DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any related characters. The story and art is property of the great Rumiko Takahashi. This fan fiction is for entertainment purposes only, and in no way will be used for my betterment. I wrote this because I admire the owner's work and wish to daydream about the characters.

Go easy on me. This is my first fan fic...nreep!

YOU MAKE ME BREATH

Chapter 1: Awakening

A loud constant roaring, pounding in her already sore head and the faint and distant memory of familiar blurred words a mere whisper was the first thing Sango was aware of. But the continual throb's rhythmic pattern and an odd warmness that consumed her body teased, flirted, then commanded her to retreat back to the darkness that had been over her.

It was hazy and impossible to tell what way was up. Sango twisted her body over and over again, as if that could do anything. Air pushed up against her lithe frame so forcefully she could almost hear her bones breaking, though she could not feel it. Despiratly she tried to cover her exposed face to avoid the sharp stinging that bit at her. A sudden fear rose up in her unlike anything she ever felt before. It was empowering, freezing her body until she couldn't even scream for the iron bands that clamped about her chest. But she screamed anyways, her throat rubbed raw

Gasping for air Sango woke again, hand clutching chest and a cold sweat beading down her neck from fear. Sango tried to steady her breathing, but a great weight was pressing down on her. She tightened her eyes and willed her muscles to constrict as she curled herself into a small ball. The pain was breathtaking. Slowly she relaxed herself muscle by muscle, gently checking each sore and aching spot. Most of the pain was literally in her head. The pain came in a rhythmic pulse of sharp daggers slicing her head into ribbons and giving her only a few seconds to regain herself before the pain came again.

Sango shivered in the cold wetness that consumed her on all sides. The pressure she felt was uncomfortably damp, like a soaking blanket thrown over her shoulders. Her amber colored eyes opened so, so slowly, to be greeted by by a blurred, glittering hue of blueish gray like a plume of smoke in irregular shapes jutting both up and down from the mud and dirt floor and ceiling made of the same material as the shapes. The young taijiya rubbed her eyes in attempts to clear the fuzzy glow that hung about. For a second she wasn't sure if she was deaf, or if the thunderous rumbling she heard was real. Glancing about Sango gathered that she was in a thicket of mud in a cave or tavern of some sort, wet with the back splash of a large source of moving water.

Forcing her body to comply with her, Sango struggled to sit up. Her arms, strong enough to carry and toss the massive bone boomerang Hirikotsu, felt insignificantly week as they shook and faltered. After much struggling, Sango found herself sitting erect and shaking uncontrollably. The weight that had been pressing against her slide off her back, and caused a familiar jingling tune to echo in her confines. Filled with dread Sango cautiously turned herself and took int the unmistakable sight of a black and purple heap of colors clutching a staff with a gold oval at the tip.