The Storm by Keiko Yuki

Part I The Storm

A/N Okay, this was supposed to be a one-shot fanfic but it was too long so I split it into two parts. Hope that's okay with you guys! ^.^; Well I'll be putting Part II up soon so for now it's just one. Please Please Please review! I aint too proud to beg!

Part I

How did I get myself in this mess! A young woman wondered as she trudged through the deep snow. She was walking alone in the woods and had her arms folded over her chest trying to keep warm. She shifted her too-big backpack and coughed a bit. Kagome looked up ahead. All she could see was the swirling snow around her.

Hard to believe that it started out as a light flurry. She closed her eyes, the cold wind hitting her face making it burn from the cold. She looked up ahead once again willing herself to open her eyes. She saw it! A shack up ahead! Now I just have to get there. She sighed and trudged on. She felt dizzy no, don't give up now Kagome she told herself. You're almost there! She pushed herself on, willing to get there without blacking out.

After what seemed like forever she reached the little shack. She put her humungous backpack down, reached for the door and pushed it open. She gave a little smile and blacked out.

She awoke to hear someone walking around next to her. She realized that she was warm. There was a blanket over her and she was lying on a small pile of hay. Not being able to open her eyes she felt a hand on her forehead. "Inuyasha?" She murmured, having not opened her eyes yet she didn't see who was taking care of her. She heard a chuckle and immediately knew who it was. She opened her eyes in an instant and sat up. It was then that she noticed that she didn't have any clothes on. She looked up "Sesshomaru!!" she gasped and he laughed yet again.

He had found her while seeking shelter. Normally he would have gone back to the castle but thought better of it since Jaken was there and he was growing quite sick of the little creature. He had left Rin in Jaken's care and made his departure. He hadn't noticed then that it would be snowing this much.

He sneezed, sneezed? a great demon like me sneeze? It must be the stench of humans. He saw a shack and entered, he then saw a human on the floor and recognized her immediately. That's my brother's pet, I should just put her outside to die. He thought about it, she was human and he hated humans.

Thinking of Rin he changed his mind. Well that's not entirely true. I just think they're annoying. I can tolerate some. He looked down at the girl and sighed. Even though he wanted to, he was too decorous to leave her to die. He checked her to see if she was alive, there was a blue tint to her but nothing serious. He realized her clothes were wet so he disposed of them and wrapped her up in the only blanket he could find in the lowly hut.

Kagome stared up at the man in front of her, eyes wide. Then her expression changed from wide-eyed shock to simple curiosity. Why did he save me and where are my clothes?! I'd better not ask, he might kill me. Sesshomaru looked at her in interest what is so appealing about this human that my brother wishes to protect her so?

Kagome and Sesshomaru stared at each other in silence until Sesshomaru sneezed. Did he just sneeze? Kagome wondered about it was he sick? Kagome shook that thought from within her mind. Inuyasha always loved to point out the fact that demons never got sick like humans did.

"Sesshomaru are you sick?" Kagome found herself asking shyly not sure whether she should speak or not. "Keh" Sesshomaru broke eye contact with her and walked to the other side of the shack and crossed his arms over his chest.

He sounded oddly like Inuyasha at that moment. Thankfully her slight giggles didn't escape her mind because he spoke once more. "I'm a demon, demons do not get sick." Kagome noticed his arm "how did you get your arm back?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. He looked at her in annoyance. "It grew back. " Sesshomaru stated simply and broke their eye contact once again.

She looked at him and saw that he was paler than usual (if at all possible) and had a rosy tint in his cheeks. Small smile on her face she stood up and wrapped the blanket around her and walked up to him feeling braver than before. She knelt down beside him and felt his forehead. He had had his eyes closed and didn't hear her coming till he felt her touching him. His eyes shot open and he glared at her.

To her surprise he didn't move away from her. She took her hand away and simply said "you have a fever." He looked at her in curiosity. She looked into his eyes, they didn't have hatred as she was used to seeing but were innocent (in a way) and full of curiosity.

"What's that? How do you know?" He found himself asking. He had no idea what that was let alone how she knew. Another thing bothered him, why was it that he couldn't hear her approach? She looked at him and smiled. "What wench?" Kagome's expression changed from humor to anger.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" Sesshomaru was shocked although he wouldn't show it. Kagome stood up and whispered a quick apology and looked around the shack waiting for him to yell back, he never did.

"Where are my clothes?" Kagome asked him in a soft voice. Sesshomaru chose not to answer only to point in the direction of her clothes. She looked at the direction in which he pointed to and noticed for the first time that there was a small fire. It was dying already and was poorly done. She looked at him with a questioning look on her face. He looked at her and replied to her look with "you were cold so I tried to build a fire but I've never made one."

A/N: awww kawaii, sesshie can't build a fire....sry couldn't resist. Carry on!

She laughed softly and looked at the fire again. Sesshomaru looked at her; really looked at her, he never noticed how beautiful she was, for a human anyway. She turned to him and said in a more serious tone "don't look I'm going to get dressed." He stared at her and when he didn't turn away she said "close your eyes, now."

