InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed ❯ Day Two Hundred - Mid Morning ( Chapter 11 )

I want to give a huge thanks to entropy9 who's taken time out of her day to begin beta work for me.

 

Chapter Eleven - Day Two Hundred

Mid Morning

 

 

Sesshoumaru stood anxiously in the hut's doorway. She had been gone for most of the afternoon and while that was not atypical, the weather seemed as though it was going to take a turn for the worse at any time. He looked again at the warm cloak she customarily wore during the winter. It was large, kept her warm and was completely useless sitting on the trunk where she had left it this morning. He knew why she hadn't taken it with her. It was heavy, and weighed her down where otherwise she could carry more of her precious teak. It had been beautiful this morning with neither an indication in the sky of the ominous clouds that now covered it, nor the chill that had set into the air and the strong wind that had ushered it in.

 

“She should be back by now.” he said under his breath, his voice filled with the concern he now felt. Should he go find her? She'd taken him with her several times before but the area she collected from was so large that it would be too easy to miss her. He walked out of the hut and looked up the path that he hoped she'd be coming down soon. He could at least go part of the way, to a spot before she made any random excursions into the forest and then even help her with the load. He started down the path but stopped suddenly as a near gale force wind pushed against him and drove surprisingly frigid air through the thin cloth of his shirt and pants. He hated the cold as a human. He didn't understand how they dealt with it. As a youkai, he rarely even noticed the elements, no matter their severity. The last time he'd worried about the cold, it had been for a susceptible little girl.

 

Sesshoumaru ran back to the hut, grabbed the cloak she'd made for him, and the one she'd left behind. `She must be freezing' he worried to himself. He needed to find her and quickly, before the weather worsened further. The thought that he might be endangering his own life by going after her barely registered in his mind and the part of it that did, brushed it away and pretended that it hadn't. He'd be damned if he was going to let his savior suffer a senseless death just because he had a strong desire to survive. She had saved his life, he wasn't going to hesitate in returning the favor if need be.

 

He ran back out of the hut, not even noticing that his leg didn't pain him at the moment and unfortunately, as if sensing his thoughts, the weather did suddenly take a turn for the worse. Thick sheets of near freezing rain began to fall. The cloak did a surprisingly good job of keeping him relatively dry as the waterproofed outer hide shed the water like a well greased pan.

 

 

Takana cringed when the first drops hit her face. This was bad and she knew it. She still had miles to travel before reaching home, despite having abandoned her load the moment she believed the weather was going to worsen. She continually kicked herself mentally for having ignored the time of year in favor of the glorious morning. She picked up her pace to a light jog over the path as the rain really started to pour down in sheets. It only took a minute before she was soaked clear through her clothes that were now offering her no protection from the cold what so ever. Before long, she started to shiver and she had to stop jogging as her footing deteriorated with the severe tremor that wracked her body. Soon, the rain fell so thickly that she could barely see more than a few feet ahead of her next step. She'd never been so cold in all of her life. She couldn't feel her hands or feet anymore and she nearly cried out when the rain shifted from liquid drops to hard falling pellets that burned at her not quite numb skin.

 

She stumbled after a few more minutes and was groggily surprised that she hadn't fallen over. Hell, at the moment, forward motion surprised her as she could no longer feel any part of her body except the cold tongue in her mouth. She was so tired. She just wanted to lie down and fall asleep. Deep down in her head, she yelled at herself that doing so would be a very bad thing but the voice was so small and the rain and sleet so loud that it drowned it out completely.

 

Takana didn't realize it but she had stopped moving quite some time ago and was now just swaying in the strong winds. She didn't feel her legs give out or the feeling of cold, hard ground under her body. All she could think at that moment was how nice it would be to just fall asleep. With that, her eyes closed and the last thought to pass through her mind was the flicker of a dream, of silver hair and golden eyes. If she'd been able, she would have found it strange but didn't as she'd already lost conciousness.

 

 

Sesshoumaru trudged steadily ahead through the sloppy mud, intent on finding her. If he was miserable underneath two layers of thick cloak, then he was afraid to think of her condition at the moment. He'd left the hut when it was midday and with the clouds and rain, it now seemed as though it were soon going to be night. A thousand thoughts were running through his difficult to control mind about the many possibilities she could be facing. Perhaps she knew of shelter and was safe out of the elements but maybe not. Maybe she was…

 

He never finished the thought as a dark, undefined lump began to enter his less than perfect line of vision. The closer he got to it, the more frightened he became. He started to run and nearly fell over the object as he fell to his knees and rolled over the still form of the woman that had nursed him back to health over the bitter winter. Her skin felt icy to the touch and he nearly moaned in the anger of loss as he believed she must have died in the storm. It wasn't until he heard a muted groan that he realized that she was still alive. He clutched her to him, hefted her drenched body to his and covered her as best he could with one of the cloaks he'd brought with him and then immediately began to make is way back to the hut with his precious cargo clutched tightly to him.

