Title: Falling

Author: Christy

Part 5

When Inuyasha first opened his eyes things were fuzzy. Thoughts wouldn't form. He felt completely disconnected. Someone was there, offering him something to eat. Food was placed in his mouth; he swallowed. Water was poured into his mouth, and again he drifted off. This process was repeated more times than he could count. That is, if he could count at those times.

Again he opened his eyes, groggy and disconnected, but this time, no one was there to offer him food. And as the time passed, Inuyasha's head cleared. And as his mind cleared of fog, he reasoned out that he was being drugged.

With a growl, he slowly sat up, hissing in pain as the motion pulled on his stomach. He looked down and was surprised to see that the wounds were partially healed. Healed enough to allow movement without reopening the lacerations. Thank God for small favors.

As he began to push himself into a crouch, Shinya walked in. His eyes rounded as Inuyasha looked at him with a look that promised a large amount of pain. "Ah, Inuyasha? You need to lay back down. You're not well enough to move yet."

Inuyasha froze his movements, glaring at the wolf. Slowly, Shinya backed out of the cave. As soon as he passed through the entrance, Shinya turned and ran as fast as he could. He needed to tell Kouga Inuyasha was awake and alert. Not to mention extremely pissed off.

Inuyasha pushed himself upright and stood still for a moment. His balance was off and when he went to take a step, he nearly fell. Dizziness made his head swim as he tried to focus. He had to get out of there.

Carefully, he took a step forward. His head swam and his vision clouded. Again, he stopped. Whatever was wrong with him, he wasn't going to let it stop him. The longer he was aware, the clearer things became. When his vision cleared again, he tried another step. This time, the dizziness was manageable.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kouga growled. He stood in the cave entrance, blocking the way out.

Inuyasha bared his teeth in a snarl. Forgetting the dizziness, he moved too fast and started to fall. Kouga moved fast and caught Inuyasha by the arms. Inuyasha braced himself, using Kouga's arms for support. His head hung and he closed his eyes, trying desperately not to black out.

"What did you give me?" Inuyasha's voice was barely a whisper.

"Sleeping Root. It was so it would make it easier to take care of you."

"You had no right to drug me. How dare you do this without asking me." Inuyasha's voice was still not above a whisper. He had moved too fast. His body was rebelling against the movement.

Kouga didn't say anything. He was feeling guilty about giving him the sleeping root already. It had been a week since he had started giving him the root. But it hadn't been as simple as just giving it to him and he would sleep. No, Inuyasha had fought the drug from the first. Every time Inuyasha would start coming too, his whole body would spasm. And if you were touching him, you usually ended up with an injury.

Shinya had been the first victim. He had been tending to Inuyasha's lacerations when the drug had started to wear off. Inuyasha had gouged his face, leaving four deep scars on his face and four more on his chest. It had taken Shinya nearly the whole week to recover.

Kouga had taken over exclusively Inuyasha's care. He had Shinya show him how to care for Inuyasha's wounds as well as how to restrain him without causing more damage. It had only been seven days, but it had been extremely difficult.

Inuyasha raised his head and looked at Kouga. "How long have I been out?"

"Not long enough. Now stop trying to play the tough guy and lay back down. You're going to rip open your wounds again." Kouga tried to gently push Inuyasha down, but Inuyasha tightened his grip on Kouga's arms and glared up at him.

"How long?"

Kouga sighed. "Fine. A week. Now lay down."

Inuyasha allowed himself to be pushed down and sighed. He was just too tired right now to fight with Kouga. "How are my kids?"

Kouga looked at Inuyasha. "They're fine." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

Kouga was keeping a close eye on the children. The baby, now that she was in a more stable environment, had grown fast to catch up to her age. She was even holding up her head now. Kisho and Masa were also doing well. Kisho would always play with Masa, but if any cubs were nearby, he would drag Masa away. But Kouga would sometimes catch Kisho looking at the other children playing and looking sad. But he refused to go anywhere near the other kids.

