Gratitude

By kira

For slycats

Author's notes: Special thanks to my lovely betas, Jen and Hime-sama for making this fic possible.

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"Sesshomaru! Wait!"

The taiyoukai slowly turned around. He was sure whatever his brother's woman wanted it could not be that important. Then again, he reasoned, what if she knows where they've taken Rin…? He turned to face her.

"Speak, woman, this Sesshomaru, doesn't have all day."

"I just…"

He stared at her for several long, tense moments, before silently dismissing her by turning around and walking away.

"Sesshomaru!"

He stopped, his right hand slowly clenching and unclenching, as she was beginning to try his patience.

"I just want to…"

"What?" If anything happens to Rin because of your nonsense…

"I just wanted to thank you."

Puzzled and intrigued about what she was thankful for, Sesshomaru turned to face her. "Why?" he asked as he quirked his eyebrow at her, giving her the barest of nods as encouragement to continue.

"You saved our lives back there from the Shichinintai."

"This Sesshomaru did nothing of the sort."

"You did too!" Kagome insisted. "That horrible man poisoned us and was going to…" She trailed off, her cheeks heating up under his scrutiny. "Was going to do something terrible to me… And if you hadn't shown up demanding answers, who knows…" She frowned.

Sesshomaru nodded dismissively and started to leave again. His thoughts now focused on saving Rin, he was caught completely off guard by her actions.

Kagome reached out and grabbed his arm, her heart hammering at her own audacity. She froze when he turned to glare at her, and somehow she managed to let go. What did next shocked the two of them. Throwing caution to the wind, she cried, "Thank you!" and wrapping her arms around him, Kagome held on like she never wanted to let go.

The taiyoukai stiffened. He was unexpectedly torn between killing her for insolence and comforting her in much the same manner he had comforted Rin whenever something had upset her. Fortunately, Kagome made the decision an easy one when she let go and stepped back.

"Rin needs you," she said quietly, wiping her tears away.

Sesshomaru nodded. This time he was able to go without her stopping him…