Be there for me

All she knew was that the pain was present, and it filled her completley. She opened her eyes, could only open them into something wider than slits. They were so heavy, she just wanted to go to sleep, but she would not let herself. Looking for something, anything to focus on, she tilted her head to her side to gauge her surroundings.



Kagome saw three, no, four people standing, kneeling actually, on the floor next to the cot that she was lying on. Inuyasha, with his distinctive firerat robe, was the first one into her vision. Seeing her look at him, a sign of relief crossed his face, and suddenly she felt his hand, with it's little claws, drawing across her face in a soothing gesture. She tried to talk, to re-assure him that everything was going to be ok, but it came out as a cough instead, and more pain shot down her body.



That's when the movement besides Inuyasha caught her attention. Sango moved into view, the slayer still in her casual wear, although there were signs that she had been in a pitched battle. The clothing was ripped and tattered, and she could detect a few cuts here and there. The girl lifted up a canteen of water to Kagome's face, then she could feel the cool liquid pouring down her throat. It still hurt, as she remembered from before, but espically when it reached her stomach. She willed the pain away, and then tried to speak again.



"Inu...Yasha. Please, I need...my pack...." said Kagome. Her voice was still brittle and croaked. She supposed that it was a side effect of the electric attack from earlier more than anything else. Must of fried her vocal cords to some extent.



"Kagome....sure thing" replied Inuyasha as he stood and began walking out the door. Funny thing is, he had expected some sentimental shit, and was suprised and relieved to learn that Kagome wasn't ready to give up fighting and accept her fate. Perhaps there was something in her bag that would be able to save her, despite how grevious her injuries had been.



Outside the doorway, he met his brother, who was standing there with Rin and Jaken.



"Sesshomaru, what are you doing here?" wondered the hanyou out loud. He knew why Rin was here, she was Kagome's friend, and of course, where Rin went, Jaken stayed by her side. But the lord of the western lands need not fear for Rin's safety in this village, and of course, he was as cold hearted and brittle as always.



"I'll be returning a favour soon. You needn't to worry. Kagome will not die on this day." replied Sesshomaru as he laid a hand on the hilt of Tensiega.



"Sesshomaru...." Inuyasha was suprised and shocked that his brother would care about saving one of his friends, but then he didn't know the whole story of what had happened, preoccupied as he had with Kohaku, to realise all that had gone on between them in the forest clearing.



"Don't you have an errand to carry out?" inquired his brother. He didn't want his hanyou brother to go all mushy on him, not at a time like this, or ever really.



"Right." Inuyasha turned around and headed off into the forest, heading for where he had found Kikyo at earlier.



* * *



A few minutes of running and jumping, the hanyou came upon the clearing where Kagome had left her stuff at from earlier. His ears flattened as he remembered what had happened between the two, no, three of them when they had been here. The way that he had shouted at her, how she had stayed anyways to treat the wound before leaving. He could not help but feel responsible for what had happened to Kagome, and aye, after she had helped to heal his lover, now he in turn could hopefully help save his beloved friend and companion.



Picking up the sack, and also the bow and arrows on an afterthough, a sound distracted Inuyasha at the task at hand. Sniffing, he turned around to look in the other direction. There, a trio of soul collectors carrying the essences of the dead were headed in the direction that he was sniffing towards. Having a faint scent of blood, of the one that he loved, he wandered in that direction like a mindless zombie, still toting the sack and weapons at his side.



* * *



Kagome opened her eyes again as another wave of pain washed through her body. She could feel herself weakening as her body fought the wounds that had been inflicted upon it. Slowly, bit by bit, she was surely dying, even though she didn't want to. She wanted to live dammit, live. She had so much life ahead of her, she was only seventeen years of age. People in her time lived to be ninety or even a hundred. She had friends, and a family. How could she leave them behind, leave them to grieve for her?



"Inu...yasha..." she started to say. Sango looked at her, and then replied that he hasn't returned from the errand yet. She didn't know what was taking so long for him to return, he should have been back by now. Inside her pack, she had items of healing, and more importantly, had the pain numbing effects that would cause much of the pain that was racking her body to go away, to where she could concentrate her powers of a priestess on healing without her head hammering into her efforts of concentration. The healing could not begin until he got back.



Looking for something to focus on again through weary and misty eyes, Kagome settled on looking at Miroku, who she had not seen before. He was settled over her mid-section, and was pressing some treated cloth into her mid-section, to staunch the flow of blood and to try and prevent infection. She weakly held up an arm and brushed his face slightly, a show of affection for his efforts in trying to help her. Then she leaned back, and went out again.