Sesshomaru was about to reprimand her for speaking to him in such a manner but thought better of it and closed his eyes. He could hear her getting dressed and then her footsteps as she drew near. "You can open them now." He opened his eyes to see Kagome kneeling beside him again with the blanket in her hands. "Here you use this I'm warm now and you need it more seeing as you're sick."

Sesshomaru looked at her with frustration "I already told you I'm not sick." He looked away refusing the blanket. This frustrated Kagome but she shrugged it off. "Fine if you want to get sicker than far be it from me to interfere."

She went to the other side of the cabin and began to search for something. "What are you looking for?" Sesshomaru asked her quietly. She answered without looking at him "my backpack."

She opened the door to be greeted by a strong gust of wind that nearly knocked her over. She grabbed the snow-covered backpack and tried to push the door shut. She was using all her weight trying to push it closed, when it closed seemingly by itself. She looked up and saw Sesshomaru standing behind her, hand still on the door.

"Thanks" she said as she pulled her backpack next to the pile of hay. His only reply was a series of coughs and sneezes. She opened her pack and started to go through it. She was lost in her things when she felt a warm breeze on her neck that sent a shiver down her spine. She turned her head to find Sesshomaru staring over her shoulder.

"May I help you?" She asked turning back to her stuff. "What's all that?" Sesshomaru looked at all of the foreign objects in confusion. Kagome ignored him and kept searching. Without warning she jumped up and said "I found it!"

She then turned to Sesshomaru with a bag in her hands. He looked at it then to her with question in his eyes. "It's the medicine I brought with me! Here lie down." She instructed him and when he didn't do it voluntarily she pushed him down. She took out a thermometer and stuck it in his mouth. He tried to look at it and only succeeded in crossing his eyes which made Kagome laugh. "It's to take your temperature. I'm using it to see if you have a fever or not."

Seeing the look of confusion still on his face she continued to explain. "When you catch the flu which I think you have you usually get really hot. When that happens it's called a fever. Get it?" Sesshomaru gave a slight nod and watched as she took the thermometer out of his mouth.

"Why aren't you with my half-breed brother?" He had been wanting to ask this question since she awoke. She thought about it. "Well first off I was right you do have a fever." She gave a dry cough and gave a frustrated sigh. Great! Now I'm sick too! She fumbled through her bag until she found the medicine, she first had some and then gave some to Sesshomaru (or attempted to anyway.)

He glared at the foreign substance in the tiny cup she had shoved in his face. It was the most peculiar colour he had ever seen. "What is this woman? Poison?" He wasn't sure why he was even tolerating this.

He realized that he was considerably weaker than his usual self. "It's medicine, it's to make you feel better. Since you're youkai it should go through your system faster than in humans. My guess is that you'll feel better by tomorrow." Kagome reflected on her behaviour.

She would never be this comfortable around the stoic youkai if he wasn't as weak as he was. She thought it was humorous, of all people Sesshoumaru got sick. The invincible demon actually got sick and Kagome was the lucky one to see him in his current state. He gave the substance one final glare and shook his head. "No" he said plainly.

She shook her head and suppressed a smile. He reminded her of souta when he was little when he refused to take medicine. The scene that Sesshoumaru was making was adorable, but she knew that she should never let him know that.

Instead Kagome gave him a look and then she got an idea. "You mean to tell me that the all-mighty and powerful Sesshoumaru-sama is afraid of a liquid?" She suppressed a triumphant shout when he snatched the tiny cup from her hands and drank it in one gulp.

At first he didn't seem to have a reaction to it but soon enough, his mask had faded and he had a look of disgust on his face. Kagome couldn't suppress the laughter bubbling within her as she watched the scene.

Sesshoumaru threw the little cup that had previously held the offensive liquid and was on the search for something to ease the taste from his assaulted mouth. "Sesshoumaru, here."

Kagome held out a bottle of water to him and he glared at it. "It won't taste as bad, I swear. It's only water I promise." Sesshoumaru took it reluctantly and took a healthy swig of the water.

The assault on his taste buds eased some and he was relieved at the taste of the pure water in this clear container. The sound of laughter reached his sensitive spiked ears. He put the bottle down and glared at the woman-child in front of him.

She was bent in half and she was laughing and gave an occasional cough. She wiped the tears that appeared with her laughter off with her sleeve and gave him a smile. "I'm sorry Sesshoumaru, but that was just too funny."

Sesshoumaru still glaring at her crossed his arms over his chest and gave a 'humph'. He looked away from her and heard her as she started laughing again.

"Sessho-kun," she heard him growl in protest at the nickname. "Ano...I wanted to thank you for saving me and well..." She trailed off, suddenly getting nervous. "Is there a point to this?" Sesshoumaru was obviously growing impatient.

Kagome grew frustrated at this "I'll get to it!" Kagome flushed again. "I just wanted to ask if you would consider...if maybe we could become...friends?"

The question threw him completely off, though he refused to show it. Friends? The great Sesshoumaru didn't have any friends! He decided to make that fact indisputably clear to her. "I do not have friends, nor am I looking for one. It is a distraction and clouds ones judgment."

A/N: Well? What'd you think? Now do me a favor and review. Now, I don't mind constructive criticism but please I beg of you, do not flame me! For I have had enough of those from my other stories! *Nervous chuckle* Well, like I said review! Ja ne!