A/N.

My first InuYasha fanfic. Created out of boredom and damned plot bunnies. Enjoy if you want. Reviews are greatly appreciated. It is a SessKag oneshot. Though the quality of it probably sucks, as it's a oneshot. I hate writing oneshots, as they lack depth... but we'll see.

Anywho, this was inspired by the Grassland environment in InuYasha: Feudal Combat. I also have a relatively evil idea for a lemon that's inspired by the same environment... but heh... You won't find that in this oneshot. xD

Italics - Inner thoughts of the main POV. Emphasis.

Regular - Dialogue or actions...

Bold - Er... A/N.

The Collision of Fire and Ice

Meniscus of TaiYokai

An InuYasha fanfiction.

Kagome and Sesshomaru were in combat. Despite his status as the aristocratic assassin of the feudal era of Japan, the dark-haired ningen miko was fending for herself rather effectively. Yet she was still delicate. Like any other human, she easily damaged. Bruised and bled easily. The body facilities in healing in a yokai were considerably faster than in a human.

Yet, if a limb was to, say, be severed... it wasn't going to just grow back. The silver-haired daiyokai knew that firsthand.

Fighting my pathetic half-brother's wench isn't going to solve anything... Why did I even bother coming here? he mused, dodging an attack that would've otherwise meant getting hit in the face with her bow.

The thought of Rin wanting to visit Kagome benefactress, Kaede, flashed into his mind. Rin had Sesshomaru wrapped around her right index finger. He'd do almost anything for her, like save her from the most ferocious of demons. Rin was like a daughter to him. She would also be the only human he would ever feel compassion for.

As for this spar, Kagome had asked him if he'd like to engage in combat. Since nothing was occupying his mind at the moment, he had agreed. No peculiar or otherwise menacing scents drifted about the area around the village. The only real threat was to Jaken, who may or may not have a mane of flowers by the time he and the miko return, compliments of Rin. In spite of her efforts, Jaken's appearance doesn't improve. If anything, he probably hinders the beauty of the flowers.

The battle.

If Sesshomaru could go through a thought process that easily, that meant the priestess must finally be relenting in her attacks. He dares not strike lest she accidentally be killed. If that were to happen, that hanyo and his company would want his head. He would just rather avoid the conflict. Not only that, but Rin would cry. Truthfully, he'd rather severe his right arm than see Rin cry by his own actions. Thus, it was better to just protect himself against her attacks than to attack her.

Of course, the fact that she was protesting this and wanted him to attack her was not helping. Usually, such impudence and disrespect directed at him would be punishable by death. It would appear, though, that in the era she comes from, power has been equated through this new system of 'government,' or whatever the entity is referred to as. In murdering, one would pay penance by having their own life taken from them. Lives were taken everyday in the Sengoku-jidai period. Death didn't discriminate by race. Everything dies. More than likely with somebody behind it.

He let his guard down for a second, engrossed in that thought. At that same moment, an arrow enhanced with spiritual energy hit him in the left side of his chest, above his spiked pauldron. Its strength overpowered him to the extent of pinning him to a large rock that was close behind him.

"SESSHOMARU!" Kagome screamed, coming forward. By the sound of her voice, it appeared she hadn't meant for that to happen. Or at least, to not result in the fashion it did.

This had previously been InuYasha's fate. It must pain her to see another go through a predicament such as this...

With the way Kagome was, her kind-hearted disposition allowed her face to fill with sorrow, regret and... something else he couldn't quite place. Was it... care? Her sienna eyes welled with tears. Now she was crying for him. Thinking on it, nobody had really cried for an injury of his, except for maybe Rin.

"Cry not. Such a petty situation ails this Sesshomaru not-" A wince came to his face, making a contradiction of his words.

Though teardrops streamed down her face, sobs did not consume her. If there was anything Sesshomaru despised more than Naraku, it was to behold a crying woman. This was not unlike his younger half-brother.