Kouga helped Inuyasha get settled, then he leaned back and sighed. This whole situation was a pain in the ass. And he still didn't know what the hell happened.

"What are you doing with the Shikon no Tama?" Inuyasha was staring at the small jewel hanging from the chain around Kouga's neck.

Kouga raised an eyebrow. "Like you're in any shape to protect it. Not that I don't trust my wolves, but it's safer with me."

"Like hell it is! I promised Kagome I would protect it, and I intend to do just that. Now give it to me!" Inuyasha reached for the Jewel, but Kouga moved back.

"You want it back? Well, when you're strong enough to take it from me, you can have it back. Until then, it stays with me." He ran his fingers over the Jewel and sneered down at Inuyasha. "But I don't think that's ever gonna happen." Inuyasha growled low in his throat, but said nothing more.

Shinya came in then, carrying a tray of food. Seeing the look on Inuyasha's face, he set the platter next to Kouga, turned and left. Kouga looked after Shinya and sighed. He really didn't blame him for not wanting to be near Inuyasha.

"What's his problem?" Inuyasha looked after the wolf.

"You are. You tried to tear his face off when you started to come to about a week ago. I don't think he'll be coming near you for a while." Kouga picked up the tray of food and looked at Inuyasha. "Ready to eat?" He asked, giving Inuyasha a cocky smile.

"I'm not eating anything you give me." Inuyasha glared at him.

"On this platter there's two servings of food. One has sleeping root in it, and the other doesn't. You can pick which one you want to eat. If you choose the food without the root, you have to not fight me when I look after you. If you fight me, I swear I'll shove the root whole down your throat." Kouga narrowed his eyes at Inuyasha. "You're not in any position to argue with me on this."

Inuyasha flexed his hands in frustration. He hated being treated like this. Kouga was doing it on purpose just to get a rise out of him. A growl escaped his throat before he could stop it. He glared at Kouga for a moment, then looked away. "Fine. I'll let you treat my injuries without fighting. I don't want any more of that root though."

"Good." Kouga pulled a smaller platter from the bigger one and set it next to Inuyasha. Then he moved away from him and put the platter near the mouth of the cave. He looked back at Inuyasha. He hadn't made a move toward the plate. "Eat it."

Inuyasha glowered at Kouga. "You got a suggestion on how I do that? I'm too tired to move right now. And I'm not that hungry anyway." He turned his head away from the food.

Kouga felt the deja vu of the situation. He grinned remembering how Inuyasha had reacted the last time he had needed help eating. "Fine, I can help you again. I don't mind at all." He walked back over to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha glared at him. "Like hell I'm going to have you sit me up again. I'll eat later."

"Who says I'm going to help you sit up? This time I'm going to spoon feed you. And you are going to eat, Inuyasha. I have the sleeping root handy just in case you try to refuse." He grinned at Inuyasha's murderous gaze.

"Are you trying to humiliate me? Dammit, Kouga, why can't you just leave me the hell alone?"

"You came here to my mountains and you won't even tell me why." Kouga moved his face an inch from Inuyasha's gripping his chin, forcing him to look at him. "I'll treat you any damn way I please. So you better get used to it." He released Inuyasha's chin. And sighed. "I want you to tell me what happened Inuyasha. I need to know."

"I told you. I can't talk about it."

The crash was so loud, the cave echoed with it. Kouga had thrown the plate of food across the cave. He glared down at Inuyasha. "Like hell I'm going to let it go this time. You're going to tell me everything right now!"

Inuyasha was surprised at how mad Kouga was. After a while Inuyasha sighed. "What do you want to know? How I failed to protect my family? My village? My friends? How I was too damn weak to protect them all?" Inuyasha's voice cracked and he turned his head away.

Kouga sat down next to him. "Start at the beginning."

Inuyasha closed his eyes. "You have to swear you won't take this out on my children. They're innocent, Kouga."

"Again? Why the hell would I want to hurt them? I've been caring for them for a week. I have no intention of hurting them."

Inuyasha was silent for a moment. "Fine."

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And thus Part 5 is done. Hope you like! R/R