InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Snowstorms and annoying old women. ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

Author's Note: Thank you for everyone's responses so far. Don't worry; I haven't forgotten about Rin and Jaken... I just haven't gotten around to them yet. You'll see them soon.

I’d also like to apologize for my mistake in how Rin’s parents died. Thank you for bringing it to my attention and it will be edited when I am able.

And sorry for the long wait… life hasn’t been nice lately.

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< br> Chapter 5:


The snow crunched audibly under Kagome's feet as she walked lazily through the valley's forest. It had been two weeks since she and Sesshoumaru found themselves stuck in the snow covered valley inhabited by the old women Talia, and in those two weeks Kagome had managed to find a friend in the last person she could have ever imagined. Yes, never before these last two weeks had Kagome ever thought it possible for anyone to call Sesshoumaru friend; especially not her. Glancing over at the demon that was quietly walking beside her Kagome smiled. No, he wasn't perfect and she knew that this side of him would all but vanish when his memories returned, but for now he was all she really had in the way of a companion. She hadn't reconsidered her position on the whole mate situation mind you, but she had relaxed a bit in regards to the force at which she had been trying to push him away.



After the brief exchange in the hot spring nearly a week ago Kagome had felt much lighter, and more relaxed around the demon lord. She had managed to express her fear of the reprucussions for getting too close to him, and he had given his word that she would not be harmed. She knew, memories or not, that Sesshoumaru would keep his word. This led them to their current arrangement. She no longer pushed him away to the point of complete denial, but kept him at arms length at all times. They held pleasant conversations about her family and school, and she would tell stories of various adventures of which Sesshoumaru had been a part of. Of course these stories were greatly edited. There was never a mention of him trying to kill her, the fact that they were enemies, and no mention of any of her friends that he may end up questioning her on such as Inuyasha. No, her stories focused on explaining their quest to kill Naraku and gathering the Shikon Shards and of what little she knew of Sesshoumaru's interaction with Rin. Each of which he always listened to with great interest.



The demon lord in turn, while having no memories to share with the young woman, would do his best to participate in the conversations through questioning the girl about her interests. He would often take the young woman on walks through the forest, much like the one they were on now, so that they could speak away from the prying ears of the old woman. Of course he would not have his Kagome running around in the snow with only stockings on. Instead he had fashioned her a pair of boots from the hide of one of the deer he had slain one night. They weren't the most fashionable shoes, but the thick leather did well to keep her feet dry and warm through their long walks.



While Sesshoumaru had not given up on his quest to win Kagome back, he had stopped pushing the fact. She had grown accustomed to his presence everywhere she went, and they had fallen into a routine of sorts when it came to eating, sleeping and bathing. He decided that it was best to slowly gain her trust as her friend first, and was content to simply speak to her and listen to her many stories or watch her study the Miko scrolls that Talia had provided for her.



In fact, watching her had become one of his favorite activities. It was during their first real conversation at the hot springs that Sesshoumaru discovered how useful simply watching her could be. He could decipher many things about the young woman that she herself would not say. Like her attraction to his person. He would often find her glancing in his direction; her cheeks stained a light pink with a faint hint of lust in her eyes. Much like he could see her doing right now from the corner of his eyes.



“Did you need something Kagome?” he asked nonchalantly, smirking slightly when her cheeks turned a darker shade of pink and she quickly looked away.



“No,” was her only reply. While Kagome had been doing her best to keep the demon lord at bay, she couldn’t help how his attentions made her feel. She felt wanted, appreciated, and maybe just a little bit loved. Of course she knew that none of it was real, but it was nice to make believe for a little while that he really was hers. These thoughts would usually result in a sideways glance in said demon’s direction, which in turn would note that not only did her fantasy world involve being cared for and loved, but also cared for and loved by one of the most handsome beings she had ever encountered. Of course she’d never say such things out loud, or risk letting him find out where her mind would wander off to during the moments of silence they so often shared.



It would be an understatement to say that it was embarrassing that she had been caught this time, and was doing her best to pretend the incident had never occurred. She would have to control her wandering mind better or she was just going to make her situation worse.



They had stopped at the edge of one of the many large hot springs that could be found throughout the valley. This one was fed by a large waterfall that spilled from the side of the rock wall of one of the mountains that surrounded the valley. It was the largest and most beautiful of the springs they had come across, and Kagome made a point to come here as often as she was able to relax on one of the large rocks on its banks, or within its hot water. Today she was simply in the mood to relax. Taking a seat on her favorite boulder the girl from the future sighed.



“You know Sesshoumaru, as many times as we’ve been here in the past week I’m pretty sure I can get here on my own without your help,” she said not looking in his direction.



Sesshoumaru studied the girl on the boulder a moment before answering, “While I am certain you could physically find your way here and back to the hut, I do not wish for you to find any stray youkai that may be looking for a meal.”



Kagome glared at him, “I’m not completely defenseless you know.”



