Okay guys, this is my first Inu-Yasha fic. Hope you like it! be gentle, but don't worry about giving me criticism. I can take it! ^_^;; just no flamies please.

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A Wintery Wish

Kagome poked her head out of the well in Inu-Yasha's time, and shivered
at the change. It had only been mid forties or so in her time, but
here it was freezing. She pulled herself up, almost overbalancing. A
clawed hand wrapped around her wrist, pulling her roughly up and out of
the well. "Geez, wench, think you've packed enough stuff?" Inu-Yasha
asked, scowling slightly.

"Well, Mom must have packed a few extra things for me. She does that
sometimes and forgets to tell me. I swear I didn't pack so much!!" she
protested, shifting the pack. She had left her bike in her time,
figuring that if it snowed here like it was predicted to at home a bike
would just be extra useless weight.

"Whatever, now come on. Sango and Miroku are waiting on us. Shippou's
probably asleep, the little furball," he said, and bent down. "They
set up camp a few miles from here, so you'll have to ride if we want to
make good time. Kaede-baba's expecting snow soon. Feh!" Kagome
climbed on board, and Inu-Yasha sprang off, grumbling under his breath about
her tendency to overpack. After about forty minutes, the sun had begun
to set.

"Inu-Yasha, what did you mean by a 'few' miles?" Kagome asked,
wondering how it could possibly take this long for someone who could travel a
football field in three bounds or less.

"About twenty," the hanyou replied, shifting positions. "Did I ever
tell you how heavy your stupid pack was?"

"Twenty?!" Kagome exclaimed. "Ugh, Inu-Yasha you are impossible!! YOU
may have demonic strength but certain other people don't, and I dislike
traveling so far in one go. Can we please make camp for the night?
Pleaase?" Inu-Yasha sighed; he hated it when she used that tone and knew
if he dared look she'd have puppy eyes trained on him full blast. He
was getting tired anyway; that pack really WAS overloaded.

"Fine, fine, but only because you're a weak human who needs to rest,"
he replied, landing softly and crouching to allow her off. She poked
through her pack and discovered a thick blanket. Sighing gratefully and
silently thanking the gods that she had such a thoughtful mother, she
unfolded it and curled up to sleep. Inu-Yasha had already perched in a
tree above her. Faintly she heard him say, "Feh!" as he folded his
arms and turned his face away from her. She smiled slightly; same old
impossible Inu-Yasha. Looking up at the sky, she saw a shooting star
flash by and gasped. Silently she made her wish and drifted off to sleep
with a smile.

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The next morning she awoke when she felt something wet on her cheek.
Opening her eyes, she saw a gentle snow beginning to fall. "Inu-Yasha,
look, it's snowing!" she cheered, shaking off her blanket and refolding
it. The hanyou gave a start, and almost fell out of the tree.

"Yeah, yeah, wet white flakes falling from the sky. That's not all
that peculiar in winter, you know," he said waspishly. "Ready to go? We
can have breakfast when we get there; we've made them wait long
enough."

"I'll make Ramen," Kagome said sneakily, knowing that it would get him
to stay.

"Ramen?"

"Ramen."

"I suppose a quick breakfast won't hurt," he said, sitting down to wait
for the Ramen, smiling.

Meanwhile...

"Sango, Shippou, come on, we've got to find a town," Miroku said,
waking them both up. A centimeter of snow lay on them, and they sneezed as
they woke up. "Come on, there's one really close to here. But we have
to hurry; I fear that a full-blown blizzard is coming," he said
urgently, studying the sky. Sango got up to stand beside him.

"It's blowing up fast. You're right, let's go," she said, picking up a
still-drowsy Shippou. She tensed as she felt Miroku's hand sneak
around to her backside... "HENTAI!" she yelled, thwapping him upside the
head. Nothing too hard, as he needed to be able to walk. "Get the
blankets and let's go," she fumed, stalking off towards the town. Miroku
simply grinned, then gathered up the blankets and followed. They knew
Inu-Yasha could take care of himself, and Kagome too.

"It's getting awfully cold," Kagome said, her teeth beginning to
chatter. Inu-Yasha had insisted they walk for a bit so that she didn't get
sick on him when they traveled. She had a long skirt on rather than her
usual short one, but her legs were still freezing.

"Shoulda brought pants," Inu-Yasha huffed. They'd wasted enough time
already. He shouldn't have given in to her breakfast request, but it
was Ramen... No use worrying about that now, though. The snowfall had
begun to increase as well, becoming a thick downpour rather than a gentle
flurry. Fortunately there wasn't any wind to blow it around. Yet. As
if sensing his pessimistic approach, a breeze began to blow, getting
slightly stronger.

Kagome merely sighed; it was just so cold... Fleetingly she wondered if
her mother had put pants in her pack, but there wasn't any way
Inu-Yasha would stop and let her check. She shivered against the wind and
wished melting snow wasn't quite so wet. She was getting soaked to the
bone.

