So, I'm a patron of the amazing liquidashesart, and she shared a lovely piece of InuKag fan art which showed Inuyasha cradling Kagome in his arms. I know I have a heap of other fics to be getting on with, but I couldn't help write a little something for it.

"Kagome. Kagome! C'mon, open your eyes for me."

Kagome scrunched her eyes tightly, wincing at the noise. The muffled roaring in her ears was starting to ease, with words discernible in amongst the static. Her head was pounding. What was going on? She tried opening one eye and whimpered at the sudden flash of pain the light caused. Obviously, that was a bad idea at the moment. She tried to work out where she was with her other senses.

She was cradled in warmth; her back was supported and there was the weight of what seemed to be a warm hand on her hip. Her legs were tucked up, but it didn't feel like she was resting on the ground. Something soft was tickling her cheeks. Was it hair? She could hear a long drawn out sniff, and then more words, although they still sounded strange and echoey, like they were coming from far away.

"Inuyasha?", she whispered hesitantly, keeping her eyelids still firmly closed.

"Who else would it be? Kagome, next time I tell you to stay back, I want you to listen, okay?" The tone was gruff, but also held more than a hint of worry.

Without opening her eyes, Kagome stretched out her hand. She felt the rough texture of short fur under her fingertips, then the silkiness of a long length of hair. She stroked her fingers downwards gently, delighting in the feel of something familiar as she got her bearings. Warm arms tugged her a little closer, and she sighed and let her body go limp. She was perfectly safe. Being in Inuyasha's arms was the safest place in the world.

Slowly, she opened one eye, and then the other, blinking slowly, trying to focus on the concerned gaze of the amber eyes only inches away from hers. "What happened?" she asked groggily.

"Shit, you don't remember? Did you hit your head when you fell?"

She felt the warm arm that cradled her back shift upwards, clawed fingers gently combing through her hair and examining the back of her skull for lumps.

"I fell? I don't remember. I have a headache and my ears are ringing a little." Cautiously, Kagome tried to sit up, realising with a small blush that she was sitting in Inuyasha's lap, her legs tucked in snugly against his thigh.

"Easy does it. Don't rush it." Inuyasha's arm tightened around her shoulders as she sat up and looked around. Obviously, they'd been in some sort of battle. The tree line was decimated, and the earth in front of them was rucked and folded, bearing the unmistakable scar of Inuyasha's signature kaze no kizu attack. There was no sign of their opponent, so Inuyasha must have defeated them. That didn't explain why she'd been down for the count though.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned.

"It was a Karasu-Tengu. He was disguised as a yamabushi and had his scent covered with strong incense, so I didn't recognise what he was at first", muttered Inuyasha. "I should have though – no human has a nose that big." Kagome could feel the tenseness in his arms; obviously something about the battle had upset him greatly. She gazed at him in concern.

His eyes flicked away from hers. "He got hold of you before I could get a good hit in. And then I couldn't attack him for fear of hurting you."

"Oh."

His eyes swung back to hers angrily. "Yeah. 'Oh', is a bit of an understatement wench! I told you to stay back. I had it sorted! Just a little bit longer, and I would have had everything under control. But you had to step in!"

Kagome's eyebrows lowered in puzzlement. "Why would I…?" A thought suddenly occurred to her, and her eyes raked over Inuyasha's form, her hands following. Sure enough, his suikan was soaked with blood around his shoulders, the scarlet evidence hidden by the vibrant colouring of his fire rat. She looked back at him angrily. "Had it handled, huh?" She gestured towards his shoulders. "This doesn't look like you were handling things Inuyasha! I obviously 'stepped in' because I thought you needed help!"

Grumpily muttering under her breath, she looked around for her backpack, and located it not too far away. Ignoring the still pulsing headache, she crawled out of Inuyasha's lap and dragged the backpack towards her, rummaging until she found the first aid kit.

"I'm fine Kagome", Inuyasha harrumphed, bottom lip thrust out with an impressive scowl on his face. Kagome just rolled her eyes as she opened the well-stocked kit.

"Alright, take it off", she said, gesturing to his suikan, the bottle of antiseptic and cotton balls already in her hands.

Inuyasha's ears flicked in obvious irritation at her request. He crossed his arms, doing a very good impression of a petulant toddler. "Don't wanna."

Kagome heaved out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. "Inuyasha, please. I have a horrible headache and a weird taste in my mouth. I'm tired, beyond tired actually, I'm exhausted. I just want to do this and go have a nap somewhere."