"Sesshomaru... I didn't mean... I only... I didn't want to hurt you. But... now I've bound you as Kikyo had bound InuYasha. Sesshomaru, I'm sorry..." Burying herself in the side opposite of the arrow in his chest, she allowed her crying to intensify.

The silver-haired daiyokai didn't know what to do. He was bound to a rock by a sacred arrow whilst a female human, his half-brother's human, was clinging to him; doing the one thing he detested most: crying. For him, nonetheless. This was quite the conundrum. However, this wasn't one that he couldn't take control of. In fact, he could probably benefit from this. If he played his cards right, he could carry out a plot to infuriate his weak, hanyo, half-kin. It would amuse him to his fullest extents. He'll just make it up as he goes.

"Girl... Kagome... tell me this. Do you belong to InuYasha?" He already knew the answer to that inquiry. Though there be feelings, his clueless half-brother hadn't claimed her. The evidence of this? Her scent. Any demon, even a half-demon, could sense that a person has lost his or her purity. Kagome had not been taken. This was also emphasized by the fact that she could still utilize spiritual energy.

Looking up from the wet spot on Sesshomaru's haori, her eyes continued to glisten with tears not yet shed. "No. He belongs to Kikyo. There was a reason that she came before me."

"The undead priestess...? Hn. It's like him to choose the one that is only a shell of real life." Using his right arm, he set a clawed hand on her adjacent shoulder. He was unaccustomed to handing out free compliments, thus did he mold it into something that was relatively insulting as well. "Regardless of that, my half-brother would not deserve one who possesses such kindness like your own. With the arrogance he harbors, he would take it for granted. He'll not appreciate it until it was gone. In spite of your harboring of Kikyo's soul, you are nothing like her. She is apathetic, cold as ice and nothing more than clay and grave soil. You, on the other hand, brim with life and emotion." In order for Sesshomaru to effectively win this ningen over, he'd have to more or less affront the rival for InuYasha's affections. He hadn't had much romantic experience. This was being surprisingly simple, though. "In my own opinion, you exhibit more beauty."

He smelled blood rush to her cheeks, staining them carmine. The approach he was using was working, as she was blushing now. "Sesshomaru..." Now some other emotion was portrayed in her eyes. It appeared to be longing."

Why longing? I am present...

The aristocratic assassin beheld her sienna eyes. Ridden with care and compassion. Two things Sesshomaru lacked tremendously. When he had stated that the prietess was beautiful, he had not lied. She indeed was one who bore pulchritude. Yet, if she was a full-demon, he would be even more attracted to her. Not that he wasn't already. That petite, slender form she possessed would make any male; yokai, hanyo or ningen, lust on eye contact. Though the silver-haired demon lord despised mortals, even more so, the half-demon, he just found Kagome irresistible. And right now, she was clinging to him and not his idiotic half-brother. Perhaps this feeling was mutual.

The black-haired miko stared at him, wide-eyed. "Do you... do you have feelings for me, Sesshomaru?"

Snapping out of his entrancement with her eyes, his expression didn't change. "Are you implying that this Sesshomaru cares for anything? Harbor feelings of love toward anyone? Shall protect something? Wench, you are a human. Not only a human, but a miko. I, Lord Sesshomaru, care for naught."

"That doesn't answer my inquiry, ya know. It wasn't an open-ended question. Either yes or no."

She is not intimidated. Not even to the slightest extent. In fact, she looks positively hostile now. Oh, if only I hadn't been bound, it would likely be that I would be probing that mouth of hers right now... he mused.

"Answer me, Sesshomaru! Otherwise, I'll forge a string of Subjugation beads and get it out of you that way. I promise, I'll be merciless, O Ice Prince of the Western Lands."

If there was anything else that Sesshomaru disliked, it was Subjugation. That Kaede priestess had given InuYasha Subjugation beads. Whenever Kagome said "Sit," that hanyo would faceplant into a two-foot-deep crater. That also amused Sesshomaru.

