Chapter 1: Day 1

Inuyasha's claws were arranged like a row of daggers against her upper thigh.

Sango tried to ignore it. He was not hurting her; in fact, he was bearing all her injured weight up the rocky, dangerous slope leading to the sacred cave of Midoriko. But the skirts of her dress were tangled at her knees and she could feel the keen edge of his thumb against the flesh of her calf. It was a pointed reminder that while the warm, heaving back beneath her arms felt and smelled human it was not. Worse, Inuyasha was not just any demon, he was one of those, the ones that walked among humans: deceiver, shape shifter…predator.

Sango drew in a shallow breath, trying to touch him as little as possible. She could hardly breathe with the bandages around her chest. Every finger was splinted, every joint padded and soaked with numbing salve. She was half drugged and she knew it; it was the only reason she was clinging to this hanyou's back and not fighting for blade-length distance. She hadn't even tried to argue when Kagome had assumed she would be okay with being carried by the man she had tried hours before to kill. No, she wasn't okay. But she couldn't fight everything, not with the image of her family, the night at the castle, on constant repeat every time she closed her eyes.

The goal, she thought. The goal only matters. And yet…what would her father say…

Sango reeled away from that thought fast, feeling the tight burn of breathing too much, too soon. Instead, she let her head fall forward and eyes close, forcing a slow exhale. The mountain smelled of mineral and cold springs, of baked wood and tilled soil. It reminded her of the man who tended her wounds when she first woke, no longer buried in the earth. Inky, wavy hair and violet eyes, leaning over her. His fingers brushing her bangs. He had whispered something and she had only been grateful to breathe.

She felt only numbness now.

There was a pause in the steady rocking of Inuyasha's footsteps. He was craning his neck, looking at her with a guarded eye. Yellow and cold like the wolves. Her throat closed for a moment and her hand moved to grapple clumsily at her hip for a blade that was not there.

Kagome was beside her before she could, a hand on her knee. "Which way?" she asked gently.

Sango looked around a canopy of trees, a cascade of rocks on a rising slope, a small winding path. She pointed to it.

The trek up the mountain was as difficult as it always was. Mist clung low to the ground and the moss on the rocks made the path slippery. It was made worse by the dizziness in her head, a steady buzz that grew louder as they climbed in altitude. At some point, her breathing started to come short, desperate. She didn't want to faint—not here, not in front of them—but the longer they climbed, the more she felt as though she was clinging to a precipice by the tips of her fingers.

Only once did she lose her cool. Somewhere between the halfway mark, when Miroku and Kagome had lagged far behind, Inuyasha missed a step. His foot came down on a stone that sunk beneath their weight. His response was quick; a small half-step, a pivot on his heel, and he had recovered. But when his claws tightened on her legs as he corrected himself, claws sliding sharply down her thigh, Sango planted her hands on his shoulders and pushed so hard they almost toppled down.

"What the—crazy bitch—" Inuyasha spun to look at her, but rather than his face she saw that man. His eyes a handful of dusty stars. The scar puckering slightly along his jaw. His secret smile, petals like blades, and the way he said, little fool.

"Stop" she grit, eyes spinning, pushing as hard as she could until suddenly her wrists were trapped, her back was against a rock, and her vision was filled with silver and fire, amber sparking close to her skin.

"Hey." It was Inuyasha, and his expression was serious. "Taijya. It's me."

She took a few deep breaths, felt the panic dwindle back down to a tight ball deep in her chest. The rock against her back was steady. The thrum in her head slowed.

After a moment, she said, "I know."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "Then stop calling me Naraku."

He might as well have punched her. She flinched, feeling the fluttering of memories stir, but she clamped down. Hard. Suddenly, the places were their skin met felt on fire. "Let go," Sango whispered furiously.

Surprisingly, he did. She wasn't ready for it. Her knees buckled and she would have banged her head against the stone if Inuyasha had not grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Idiot," he bit out. When she tried to grab at his wrists, he shook her. "What do you know?" He was in her face now and his expression was hard. "Or is it just more bullshit?"

She didn't. She wouldn't.

"I don't know," she snapped. Her throat threatened to close up. "We're wasting time." Her eyes flickered behind him and Inuyasha looked as well. A few feet below, the monk was helping Kagome over a particularly large boulder. He seemed completely absorbed, but for a moment, his eyes flashed up and he looked at Inuyasha. Something was said there because a second later the hanyou turned away with a derisive 'keh'.

Quite suddenly, Sango was presented with his back. "Get on," Inuyasha grunted. She hesitated only a moment, before another spell of dizziness made her wrap her arms around his neck. She bit down on a yelp when he abruptly grabbed her legs, claws pricking under her knees. "And this time," he continued, "stay the fuck on."

She might have cursed him. Or shoved him off a cliff and dragged herself up the mountain by her fingers. But her mind hadn't heard him, immediately rooted to those claws dancing along her legs and the sound of her father's voice whispering over and over in her ear.

The ones with the human faces…they are the most dangerous.