And now I present to you, the last chapter of 'Kagome and the Beads of Subjugation'. For the last time, I thank you reviewers for all your kind comments and for enjoying the story, and hope this last chapter rounds off the story well enough.
So, thank you to: That Bloody Demon, TwilightZelda, Mangas-Fan, Meatballheadedprincess14, Inu's Chipmunk, amanda hopeless romantic, NefCanuck, Coke-48-Kenshin, hentail8ancilla, and Threaded Souls of Silk.
Tessadragon
Chapter 10
Spluttering, Kagome woke up when Inuyasha carefully tipped a bottle of water over her face. "Oh god, my face hurts," she moaned, reaching her fingers up and touching her cheeks, then her nose very gently. Involuntarily she hissed in pain as she remembered why she'd passed out. He said 'sit'…oh, I really should return the favour…
But instead she spluttered because some of the water Inuyasha had tipped over her face had got into her mouth and stuck in her throat. Mingling with the taste of that water was the coppery taste of her own blood. Her nose was the source of that: it was terribly swollen and she could only imagine how bad it looked.
"Don't touch it," Inuyasha ordered, getting back up to his feet. "Just wait here."
"Where are you going?" Kagome asked, struggling not to cry: it hurts so much to have a broken nose, and is even worse when you can feel the blood encrusted there.
"I'm going to get some herbs," he said sternly. "Just relax."
She sighed, "I should come with—"
"No!" He took off running, leapt out of sight.
Kagome slumped to the ground. That berk, she thought and it strangely come out quite affectionately in her mind. I should be angry at him…he said 'sit'. It's his fault I've got a broken nose! What will my family and friends back home think?
Then he was back again, landing in the soft grass, his arms full of herbs and grasses.
"What do you need all those herbs for?" Kagome asked curiously.
"Dinner," he said sarcastically. "Now just stay still. And chew this." He handed her a handful of soggy leaves. Kagome sniffed it and went green, then pale. "Urgh!" she gasped. "It stinks! And oh god, my nose!"
Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh at her. "Don't breathe through your nose when it's broken, dummy!"
"And who broke it?" Kagome smiled sweetly at him.
"And who's fixing it?" Inuyasha retorted, then pushed her back against the ground.
Kagome squeaked. "What're you…!"
"Hold still!" Inuyasha clamped his hand against her forehead. "Let me do this."
"But what are you doing?" Kagome demanded, her voice muffled.
"Mending your nose, dope." Inuyasha carefully pinched his thumb and index finger over the bridge of her nose. Kagome swallowed a gasp of pain and Inuyasha ruthlessly ignored her, concentrating on checking that her nose was straight, using his fingers to manipulate her nose, trying to do it as quickly as possible.
Finally he let go of her, then realised that he was sitting on top of her. His eyes widened, his cheeks went really red and he scrambled backwards, finally tripped over himself and landed on his butt in the grass.
Kagome swallowed a giggle. Inuyasha glared at her, then shook his head and knelt facing her. "So you're okay? You were unconscious for a while. And..." he took a deep breath, "Are you angry at me?"
"I don't feel mad," Kagome said slowly. "Though maybe that's more a concussion."
A frantic look came over Inuyasha's face at that. Kagome took a deep breath, touched by the concern that lay within his usually pessimistic, aloof tone: with that breath she painlessly inhaled the scent of somewhat-wilted flowers all around them: a heady scent like when she'd walked through the makeup sections of department stores with her friends.
Then she realised it'd been a painless effort to breathe through her nose. Cautiously she touchedher nose withthe tip of one finger. It still felt swollen, but she could breathe."How'd you do so well at that?" she sat up, watching Inuyasha intently.
He went red, his ears twitching. "Do well at what?"
"At mending my nose."
"I got practise."
"You practise mending your own nose?" Kagome stared at him.
"Yeah. You think my face is impervious every time you tell me to sit?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, watching her stoically.