 

He must have run the whole way, barely paying any attention to the world around him or the weather that continued to try and take the woman with it. All his focus was on the path ahead and the fragile figure he held. His heart would jump with hope each time she made a sound but her prolonged silences filled him with a dread he had never before known. He'd always understood how fragile humans could be and with his own personal experience now under his belt, he was terrified that this creature would expire right in his arms.

 

It seemed to take twice as long to get back to the hut than it had to find her even though he ran the whole way on the return trip. He'd never known such joy as when the tiny little hut came into view. He pushed his already burning legs to carry him that much faster and finally entered the dry hut with its, thankfully, still burning fire.

 

Regretfully, he set her down next to the fire and he immediately pulled her bedding off the futon and onto the floor next to the blaze. He then placed her on it and wrapped her in as many coverings as he possibly could. Uncertain of what to do next, he just sat down next to her and watched.

 

After a while, she started to shiver. Sesshoumaru had no idea if that was a good sign or a bad one so he crawled over to her and felt inside the coverings to see how warm she was becoming. He was horrified at how cold and wet she still was and cursed his own stupidity at not removing her wet clothes before putting her in the bedding. It was now soaked as well and she felt just as cold now as she had when he first brought her back. He ran his fingers through his near shoulder length hair and looked about the hut. He sprang into action as he pulled his bedding over to the fire. He arranged it as best he could in his adrenaline filled body and then grabbed Takana. She was still unconscious, and shaking so violently that it sent chills through his body. Without even thinking about her modesty or his own recent infatuation with her naked form, he stripped her bare and then carefully placed her in his dry bedding. Once he was satisfied with her position, he set to work laying out her wet bedding and clothing so that they would dry.

 

Once that task was complete, he immediately strode over to check on her. To his dismay, she was still shivering; clammy cold and the bedding did not seem to be helping at all. The blanket next to her skin felt as cold as she did. She would never warm up like this. Again, he automatically reached for his hair that was still wet from retrieving her from the storm. He gripped a clump of it and held it as he scanned the room, wracking his brain for any other ideas. His fingers slid out of his hair as he paced the length of the hut which took no time at all. Reflexively, he grabbed for his hair again only moments after having released it and suddenly stopped in his second circuit of the hut.

 

He pulled his hand from his hair to stare at it and then quickly put it back into his hair.

 

It was warm.

 

Where his hand had been, his hair was warm.

 

He felt his face. It was warm. His neck too, was warm. He felt his chest through the wet cloth of his shirt but the skin was cool to the touch. Without any debate on the matter and without a moment's hesitation, Sesshoumaru immediately stripped down to the skin he hadn't been born in and crawled in right next to her.

 

At first, she didn't stop shivering and he feared that his bright idea wasn't working at all but slowly the nonstop shivers turned into occasional tremors and much to his relief, those occasional tremors, eventually ceased altogether. It wasn't until she slept soundly pressed against him that he let the stress of the situation leave his body, and with it left all ability for his eyes to remain open. He quietly fell asleep wrapped around a warm woman and filled with the contentment of utter and complete relief.

 

She would be ok.

 

 

Angelsfalltearfully - I'm afraid she was able to get passed those impenetrable defenses he had as a youkai but lacked while a displaced human. Hehehe, it was so fun to do too.

White Luna - Yeah, and if I didn't have him lie, then the chapter that I wrote originally and that got this whole story started, just wouldn't work. I love being the author and twisting situations to fit my goals, I'm just happy that the logic of it appeals to my readers.

Lamb - With the way I put it, yeah he didn't have much of a choice. Besides, if she kicked him out, that would be a pretty boring way to end the fic. `Sess survives the rest of the year and goes back to being the Lord of the Western Lands. The End.' Yeah, that just doesn't do it for me. :) Flash backs work for little scenes that I wouldn't have wanted to turn into an entire chapter but the last on was too important to do that to so I just split the day up. Thanks for the review.