* * *



Inuyasha had come upon Kikyo leaning against a tree, her left arm cradling her wounded shoulder, blood seeping through the bandages. He took one look at her, and decided that he was going to help. He thought about Kagome briefly, then pushed those thoughts out of his head.



'She doesn't really have a chance, even with her pack full of supplies. Besides, Sesshomaru is going to revive her. The same trick won't work on Kikyo if she passes on, for she is not in her original human body.'



Having thought this logic over and over to himself until he was convinced by it, he laid the pack on the ground and rummaged through it for the bandages and first aid kit. Taking out the cleaning supplies, he helped Kikyo to lay on the ground, and then went to work removing the bandage and revealing her cut.



"You need to be more careful when you are hurt like this, Kikyo." he admonished her with a stern look. She stopped grimacing for a moment to look up and study his eyes.



"Inuyasha, what's wrong? Is something bothering you?" she asked in a hushed voice. Kikyo knew full well what the matter was. She had felt through her spiritual powers Kagome's suffering, and knew that the miko was wounded, perhaps fatally, far worse that she was. What was the hanyou doing here at a time like this?



"No, nothing's wrong. That is, nothing that won't be fixed. Just let me help you..." he trailed off as he concentrated on his work. He was still a novice at this sort of thing, but he had seen Kagome do it enough times to get the hang of it. His beloved winced as he worked, but she offered up a smile to him, appreciating him being here like this for her.



* * *



Kagome eyes opened, and she looked around the hut again as the pain started again, but this time it was tenfold to what she had normally been feeling. She held up a hand, searching for her beloved hanyou, but instead it was grasped by a human hand, this one belonging to her best friend, Sango. The demonslayer cradled the hand between her two own, as she looked worried at her friend. She was paler then before, and looked to be in a great deal more pain now.



"In...u...yas...a..." came the very faint, very weak female voice from the still lips..... "one....last....." Then, to Sango's and Miroku's horrified gaze, her body began to convulse. Sango tightened her grip as Miroku worked to keep the bandages held in place despite the thrasing body. A moment later, it was over, and Kagome lay back in the bed. Her arm, which Sango had kept ahold of, now went totally limp.



"Kagome?" asked Sango. She looked into her friend's eyes. They were wide and lifeless as they stared up at the roof of the hutt. Where there had once been ragged gasps and fits of hard breathing, now nothing emerged from those sweet lips. She thought she could detect gasping and hard breathing then, but she realised that it was coming from her own self.



"Kagome?" she said again, in a more worried and louder voice. No, it couldn't be, it just couldn't. Not Kagome, not her best friend. The one who had helped her to recover, who had befriended her after the death of her family and stayed friends with her after Kohaku came back into her life. She was shaking now, and tears sprung forth from the demonslayer's eyes. She felt a hand wrap around her shoulders, and looked up into the very sad gaze of Miroku. Tears were glistening his own cheeks as well.



"Mi-ro-ku. Kagome, she's, she's.....?" Sango could not pronounce her words clearly. Miroku nodded once, and his other arm, though a tad bloody, wrapped itself around Sango's other shoulder. The humans then embraced each other, their mourning having begun in earnest. Kaede simply lowered her head, and shook silently.



* * *



Inuyasha dropped the first aid kit that he had been holding. He had just finished bandaging Kikyo again, when something hit him, totally blindsided him. He looked about himself with a ferocious snarl, seeking out the threat that now engulfed him. Kikyo looked confused herself, then understood as her spiritual powers rippled through her. Moments later, she felt somehow whole again, like a part of her that had been split off from her had rejoined herself. She knew what this meant, and what Inuyasha must be experiencing.



His growls lowered to whimpers now, as he tried to cope with this unexplained feelings that had gripped his heart. He felt like there had been a sudden void that had formed in his chest, threatening to swallow him whole. He felt an arm on his shoulder, and looked up to see Kikyo holding out her good arm. He relaxed as she pulled him into an embrace, offering him comforting words and assuring him that all would be well.



* * *



Rin had started crying for some unknown reason, and Jaken was trying to comfort her. Sesshomaru's ears twitched as he picked up the sounds and scent of the other humans within the hutt. He could only detect the presence's of three humans within the building now. He lowered his head, and with a hand on the hilt of Tensiega, entered the hutt....