Sweet dreams
“Kagome?” A voice moaned out in the pitch black night of the feudal era.
Kagome sat up from the warmth of her sleeping bag and peered with blurry eyes into the darkness of their makeshift campsite. The forest was quiet, and she could see no movement in the thin moonbeams that filtered through the trees, yet she was sure she heard someone call her. Shippo was curled up beside her, his tail twitching slightly in his sleep. Sango and Kirrara were snuggled together by the fire. Even Miroku looked serene from where he lay near the outside of the ring of firelight, using Kagome's backpack as a makeshift pillow. They all looked tranquil wrapped in the cloak of sleep. Perhaps she just imagined the pained call. Satisfied, Kagome laid back down, resting her head on her much abused pillow.
“Kagome!” The voice called out again, louder this time, causing Kagome to vault up in her sleeping bag. “Inuyasha?” she called out uncertainly.
“Kagome!!”
Quickly, Kagome scrambled to her feet, almost waking Shippo up in the process. She was right. That was Inuyasha’s voice calling out to her and it was in a tone that Kagome had never heard him use before. A voice filled with pain, sorrow, and . . . Fear? But, Inuyasha was never afraid of anything., right? Something about that voice chilled Kagome to the bone. Searching for the hanyou, Kagome came up empty. He wasn’t in the trees surrounding the camp nor was he lounging near the fire. She waited for the voice to call out again to give her some clue of where the distressed hanyou might be. The voice did not come. Kagome felt a acute panic rising. She considered waking the others.
“Kagome!”
Kagome bolted in the direction the hanyou’s voice had called from. “Hold on Inuyasha. I’m coming.” She called out, battling back branches until finally she burst into a clearing. What she saw there made her freeze in surprise.
“Inuyasha?” Kagome whispered.
Inuyasha was slumped against a tree near the edge of the clearing, his eyes closed in slumber. But his dreams were clearly unpleasant for though he lay sleeping, his fists were clenched at his side, his face contorted in a torturous mask. His limbs were tense, tendons strained and twitching as Inuyasha’s whole body trembled and thrashed as if wrapped in some sort of trap.
Kagome approached him cautiously. “Inuyasha? Inuyasha, are you ok?.”
The boy gasped. “No, Please, not her. Not again.” He whispered, in a voice that broke Kagome’s heart. “Kagome!”
Kagome rushed forward to kneel beside the Hanyou. “Inuyasha? Its alright. I’m right here.” She reached out and brushed silver bangs from his face before gentle shaking his shoulder. “Inuyasha.”
Inuyasha did not respond. He was too deep in his dream to hear her. Instead, his face contorted again in sudden agony, moisture gathering around his tightly closed lids and spilling down his cheeks. “ Kagome, please don’t go. I love you.‘ He whispered desperately. “Please you can’t die. Kagome!” Suddenly, the hayou’s eyes snapped open and he surged forward.
Kagome caught him instinctively and pull him close. “Its ok, Inuyasha, It was a dream. I'm here.”
Inuyasha’s seemed stunned for a moment then the boy's arms wrapped around Kagome in a vice like grip. Inuyasha buried his face into the girls shoulder and a shiver passing through him as dream began to fade. Kagome froze, her mind’s workings stuttering to a halt not because of the warm body pressed against hers, but because of the three words said body shouted to the sky before vaulting into her arms. He just said I love you. Her mind tried and failed to grasped the significance of this fact. Not Kikyo, but me. He was dreaming about me, and he said that he loved me. Kagome felt her heart began to beat erratically as a wave of joy rocked her, causing her to tighten her grip on the trembling Hanyou. Suddenly, the boy stiffened in her grasped and struggled to pull away. Kagome let the boy go, sighing as she watched him swivel to face away from her. The boy was blushing and swiping at his eyes in annoyance, trying to wipe away the tears that, judging by the still persistent hitch in his breath, the proud hanyou was struggling to shake. Their embrace had only lasted moments, but Kagome knew that it was an embrace that would effect their relationship . Kagome watched him for a moment as he struggled to compose himself before turning to give him some privacy. Shifting so that they were back to back, she leaned against him in hopes that it would give him some sort of comfort. “Inuyasha, you alright?”
“Yeah, just stay there for a minute, ok?” a shaky voice replied.
“K,” Kagome whispered. Leaning back, she rested her head against the Hanyou's shoulder blade and waited for him to turn back around.
A few minutes later, he did and besides for a slight red tinge to the Hanyou’s eyes, all the traces of the fear and tears he had suffered from the nightmare were erased. Those eyes were presently focused on the ground, a faint pink tint shining high on the hanyou’s cheeks. “Hey.”
Kagome smiled. “Hey,” Reaching out to brush the silver strands of hair that still clung damply to his forehead, she asked. “Had a bad dream?”
Inuyasha’s blush darkened, whether it be because of her question or her touch Kagome did not know. “Yeah, Kinda.” He whispered.
The two fell into silence. Kagome shifted closer to the hanyou in the dark and together they stared up at the stars that were peaking through the trees surrounding the clearing. Inuyasha seemed completely free of the effects of the nightmare now, but even so, Kagome noticed the boy seemed to shift nearer to her as if his dream of her demise would become a reality if he strayed to far. Kagome leaned closer to him, letting her hand wander back to that tangle of silver hair. She stroked it soothingly the way her mother use to after kagome would suffered a particularly harsh nightmare. Surprisingly, hanyou let her do so, leaning into her hand in a way that reminded her of a dog who wished to be petted.
Kagome smiled and pulled her hand away. “What to talk about it?” she prodded gently. She did not want to force the hanyou to tell her about the dream if he did not want to, but. . . Inuyasha had said he loved her. Inuyasha was worried enough for her to be brought to tears. But that was only in a dream. She wanted to hear him say it out loud.
The hanyou looked away, obviously still embarrassed for his earlier actions. “Um.. . It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He stated looking down.
“Was it about me?” Kagome whispered though she already knew the answer.
Inuyasha turned scarlet and leaped up from the ground, almost bowling Kagome over in the process. “What? Of course not, why would I dream about you?” He demanded defensively.
Kagome felt and almost instinctive anger rise up within her and she opened her mouth to yell. But something stopped her. She smiled at him instead and rose to stand in front of him. Inuyasha tensed, expecting to be sat, but was shocked into silence when Kagome reached up to hook her hand around his neck. Pulling him down, Kagome lifted her head and pressed her lips gently against his. The kiss was quick and chaise, but when Kagome let go, she could have sworn she saw the strong and stubborn Hanyou sway on his feet. The thought made her giggle.
Inuyasha just gaped at her for a moment, a blissful and slightly vacant look on his face before his cheeks burned crimson. The boy’s hand went to his face where he touched his lips as if he expected them to have dissolved in the moment of contact before he looked at Kagome in stark confusion. “Wha. . .what was that for?”
Kagome considered confessing everything to the hanyou. His calling out to her in the night. Her rush to his side. His admittance of love. The way that admittance made her heart pound. But instead Kagome just gave him a soft smile. “No reason. ” she said before turning to go. “Good night Inuyasha. Sweet dreams.” She bidded before turning back towards the campsite. He will tell me when he is ready. Kagome thought, before heading for the trees.
Inuyasha gave her a blank stare before smiling. “Yeah.” Watching her go, Inuyasha waited until the girl disappeared among the trees before whispering. “Sweet dreams. . .My Kagome.”