"Fine", he growled, loosening the tie on his suikan and hadagi and shrugging them off his shoulders. "I'm only doing this to make you feel better. I don't need you to fix me." He stayed seated but shifted around so his back was to Kagome.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. Let's just clean you up and get it over and done with, okay?"

Kagome drew in a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the deep slashes across the meaty flesh of Inuyasha's shoulders; one very close to his neck. The tengu had obviously possessed a sword and had been doing its best to behead his hanyou opponent. A human with these injuries would have already bled out, but Kagome could see the deep wounds already knitting back together. It was true that he really didn't need her to help doctor his wounds, but it always made her feel better.

She tipped antiseptic onto the cotton wool, and began dabbing at the deep cuts, cleaning away the already drying blood. She apologised softly as Inuyasha hissed at the burn of the antiseptic.

"Why you gotta use that stuff anyway wench? It stings and it reeks! Just use water!"

"We've had this discussion before Inuyasha."

"Yeah, well, I didn't have problems with no 'germs' before you showed up wench", he muttered, but stayed still as she carefully cleaned his injuries and then taped bandages over the wounds. As soon as she was finished, he pushed his arms back through the voluminous sleeves and shrugged his fire rat back in position.

Kagome reached for her water bottle and took a few sips, trying to get rid of the weird taste in her mouth. Rummaging in the first aid kit again, she found some paracetamol and gulped them down with a grimace, hoping it would kick in quickly and banish the headache that was starting to make her feel a little nauseous. After packing up the first aid kit and shoving it back into her backpack, she sat back down facing Inuyasha and examining his expression carefully.

"So Inuyasha, are you going to tell me what happened?" Inuyasha's whole demeanour after this fight had her worried. Usually after defeating an enemy he was cocky, bragging about how he could take anyone on, but something was off. He kept glancing at her anxiously, sitting closer than he usually would. She yawned widely, feeling herself practically drooping with exhaustion.

"C'mere", said Inuyasha softly. He pulled her back into the position she'd been in when she came to, cradled in his lap. His solicitous manner was making her feel more uneasy by the minute. Something had happened that had really worried him. Why couldn't she remember?

"The Tengu", began Inuyasha, "he didn't just grab you. He possessed you". He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously in his throat, his usual gruff tone soft. "I couldn't do a damn thing – had to stand there and watch you try and fight him off somehow. And then you just… there was a light, like a barrier, and you fell. Your body was jerking and moving on the ground and I thought…" He pulled her tightly against him again. "Somehow you pushed him out, fought off the possession. And then I took care of him." He paused, looking down at her anxiously again. "It took you a while to wake up.

Kagome blinked in surprise. She had no memory of those events, but they must have happened. Inuyasha wouldn't lie to her and was clearly spooked by what sounded like her body having some sort of seizure while she'd fought off the possession of the tengu. She would have to ask Kaede about it when they returned to the village. It did explain why she felt so exhausted and the weird taste in the back of her mouth. She probably should feel more upset about it than she did, but right now, she was more concerned about Inuyasha.

She ran her fingers through the silver forelocks framing his face. "I'm okay now though", she smiled. "No harm done. Thank you for always looking after me so well Inuyasha." The worried expression was still on his face, the amber eyes roving over her, as if looking for any injuries he might have previously missed. She reached up to stroke his cheek gently. "Hey, dog boy. I'm okay, really."

For one moment he leaned the weight of his head into her hand, nuzzling his cheek against her palm slightly, then pulled back, heat flushing his cheeks. "Keh, I wasn't worried. You're too stubborn to get really hurt by some weak ass tengu like that."

Her smile widened. "Definitely." She couldn't stifle the yawn that overtook her, and her body slumped in the safety of Inuyasha's arms. "Do you think it would be okay if we just rested here for a little while? Not for long, I know we've got to get back, but I think I just need a short nap."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes dramatically, and then sighed as if he were granting her a huge favour. "Fine, we can do that." He shuffled backwards a little, so his back rested up against a fallen tree trunk, and gathered her more securely into his arms. Kagome's head nodded forwards, too heavy with exhaustion to be propped up any longer, and her eyes drifted closed. She felt Inuyasha's nose nuzzle into her hair, and smiled sleepily at his final comment as she drifted off. He always had to have the last word.

"Don't be pulling that shit on me again, Kagome, ya hear? I mean it. You made a promise to stay by my side, remember? And I'm gonna make sure you keep it."