“That I do not doubt, but I ask that you humor this Sesshoumaru in this matter.”



Kagome sighed, “Yeah Yeah, whatever,” she said while positioning herself so that she was lying on her back on the hard rock surface. Looking up through the trees the sky was a dark grey. It would most likely snow again soon, and they would have to go back to the hut for shelter. Looking over at Sesshoumaru standing calf deep in snow, she noted how well he blended in with it. In fact in this weather he almost looked like he was made of snow himself, which caused the image of Frosty the Snow Man with purple markings and yellow button eyes to appear in her mind causing her to giggle.



“Something amuses you?”



Kagome tried to suppress her amusement as she sat up again and turned herself to face the demon lord, “Sorry just looking at you with the snow all around reminded me of a snow man.”



“A what?” Sesshoumaru asked, puzzled. He had no idea what this ‘snow man’ was, much less how she would be reminded of one simply because he was standing in snow.



“A snow man!” Kagome chirped. Jumping off her boulder she bent down and gathered some of the snow in her hands and started packing it together in the form of a ball. “You take snow and make a ball out of it like this see,” she said, holding up the small ball of snow in her hands, “Then you pack more snow on top of it and make a bigger ball until you can’t hold it anymore. When that happens you put it down in the snow and roll it so it gets bigger,” she said while demonstrating by putting the larger ball of snow on the ground and rolling it around until it was half as big as she was, “You do this twice more and you have a snow man!”



This had to be the silliest thing Sesshoumaru had ever seen, but since all he could remember seeing had taken place in the past two weeks he decided that perhaps he could be wrong and could humor her. Slowly he bent down and gathered snow within his palm and began to follow her instructions. Though it was much more difficult with only one hand, he still managed to get it on the snow covered ground and begin to roll.



“That’s big enough,” the girl from the future stated when he got his ball to about half the size of the first.



“But it is not the same size as the one you demonstrated,” the demon lord protested.



“It’s not supposed to be.” Kagome replied, “The one you just made will be the torso section, and I’ll make the head!”



Five minutes later the two stood before a complete snow man. Unfortunately they didn’t have buttons and a carrot to make the eyes nose and mouth, but they managed with a few small rocks and a stick.



“See, a snow man,” Kagome said triumphantly, forgetting her previous decision to keep the demon lord at arms length and hugging his good arm happily.



Sesshoumaru tried to keep his composure and not pull the girl that was now touching his person closer to his body. Instead he studied the thing they had just made. He was now even more confused than he had been when she first mentioned it, “And this Sesshoumaru reminded you of this thing? I look nothing like that,” he stated flatly.



Kagome giggled, “No I guess you don’t look like it,” she said, “But your hair is white like snow, and your skin isn’t far off. So you both blend into the white landscape, which is why I was reminded.”



“Hn”


“Y eah, Hn.”


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Rin was sleeping peacefully curled up next to AhUn in Sesshoumaru’s home. It had been two weeks since her ordeal with the wind witch and since she had seen her Sesshoumaru-sama, but no one was concerned. They knew their master would return when he wanted, and until that time they would wait. Jaken, who was sitting across a fire not far away, had been instructed long ago that should their lord ever leave for longer than a few days that he was to take Rin and AhUn back to their home until fetched.



The small toad demon may be loud in his objection to Rin’s presence, but he would not disobey his lord. He would keep her safe until she died of old age, if that was how long it took for Sesshoumaru-sama to return. Demons were long lived, and Jaken valued his life. He did not wish to lose it by abandoning something that was just going to die naturally in fifty years or so.



With that thought weighing on his tiny brain, Jaken sighed and poked the fire absently. Life of a servant certainly was not a fun one, but at least he was alive.


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Night had fallen over the valley and the three companions were settling down for the night. Talia had made a stew from the remainder of Sesshoumaru’s last hunt, and they had all eaten in comfortable silence; each lost within their own thoughts. Sesshoumaru was grateful for the old woman’s silence, as his patience was already incredibly thin with the hag. He was even more delighted when she excused herself for bed early for the night.


Talia had sensed a change in the young couple the moment they stepped through her door that afternoon, and did not wish to spoil whatever it was with her words. She simply ate her meal and retired to her room early. Perhaps they would continue to reconcile throughout the night, or she could hope at least.


Kagome now sat in her futon reading another scroll of Talia’s. This one she found particularly interesting as it was about a powder that could be made from various local herbs that could erase scents. One could erase a person’s individual scent by grinding a small amount of their hair in with the mixture. The girl from the future was trying to commit this to memory as she was sure it would become useful in her travels once she was able to return to them.



She was so wrapped up in her study of the scroll that she didn’t notice when Sesshoumaru sat down beside her and leaned in to look at what she was reading.



“What is it you are reading?” his low voice startled Kagome from her thoughts, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin and drop the scroll into her lap.



