One Arrow

Chapter 2: One Breath

One Breath

He waited.

He listened.

He prayed to every god he had ever heard of.

One breath. That's all he wanted. One breath. One heartbeat. Please.

He couldn't breathe until she did. His heart did not want to beat unless hers would beat. There was no point in living if she was not.

Inuyasha sat with Kagome's head in his lap as Kaede worked feverishly. When they first arrived the old woman had told him not to worry, that Kikyo's arrow had missed the heart. Kagome wouldn't die, she assured him. But then she wouldn't stop bleeding. She would not wake up. And she would not breathe.

Shippo sat quietly beside Inuyasha. The dog demon let him. Even though all his instincts screamed at him to make everyone leave so he could take care of his mate, he let the young kit stay. After all, she was his mother now, and he had the right to stay. Tears fell down the child's face, but he wasn't sobbing. He was pleading with her to wake up. He begged her to open her eyes. He told her he loved her over and over and would do anything if she would only be okay.

He said all the things that Inuyasha wished that he could say, but no words could escape the hanyou's mouth. He couldn't breathe.

Sango was close to hysterics. Inuyasha knew that losing Kagome, her sister, just might break the strong demon exterminator. When Kagome's heart quit beating, when she would not breathe, that is when the woman began to crumble. Inuyasha knew that she in the other room crying, and Miroku was using his calming words.

Miroku comforted Sango, but the trembling in his voice let Inuyasha know that the monk would be devastated if Kagome di... if she didn't wake up.

Would their little group survive without the girl from the future? They were brought together because of her. They were a pack, a family, because of her. They were stronger... happier... complete... all because of her.

Breathe Kagome. Please. Just one breath.

Never in his life had Inuyasha been filled with such rage as when he saw Kikyo aim that arrow at Kagome's chest. He could not move fast enough to keep it from hitting its mark. Never had he been filled with so much hate, not even for Naraku. Kikyo had stolen Kagome from him, and he hated himself for not being fast enough to stop that arrow. 

And fear. He couldn't recall a time when he was so afraid as when he held her in his arms with her blood flowing on his skin.

Kagome. The only thing in the entire world that had given him joy. Light. Love. Acceptance. A reason for taking that next breath.

He knew he loved her. He had known that he had strong feelings for her even before the kit had joined them in their quest. He knew it was love after she had been kidnapped her for the jewel shards. He also knew that she loved him too. It had taken him a little longer to figure that out, but he never doubted it for a moment once he finally figured it out. The girl was pretty obvious.

He also knew that until Naraku was defeated that they should just try and pretend that they didn't love. Too many complications. 

But now... Now Inuyasha wished that he had told her how he felt from the very beginning. He wished that he had taken every opportunity he had been given to tell her how much she meant to him. He wished that he had never given her a moment to doubt his love for her.

He even wished that Kikyo had never been resurrected. How many of those misunderstandings wouldn't have happened if the dead miko had never been given that body of clay and bones? How many less tears would Kagome have shed? How many more hours and days would they have spent together, instead of having them wasted when she would run back to her own time? Kikyo had taken his precious time with Kagome away from him.

Furiously he pushed those thoughts away. He refused to think about HER again. Even her name brought out the desire to kill. No one hurts Kagome. Not even HER.

Shippo sniffled, bringing Inuyasha out of his dark thoughts.

Kagome's skin was beginning to change color. It was taking on a bluish tinge. If blood loss doesn't kill her, suffocation would. Inuyasha was terrified.

"Breathe for me Kagome," he begged as he brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I need you. Please come back to me."

Then he heard it.

One heartbeat.

One breath.

It was a faint heart beat. It was a ragged, painful breath. But they were there. One heartbeat followed another. Each one a little stronger, a little more sure. One breath followed another.

Then Kagome opened her eyes as a teardrop landed on her nose.

"Inuyasha?"

Afraid to move her, but needing to be closer to her, Inuyasha rested his forehead on hers. He couldn't talk. He didn't hear Shippo's excited squeals. He didn't hear Kaede announce to the others that Kagome lives. He didn't hear the shouts and tears of joy in the next room.

All he could hear was Kagome's heartbeat and every blessed breath she took.

That's all he needed to hear.