Warm Feelings on a Chilly Day

AN: Originally posted for Ebony Silk's Week 15: Autumn. Wow, that was a while ago. I have to start writing again:) Oh, and I don't own Inuyasha.

Kagome kicked her feet through the gathering leaves as she walked with her tachi through the woods.

She hadn't been home in a month, Inuyasha was in a rather nasty mood, and the autumn chill was making goose bumps rise on her exposed skin (damn her uniform!). And yet… Kagome was filled near to bursting with happiness.

The teenage miko closed her eyes and released a breath of… excited content. She could barely contain her glee. The happiness in her heart was undeniable – and caused by the most unlikely of beings.

It still amazed Kagome that she had fallen for Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru – the cold-hearted, Jaken-stomping, evil-demon-sword wielding, human-hating taiyoukai of the west. Kagome giggled at this mental picture. She could still visualize his infamous frigid glare.

How differently he looked at her now! Kagome's exhilaration returned full force with her most recent memory of Sesshoumaru's mesmerizing eyes. They shone with impossible warmth as he presented her with a bracelet emblazoned with his own crescent symbol. Kagome smiled softly. Sesshoumaru's eyes… they warmed her hard and dangerous life… like the way that today's golden sun cut through the autumn chill.

Inuyasha growled slightly and unsheathed Tessaiga. Kagome reached out with her powers and fingered her bow. And then a familiar youki caressed her senses, reminding Kagome of the autumn breeze that whirled gently around her.

And her burning inner happiness was veritably set aflame - aflame like the leaves that drifted around her - as her demon lord stepped through the trees.