Placing a hand over her heart Kagome glared at the youkai next to her, “You scared me to death!” she admonished.



“My apologies, but you seemed to be studying this particular scroll harder than you have any other you have read thus far,” Sesshoumaru apologized before picking the scroll from the young woman’s lap to study it himself, “Scent masking?”



“Scent erasing,” Kagome corrected, “I’m trying to commit it to memory so that we can use it later during our fight against Naraku,” she explained while reaching over to take it from him.



“I see,” Sesshoumaru said while pulling the scroll abruptly out of her reach, causing her to lose balance and fall over into the youkai lord’s lap. The demon lord felt the weight of the young woman’s torso fall into his lap, but he did his best to ignore it and pretend to continue studying the scroll. “Hn, this does look as if it could be quite useful. We should indeed commit it to memory for later use,” he said, more as a means to distract himself from Kagome’s struggles to get from his person than to say anything useful.



Kagome for her part was beyond mortified. All she wanted was the scroll back, and here she was face down in the demon lord’s lap. At first she had tried to remain perfectly still in order to control the color seeping up her neck and onto her face, but after a minute or so she began to try to get up by bracing her arms on Sesshoumaru’s thighs. Her efforts weren’t getting her very far though; every time she thought she had her balance and started to push herself out of his lap he would shift and cause her to lose her balance again. She was sure he was doing it on purpose while pretending to not notice her too, and was increasingly becoming impatient with his act of indifference.



“Sesshoumaru,” she ground out from clenched teeth, “Would you please stop moving and let me up?”



The demon lord placed the scroll down on the floor, and used his now free hand to grasp Kagome under one of her arms and help her up, “My apologies,” he said with a smile on his lips and mirth in his eyes.



Kagome was stunned. Had Sesshoumaru been playing with her instead of trying to torture her? He was smiling; something the Sesshoumaru she knew never did. Of course she should have learned two weeks ago that this was not the demon lord she knew. Her anger melted at the genuine mirth that shown in his eyes and she couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips. “You’re mean you know that!” she said as she playfully swatted his shoulder before moving to locate her forgotten scroll.



Sesshoumaru would not be so easily dismissed, and stopped the girl from her quest for her scroll by grasping her chin lightly and turning it towards him, “This Sesshoumaru promises that it was not his intention to be mean,” he whispered; leaning closer to her as he said it. His lips only a few inches from hers.



Kagome blushed and tried to pull away, the look in his eyes with his close proximity was making her nervous. “It’s…ok,” she stammered, “You know I think I’ll continue studying the scroll tomorrow, I’m tired right now,” she said.



Releasing the woman in front of him Sesshoumaru pulled away pleased with her reaction, “It is late, retiring would be acceptable,” he said before getting up from his place beside Kagome’s futon and sitting back down against the wall a few feet away. It had become custom for him to sleep there as he had deemed his own futon too far away from his female. He bowed his head so that his eyes were hidden behind his bangs; making it easier for him to watch the woman without making her any more uncomfortable than he already sensed she was.



Slowly, Kagome crawled back to her futon on shaky limbs. Lying down the girl from the future sighed heavily. The memory of his heated stare so close to her face made her heart do laps in her chest. Had she not said something would he have tried to kiss her? She wasn’t quite sure how she should be feeling right now after such a close encounter with the demon lord, but she was sure that the swelling of heart was not normal. With another shaky sigh the young woman willed herself into a dreamless sleep.


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Naraku watched Kagura and Kohaku through Kanna’s mirror. He found it amusing that they truly believed that he would not know of their failure before they returned to his palace.


“Kanna, call them back here. I have more important things for them to do than wait around,” Naraku ordered.


Kanna only nodded before vanishing from sight.


While his two servants may have failed in their original task, they were successful in removing the most important element of Inuyasha’s band. Now that the Miko was gone they would be weak, and easily destroyed.


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She was shivering.


At some point in the night the fire in the main room died, and the temperature outside had dropped severely. Sesshoumaru was not affected by the changing temperatures, but he knew his human female was. Her shivering for warmth was evidence of that.


Quietly the youkai moved over to Kagome’s side, and wrapped his arm under her body. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes.


“Sesshoumaru what are you doing!” she squealed; struggling violently in his grasp.


“Be still woman!” Sesshoumaru hissed back, “You were shivering in your sleep. I merely wished to bring you closer to my person for the warmth your human body requires.”


Stilling in his grasp Kagome thought over his words, ‘I was cold?’ she thought, ‘Of course I was, after all its not like he’s some kind of rapist or anything.’ Eyeing him for a moment she only nodded, ‘It’s just for warmth, there’s nothing strange about this at all.’ She thought to herself as he nodded in response as he pulled her back towards the wall and into his lap.


Tucking Kagome’s head in the crook of his neck resting on his good arm Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, “Sleep now Kagome.”


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Not as long as the last one, but I already said to not expect terribly long chapters. Please read, rate and review.