“Sesshoumaru,” Kagome whispered, her voice hoarse with relief. 

She wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face in his silken collar. Tears squeezed from the seams of her shut eyes. When she opened them again, she thought that the blizzard had stopped and night had fallen. But as she adjusted to the dimness and the quiet, she realized they were just inside a cave instead.

Through a fissure in the rock, she could see the snow outside still swirling fit to blind. Sesshoumaru set her down on the cold stone floor. Crouched beside her, he seemed to be inspecting her torn leg. When he daubed at it with his fur, she hissed in a breath.

“The bleeding,” she asked him tersely, “has it slowed?”

“Not much.” His reflective eyes flicked to hers. “I’m going to bind it.”

Before Kagome could say anything, he seized hold of the hem of her kimono and ripped off a broad swathe. As she gasped, he ripped off another. More tightly than she would’ve liked, he bound up her bleeding calf.

Wincing, she sat up against the wall of the cave. “…Thank you.”

Still holding her leg, Sesshoumaru said nothing. The ragged hem of her kimono fell about to her knee. His hand smoothed up and past it, parting her skirt open at the thigh as he grazed his fingers over the scrapes and bruises there.

Kagome swallowed dryly, squirming aside. “I’m fine, really. The calf wound was the worst of it.”

“So I see,” he said.

His touch lingered on her for a moment more before he drew his hand away. There was a rustle of silk as he rose and crossed to the entrance of the cave. Kagome studied him in profile as he peered out at the raging storm.

“How long do you think it’ll last?”

“An hour, ten.” Sesshoumaru tossed his head, narrowed his eyes. “I can’t sense a damn thing in this weather.”

“But you found me,” she said quietly, placing a hand to her belly and the steady glow within it. “Us.”

He turned partway toward her. His eyes gleamed, two discs of beaten gold. His face was aslant, cast in shadow.

“Yes,” he said. “I found you.”

Kagome heard the jostle of swords being lowered. The whisper of a sash sliding free, the tinny click of armor unfastening. As the heavy plates met the cave floor with a clang, she curled her fingers into her damp, gritty palms.

“We’ll be all right now. You don’t have to stay.”

“Once the snows stop,” he said curtly, flexing his claws with a bone-snapping crack, “every fiend within a league of here will scent your blood.”

Just like you did, Kagome thought warily. When she opened her mouth to tell him she could handle it, he cut her a look that said quite clearly to drop it.

Kagome pursed her lips. “Who’s angry now?”

“I’m not angry,” Sesshoumaru said, stepping toward her. “Merely frustrated.” Sitting down against the wall beside her, he pulled her into his lap and said, “You frustrate me. So much trouble could be avoided if you weren’t so headstrong in your ways.” When she tried to pry herself loose, he pressed the edge of his hand to her lips and said, “Drink.”

Sulkily, Kagome drank from the cup of his palm. She hadn’t realized how parched she was until the snowmelt hit her tongue.

“I can’t change who I am,” she said woundedly, once she was through.

Sesshoumaru exhaled, slightly rumbling. “Nor would I wish you to.”

The arm around her waist tightened a fraction. Beyond them, the storm winds faintly roared. After a while, he spoke again, low and rough as if in contrition.

“What I said to Inuyasha was the truth. But that isn’t why I said it.”

Haltingly, Kagome asked him, “Why?”

Against the shell of her ear, he answered, “You know why.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Revised 3/7/23