I don't own Inuyasha, nor will I profit from it.
---------------------------------------------------
Kagome blinked her eyes once, then twice in annoyance before she finally got up from her sleeping bag. Try as she might, it was just difficult to go to sleep with her ribs aching as they were. They had just been through a tough battle against the Four War Gods of Horai Island, and their leader, a scumbag named Ryuura, had brutually kicked her in the ribs on one side while she was choking up dust, and then her other side had nearly cracked when she had hit a wooden piling after flying about thirty feet through the air from the kick. So the prognosis was bruised ribs all around, and that added up to pain each time she took a lungful. At least her hanyou companions had prevented her head from being lopped off from his wind blade that was something she was thankful for. Kagome had been reluctant at first to do so, because they were running low on first aid supplies, what with treating the kids and Inuyasha for some of their battle scars, and Miroku for burns and both him and Sango for bruises. But she supposed it was probably for the best that she should at least wrap her ribs in some gauze strips stuffed with healing herbs, in case they ran into more trouble right around the bend. Who knew what Naraku or Hakudoshi was planning next? So with her first aid kit in hand, and no one awakening to her moving about, due to the injuries they were sleeping off, she snuck out of the hut on the beach and headed for the nearby forest, looking for the stream where the villagers had said healing herbs were located at. She had collected the herbs and was about to administer them to herself, shirt off and all, when a sudden voice had her nearly leaping out of her bra. "Still haven't learned how to heal yourself?" asked Sesshomaru dryly, coming up behind her, with no evidence of his wards or steed around. "No, not really," replied Kagome, turning back to scoop up the herbs and gauze that she had accidentally dropped into the water. "There are more effective ways to treat bruised ribs than using herbs or even healing powers," he continued, his gaze traveling lightly over her pale backside, her side skin under the strange upper garment spotted with purple and red bruises. "Such as?" asked Kagome in a slightly challenging voice, dropping the herbs and bandages off to the side as she stood straight and turned to look at him. She had barely said this last before he was upon her at lightning speed. Before she could hardly utter an 'eep', he had one hand wrapped around her mouth and held her in place, while his head darted downwards, tongue lashing out to travel roughly over her bruises. The 'eep' would have turned into a scream but for the hand covering her mouth. Before she could think to bite down on his fingers though, or use her hands in her defense, the yell quickly turned into a soft moan as what he was doing registered inside of her mind. Her mental and physical processes lagging from the intimate contact of her tongue, Kagome was sluggish in doing anything as he quickly switched sides and continued the procedure, finally pulling away just as her thoughts caught up to her. "To answer your question verbally, a demon's saliva contains many of the healing properties that demons used to heal themselves far faster than humans or even hanyous. And the stronger the demon, the quicker the healing process," explained Sesshomaru with a light smirk. Kagome glanced down, lifting up her arms to see light red marks where big and ugly purplish bruises had once been. She could already breathe right without feeling pain. When she looked up again, he had vanished. She stood there for about another five minutes, before cataloguing this incident under 'dream walking' and gathering her supplies to head back to the hut... The End