ya he was to busy blubbering over you.”

Shippo stuck his tounge out at the rude hanyu at that comment.

“Hai Shippo I’m proud of you.”

That earned Kagome a winning smile and a hug from the kit.

“I smell fish.”

“I made some soup”

“Eeww’

“Well it’s ALL your getting, ya little runt, and you BETTER eat it quick cause we need to leave. We need to meet back up with Sango and Miroku and get Kagome back to Kaede baba’s(old hag).”

After everyone had eaten, and everything had been cleaned up and packed away, Inuyasha made sure Kagome was bundled in her blanket before taking off at top speed with the miko and kit on his back. ‘With any luck we’ll would be back in the village in time for dinner.’

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TY to liTtLeKiTty and Numisma for the reviews
\,,/_ (I love y’all)

This is a small part of a bigger whole that I am working on but am stuck on what to do with Sango and Miroku and my thoughts tend to be scattered on other parts of the story.
So this is just going to be a one shot (for now) I hope y’all enjoyed it.
Please let me know how I can improve i.e. more detail, are the translations distracting, comments on my style or lack thereof.

Marieka signing off for now EXCELSIOR!

AMBER EYES - And when God looked back with pain, His eyes, moist and wise, were the color of amber. And crowned upon his head was a silver lion’s mane. - Ralph D. Helfer