Yet, this girl knows not how to respect. Never addressing me as "Lord"or "Sesshomaru-sama." I suppose, when I refer to her time, the custom of respect is nonexistent. It has disappeared within the sands of time. She shall learn it, however, if she is ever to be with me.

"You do realize that you have more of a chance with the tentacle-clad spider demon, correct?"

"Naraku is repulsive; why would you ever... anyway, that's getting off-topic. I want my answer. I want it now."

"You are ever-persistent, girl. This Sesshomaru..." Professing feelings had never been the daiyokai's thing. When the priestess had said "Ice Prince," she'd not been kidding. He had the emotional range of a fluorescent lightbulb. Well, mayhap not the emotional range, but when it came to the emotion portrayed on his face, he was apathetic. This, however, perhaps, would be made an exception.

"Sesshomaru... answer me... please... for my sake."

"Words mean nothing, girl. Words are just a shell of what is felt on the inside. It's the emotion you can see in one's eyes that tell you if he or she is partial to you or not. It's the passion in his or her caress, driven out of compassion, not lust. Even the most verbose of philosophers cannot accurately define this 'love' entity, because it is inexplicable, it is something that is unable to be defined. You, of all people, should know that."

"If... you think that deeply and believe that words really nothing... Also that emotion is only truly expressed through sight and skin contact... then you still haven't answered me," said Kagome, her eyes now telling him something different.

His acute sense of smell allowed his nose to fill with her scent. She smelled like the ocean. He closed his eyes, rapt by her aroma. When hazel met gold once more, the latter's eyes were softened, causing the miko to inhale sharply.

"So... the feeling is mutual," she whispered. Encircling the shaft of the arrow that impaled the left side of his chest with her hand, it turned a polychromatic pink and dematerialized in her hand.

Sesshomaru sank from where the arrow had bound him to the large rock. Kagome, being right there, enveloped him in her arms to stop him from sinking all the way to the ground by reflex.

The miko struggled to keep him up. At the moment, he was dead weight. His muscular content weighed him down. However, he regained his composure once his daze left him. She looked at him as if she expected a thank-you.

"Miko. You must speak of my weakness just then to none. I am not accustomed to weakness, nor am I to this... mentality you have so given me." He then did something that psychologically shocked even him. Using his one arm, he returned her embrace, his nostrils filling with the fruity scent of her raven hair. "Tell me, priestess. Why does the scent of your hair differ from your natural aroma?"

"Why? Is it acrid?" After pulling back a little from her, he saw a slightly worried expressioon on her face.

The silver-haired daiyokai laughed inwardly. "No. Quite the opposite," he replied. He said no more to add to that. He decided to answer her query in his own way. He didn't need to say anymore.

He lifted his one hand to brush against one of her cheeks. Placing his claws lightly along her left cheekbone, he leaned down to properly profess his feelings for her. He gently caressed her lips with his own. One of her hands also reached up to rest on his cheeks, her fingers placed along his top demon marking.

When they parted, the black-haired priestess embraced him again. Kissing her had sent this feeling through his body... When you're this Sesshomaru, you find love to be a needless emotion that has only one outcome: weakness. When you're this Sesshomaru, you've shunned your emotions, and give no compassion. You loathe pathos in any form. You abhor that of a human and every one of their useless emotions, except for maybe that of anger and fury. You build a barrier of ice around yourself that prevents any from being let in. Most importantly, you desire to protect none. You care for yourself solely.

Yet... Kagome's kindness... her warmth; the aura she possesses... melted his mentally-constructed barrier of ice. He had thought that it was impossible to fell... Yet she absolutely incinerated it. Burned it into metaphorical ashes. He'd not been able to forestall it, either.

The weakness she caused him disgusted him. This alien feeling that welled in his stomach when they had met at the lips... was just that. Alien. His mind told him to hate it, told him to reject that repulsive feeling. His heart, though... His cold, apathetic and virtually non-existent heart... told him to embrace it. It told him she wasn't like any other. It told him that if he doesn't claim her, InuYasha will.

InuYasha will.