Kagome was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry," she said finally.
"Yeah well, I'm tougher than you," Inuyasha said roughly, then leaned closer and grabbed the shadowy subjugation necklace from around Kagome's neck, making to lift it over her head…
It glowed white, but refused to come off.
"What's going on?" Kagome fought not to worry. The necklace had to come off. She felt dizzy just at the thought of what should happen next time Inuyasha said 'sit'. Something inside told her that it would be a lot worse, that she'd come off easy so far…
Inuyasha fought with the necklace so hard, his ears flattening against his silver hair, and then he fell against her.
There was a faint clatter as Inuyasha's subjugation rosary's beads touched Kagome's own shadowy version, then Kagome's beads vanished into the beads of Inuyasha's subjugation rosary.
So there they were, Inuyasha accidentally on top. And it was another of those moments where they were both so embarrassed, but still kinda wanting to not move…
Come on, Kagome, she silently rebuked herself. You can't do this…why not? A small voice asked inside. Come on. Tell him…tell him you love him—
Inuyasha was trembling. I don't want to move…but goddammit, Kagome's gotta be getting mad at me. She's gonna tell me to sit! Any second now!
He shut his eyes, preparing himself for the bruises. But nothing came.
"I think…you'd better get off me," Kagome said breathlessly as he was still inches from falling against her, his arms holding him up. Inuyasha mumbled something inaudible then scrambled to get away, watching her fearfully, then swopping his gaze to somewhere else, as jittery as a flea, then nervously shooting a small glance at Kagome again. Then their eyes met, fixing nervously on each other.
Finally Kagome shut her eyes. "Thank you," she said, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her. But in a way, a new weight was settling on her. You're never going to get up the courage to tell him how you feel about him?
"I guess I'll never understand why you insist on having the stupid thing on me," Inuyasha said, his tawny-gold eyes solemn, his mouth a small line.
"Huh?" Kagome said, startled.
"This." Inuyasha tugged at the subjugation rosary he wore.
Kagome thought for a moment. Then she took Inuyasha's hands in her own. "Inuyasha," she said quietly, truly regretful. The words were hard to find. She was silent for a long moment, then Inuyasha beat her to it.
"No. I know," he said abruptly. His hands tightened around hers as he looked down upon her, protectively. He was remembering what had nearly happened today: remembering Kagome leaping out in front of Sesshomaru, as he'd raised his own Tetsusaiga high, hungry to deliver the final blow…and then fighting to stop it…
"When you were with my brother…when I had Tetsusaiga…I nearly killed you," Inuyasha said slowly. "And that wasn't even when I wasn't demon. Even as a half-demon, I'm too dangerous around you. If I killed you—or even hurt you! I'd never forgive myself."
His tawny-gold eyes glittered. "If I have to wear that stupid necklace just to keep you safe…I will. I won't like it. Don't expect me to like it. But…I'll like that you're safe. That I can keep you safe."
"Inuyasha…" Kagome whispered, then kissed his mouth very timidly.
I want to kiss her back. Should I? Or is this just a thank you kiss? Dammit, girls are too complicated!
A frown had sneaked onto his face. He removed it too late: Kagome had spotted it. I went too fast, she thought, horrified at herself. She tried to cover up her own emotions…
"I think we need to get back to the others," Inuyasha said finally. "They might be wondering where we are."
"Didn't you tell them?" Kagome demanded, jumping to her feet. "Inuyasha! Don't they have any clue where we are!"
"I was a bit busy!" Inuyasha yelled. "Rescuing you, remember?"
"More like trying to kill your brother! As usual!" She gave a wordless shout of exasperation. "Inuyasha! We've been gone a whole lot of hours! We have to get back to them right now!"
"Fine." He grabbed her around the waist, and her bags on one shoulder, then leapt off into the early morning light.
One day I'll tell you, Kagome. I'll tell you that I love you.
One day I'll tell you, Inuyasha. I'll tell you that I love you.