Hello all. My name is Dana. I'm currently a college student in Vermont. I'm 19 and a guy. Now that the basics are out of the way, my interests are;
Tae Kwon Do.
Reading, novels as well as manga.
Naps
Anime
Video Games, mostly RPGs but some others as well
Music, anything except for rap, hip-hop, and the 'pop' crap that MTV plays over and over till the song has been run into the ground.

If you like my work, feel free to e-mail me, or IM me at Schwarzd354.

As for this story, I may or may not continue it. I enjoy writing, but I have trouble coming up with ideas. I'd been kicking around the idea of writing a fanfic for awhile, and Moonsilver's challenge was the motivation. If you'd like to see more for this fic or have ideas for others. feel free to give suggestions. Either through reviews, e-mail, or IM.

Rin was the one to find her. It happened when the child had been playing hide-and-seek with Jaken. Rin found her washed up on the shore of a river. Unconscious, barely breathing, and white as a ghost. Amazingly, the girl’s hand was still wrapped tightly around the shards of the sacred jewel that she had. Even if Rin had not insisted, Sesshoumaru was going to bring the girl to his castle. It wasn’t until he picked her up that Sesshoumaru noticed a thick bracelet on the girl’s wrist. On it was inscribed, “This girl is under the protection of the hanyou Inuyasha. If she should be found unconscious or injured, please care for her. Give her medical attention, protection, and general care. If you desire payment for your time and services, find Inuyasha.” Sesshoumaru could not help but chuckle, “It seems that my brother is more concerned about his priestess than I had thought.

“Lord Sesshoumaru. Why have you brought yet another human to your castle? Hasn’t that brat defiled this place enough? Why bring more-“

“Be silent, Jaken," interrupted Sesshoumaru, as he laid Kagome on the bed of one of his guest rooms. “Fetch me medicinal herbs, clean cloths, and cool water.”

“As you command my Lord. I am only too happy to serve-“began Jaken.

“Now,.” said Sesshoumaru.

Once Jaken had scurried out of the room, Sesshoumaru began examining Kagome. She still had not awoken; she was suffering from a severe fever, had several gashes in her torso, and had lost a great deal of blood. Her breathing was still erratic and she had grown so weak that she couldn’t even hold onto the jewel shards any longer. Sesshoumaru doubted that she would survive much longer. He knew that he could bandage her wounds, but without more blood, he did not think that she had much of a chance.

“Lord Sesshoumaru?” asked a quiet voice, “How is she?”

“Not well, Rin. She does not have much of a chance.”

Rin crossed the room and knelt next to Kagome saying “I don’t want her to die, Lord Sesshoumaru. She was nice to me. She taught you how to help me when I was sick.”

It was true. Once, when Rin had a near-fatal illness, Sesshoumaru had happened across his brother and his companions. Kagome had nursed Rin back to health, and taught Sesshoumaru how to prevent the girl from falling so ill again. Kagome had taught Sesshoumaru all she knew of human medicine in the time she was caring for Rin, mostly because Sesshoumaru refused to leave Rin’s side. And now, he could not even return the favor.

“There may be a way I can help her Rin.” Rin sat up expectantly. “But it is dangerous, especially for a priestess. I shall see if human remedies work. If not...we will see.”

Jaken returned with the supplies that Sesshoumaru needed, and the Lord of the Western Lands set to work.

“DAMMIT! DAMMIT!! DAMMIT!!!” The entire forest shook with the sound of Inuyasha’s yells. “I TOLD HER NOT TO GET INVOLVED! I TOLD HER TO STAY BACK FROM THE CLIFF! AND WHAT DOES SHE DO?! SHE FALLS RIGHT OFF OF THE DAMMED THING!!”

“Saving all our lives in the process I might add,” said Miroku from where he leaned against a tree.

“Inuyasha, you need to calm down,” said Sango. “We’ll travel downriver until you, Shippo, or Kiara catch Kagome’s scent and then we’ll track her from there.”

Jumping onto Inuyasha’s head, Shippo spoke for the first time that morning. “Yeah, you big idiot. Besides, this is why she had that bracelet made. Just in case she got separated from us.”

“That bracelet won’t do her much good if Naraku finds her before we do,” snarled Inuyasha. That silenced the group. Though none of them wanted to admit it, Naraku had been growing increasingly dangerous over the last few months. He had been making one attempt after another to destroy the group and take their jewel shards. It had been yet another one of his attacks that had led to Kagome’s fall from the cliff two nights ago. With Inuyasha voicing more then enough worry for all of them, the others had an unspoken agreement to try and calm him in any way possible. But it was not working out too well.

“Well, we won’t find Kagome by just sitting around here. Shall we be off?” asked Miroku as he stood up.

“We should have left hours ago. But none of you would wake up!” barked Inuyasha. Stifling their comebacks, the group gathered their things, broke camp, and set off downriver.