His hanyo half-brother take her, Kagome? Take someone that is his and should have always been? He admitted to himself that even back in the Black Pearl, where they had officially met, she had been... beautiful. The fact that she was the one that had pulled Tetsusaiga from the platform surprised him. Her, a ningen... A young, inexperienced ningen that wasn't even from the feudal era of Japan.

As he had gazed at her after the caress of their lips, she withdrew slightly from the hug, hands resting at his sides. The miko looked into his eyes, not even acknowledging the innocence that her own bore.

She was perfection. As he beheld her face, he could only marvel at her beauty. A raven cascade f hair fell down her back and framed a tawny face so beauteous, it would pain him to look away, even if it would only be for a moment. Those sienna eyes gave him more incentive to not let his eyes stray, as they rendered him stunned and powerless with their softness. Her skin was as soft as her eyes. Those lips even more so.

The sun was now creeping under the horizon. It would soon be night. Moonlight would imminently reflect off of her hair to make her eerily luminous. That thought excited him.

A creature that possesses this much beauty is nw his. On impulse, his hand rose to stroke a cheek. One of her own ascended to cover his, as she closed her eyes, seemingly euphoric by just the feeling of his skin against her. He rotated his hand so their fingers could interlace.

What is this peculiar spark that I feel when our hands touch? Her own are soft to the touch, and more gentle than her dispositioon, when they should be calloused by the priestess's bow that is now lying forgotten in the grass. It is simply more reason to consider her perfect.

If only his arm hadn't been severed... he would be occupying both of her hands... He let his eyes stray from her face to gaze at their entwined hands. Hers was so much smaller than his. His hand appeared to swallow her own. Kagome was almost like a porcelain dol... If you are too rough with her, she may break... Humans were fragile, Sesshomaru knew; just beholding her seemed to emphasize that truth. He recognized that she could handle herself in a combative milieu such as medieval Japan.

Delicate as a cherry blossom... yet if you disturb her peace, she is as fierce as an enraged daiyokai...

Stepping in a bit closer, he initiated the embrace of their lips once more. He welcomed the unfamiliar feeling that welled in his stomach whenever he did so. He had to admit, her kiss mesmerized him, and her oceanic scent intoxicated him. Sesshomaru was internally delighted by it.

He broke the kiss to tell her, "You are beautiful, miko..." Excitement within him grew as he scented blood rush to her cheeks once more. Detangling his hand from hers, he set it back to her now crimson left cheek. It was now warm to the touch. "Even more so when you bear a blush caused by me..."

He did not know what the future would entail. He didn't care anymore what the hanyo would say to this... though he is likely to discover their being together very soon. What a better way to find this out than to detect a mating mark on the right side of Kagome's neck.

His hand fell to her throat. He leaned in once more, but this time, he descended past her delectable lips and straight to the pale flesh of her neck. Being so close, he could smell the sanguine fluid flowing from her heart through her carotid. Both of her hands he could feel now burying themselves into his argent mane. He could take a lack of skin contact no longer, as he bared his fangs and created twin punctures in her milky flesh.

He heard a gasp escape from her as his incisors sunk deeper. He ceased his advance into her neck just before they could pierce one of the two major veins located in her neck. He was sure she didn't know what he was doing... either that, or she was assuming he was fulfilling a fantasy. Whatever she was thinking... it didn't matter. They hadn't really mated, but he figured it would do until she was ready. That may take a while, as they had just realized their mutual feelings. It was fine, though. Sesshomaru wasn't planning on letting her go.

They would face the hostility of the Sengoku-jidai together. As they should've always done. Naraku shall die at their hands as well. Whether InuYasha likes it or not. They would do everything that would revolutionize Japan. He would protect her every step of the way. The Tenseiga could only bring a person back to life once. He would not be careless. She was his personal Aphrodite. She would never leave his sight again. Sesshomaru would not allow it. Despite that it was so early in their romance, he already loved her. And judging by the way she was whispering his name with so much emotion, it made him hug her closer as he lapped up the small amount of blood she was shedding, she loved him as well.