After yet another day of searching yielded no sign of Kagome. Inuyasha was beyond consoling. He was frantic. When Miroku suggested that they find a place to rest for the night, he was rewarded with enough curses and threats to make his ears bleed. It wasn’t until Sango pointed out that if Kagome was in danger, it would do her no good for them to arrive too tired to come to her aid. Inuyasha agreed to rest at the next suitable location, but he did not sleep that night. Nor had he slept since Kagome’s fall. For the third night in a row all he could do was stay awake, tormented by his own thoughts.

“I should have been there. I should have jumped off the cliff after her. I shouldn’t have yelled at her that morning. I should have started searching right away. I shouldn’t have threatened her not to let her go home...I shouldn’t have called her bracelet stupid...I shouldn’t have called her stupid.” After torturing himself throughout the night, Inuyasha began to rouse the others at sunrise.

Sesshoumaru had been aiding Kagome as best he could. He had cleaned and dressed her wounds, and even managed to lower her fever slightly. But she was still slipping, and he knew that no medicine would help her. And for some reason...he refused to let her die. Be it that he owed her for saving Rin, that he didn’t care to give his brother another reason to hate him, or perhaps caring for Rin had made him soft. No matter. He had made his decision. If she needed blood, then blood she would have.

“Rin.” Sesshoumaru spoke for the first time since he started treating Kagome.

“Yes, my Lord?”

“Lay on Kagome’s legs so that she stays still.”

Rin looked confused, but did as she was asked. Once Rin was settled, Sesshoumaru sliced open the veins on his arm, opened Kagome’s mouth, and poured in the blood. He removed her bandages and did the same with each of her wounds. Rin had gasped when her Lord had cut himself, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the process. When he had finished, Sesshoumaru rewrapped Kagome’s bandages, and cleaned off his own arm. Immediately after he finished cleaning the mess, Kagome began thrashing around on the bed. Sesshoumaru held her upper body in place while Rin tried her best not to be thrown off the bed by Kagome’s legs. After a few minutes, Kagome quieted back down. For a moment Sesshoumaru thought that he had failed and that the girl had died despite his efforts. But he noticed that her breathing had stabilized and her color was beginning to return. He placed the blankets over Kagome and left the room with Rin. Telling the reluctant child that Kagome would be better off left alone for the time being.

“I’VE GOT IT!!!” bellowed Inuyasha happily. “I’VE FOUND HER SCENT!!!” He yelled to the others as he took off, following the trail. It had been raining for a few hours, so it took Inuyasha a little while to realize that Kagome’s scent wasn’t alone. Sesshoumaru’s was with it. Rather then being daunted by this, or waiting for the others and telling them, Inuyasha put on even more speed, pressing his exhausted body to its limits. He didn’t stop until he ran into something. A fallen tree to be precise.

“Inuyasha, you need to slow down. We can’t keep up.” Said Miroku as he jumped off of Kiara.

“We’ve got a problem.” Inuyasha began. “Sesshoumaru has Kagome.” The others were obviously displeased by this information.

“Are you sure?” asked Sango.

“Of course I am!” snapped Inuyasha.

“How old is the trail?” asked Miroku.

“Day, day and a half tops,” replied Inuyasha.

“I smell blood,” whined Shippo.

“Yeah...I know,” whispered Inuyasha. In a louder voice he said, “I’m going after her now. The rest of you stay here.”

“Not happening,” said Sango. “Kagome means as much to us as she does to you. We are going to help rescue her and that’s final.”

“Besides, you need someone to find Kagome while you keep Sesshoumaru busy,” stated Miroku.

“But-“Inuyasha faltered when he saw the looks on their faces. “Fine. Keep up if you can, but I’m not going to slow down.” And with renewed vigor, the group set off.

Nothing felt right when Kagome awoke. Her head hurt, everything was too loud, and her whole body ached. When she finally managed to get her eyes to focus, she couldn’t recognize the room she was in. Looking herself over, she saw that, though her clothes were a mess, her body was bandaged and looked well cared for. The last thing she could remember was fighting Naraku’s latest pet and...and what? What else happened? Then it hit her. She had fallen off the cliff into the river! All the rain had increased the size of the river and weakened the cliff. She had fallen in, been swept downstream, and woken up here. She must have been asleep for quite awhile. Her nails had grown dramatically on both her hands and feet.

It wasn’t until spotting a tray of food that Kagome realized how hungry she was. After devouring the fruit and bread, and draining the pitcher of water. Kagome took a closer look around the room. It was rather simple. Just the bed against one wall, the table and chair she now sat at against another, a door was set in the third, and a mirror hung from the fourth. Kagome got up and went to the mirror to see how she looked after being out of it for so long. She looked in the mirror and promptly fainted.

Her face looked normal. Her hair was the same color as always. But what had made her faint, was the sight of two small, black, dog ears, perched on the top of her head.