Inu-Yasha pressed on. Being half-demon, he wasn't quite as affected as
Kagome by the freezing temperatures and biting wind. Sticking his arms
in the sleeves of his haori, he turned to check on Kagome's progress.
She trudged along, shivering and chattering. He sighed; she was so
fragile. It wasn't fair.

Kagome felt the weight on her back lifting slightly. "Want me to take
that?" Inu-Yasha asked gruffly, his bangs hiding his eyes. She smiled
gratefully at him and nodded. Hefting it onto his own back, he
continued on. Kagome realized a slight mistake in that; it felt much better
to have it off but now it was no longer protecting her back. 'Oh well,
can't have everything, can I?' she thought.

They kept walking for what seemed like hours upon hours to Kagome. She
was freezing cold, but she didn't want to say anything to Inu-Yasha.
He wouldn't want to stop. He never did. Funny that. He would only
ever stop if she wanted him to really badly. She smiled briefly. She
felt so numb, it was like she wasn't even in her own body any more. She
was on automatic, trudging through the snow without even thinking about
it.

Inu-Yasha turned to check on her again; she'd been entirely too quiet.
"Kagome, if you want you can ride now," he said, beginning to get
concerned. She didn't answer, just kept pushing towards him. "Kagome? Did
you hear me?" he asked, puzzled. She bumped against him, then looked
up at him and smiled faintly. Inu-Yasha gasped; her eyes seemed so
empty!

"Oh hi, Inu-Yasha," she said dreamily. "Inu-Yasha, what a funny name.
Oh what pretty ears you have!" She seemed delirious. He put a hand to
her face and jerked away in shock. She was ice cold. "Oh my, I think
my legs are gone," she said in wonder, then collapsed.

"Kagome!!" he yelped, pulling her to her feet. She was unconscious,
and her mouth was tinged with blue. "Got to find some shelter," he
muttered to himself, sweeping her up bridal-style as he bounded off to find
somewhere to stay. "Don't you dare die on me," he said gruffly,
keeping his voice low so it wouldn't crack. Even if she was unconscious he
didn't want her to hear him. Finally he found a hut, old and creaky but
leak-free and dry. Almost panicky, he felt for a pulse. Still there,
but very faint, and her breathing was far too shallow. Frantically, he
dumped the contents of her pack on the floor. A picture in one of her
spellbooks caught his attention. The person was blue around the lips
and fingers, just like Kagome. He read it, hoping it would provide
instructions. He'd never seen a blue human before.

"Hypothermia," he read aloud, the strange word rolling around his
mouth. "Get the victim to a safe dry place. Remove all wet clothing and
provide as much heat as possible. Wait a minute... remove...!!" He
blushed furiously, but knew the spellbook was right. Kagome would freeze
to death if he didn't do something. Scratching through the rest of the
junk, he found her blanket. Turning to Kagome, he hesitated slightly.
He could practically feel the 'sit's coming. "The book told me to, the
book told me to," he chanted, stripping Kagome quickly. He wrapped her
in the blanket, and started a cheery fire with firewood left in the
little hut. The hard packed earthen floor wouldn't burn. After banking
up the fire high, he then turned back to the book. "Body heat is
usually the fastest and best way to heat up a victim." Sighing and knowing
he was toast when she woke up, he pulled her limp form into his lap,
taking off his overshirt and wrapping her in it. Curling around her, he
chanted softly to himself. "The book told me to, the book told me to,
the book..." Hopefully she would hear it when she woke up. If she woke
up. He shuddered, and not from the cold. The blank look in her eyes
had frightened him more than a hundred demons all at once. "Don't leave
me, Kagome," he whispered, hugging her closer. "I love you." He felt
better to have admitted it to himself. Still chanting his monotonous
litany, he drifted into a half-sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome woke slowly, like she was dragging her conscious mind out of
molasses. The first thing she noticed was that she felt rather warm -
almost cozily so. The second was a breathy whisper that kept saying
something about a book right in her ear. Opening her eyes as she became
fully conscious, she stiffened. "The book told me to," the voice mumbled,
once she was awake enough to understand it. She was covered only in
Inu-Yasha's haori overshirt and her thick blanket; her wet clothes were
spread out to dry by a dying fire. Also wrapped around her was the
hanyou himself and only his mysterious chant kept her from yelling 'sit'
about a hundred times. Looking around from the warm cover (she had to
admit it was kind of nice) she saw her Biology book lying open to the
page marked "Hypothermia." She gasped, and Inu-Yasha stirred. Had she
really almost died?

"Kagome?" Inu-Yasha whispered, his voice raspy and rough. He turned
her around to face him and stared into her eyes for a moment. The normal
calm brown of her eyes reassured him, made him almost giddy with
relief. She in turn found herself melting under the warm yellow-gold gaze,
shadowed with concern and something else. She had no time to speak
before she was enveloped in a fierce hug. "Oh Kagome, I thought I'd lost
you," he whispered painfully, a sob catching in his throat. He pushed
her back, holding her by her shoulders at arm's length, just staring
into her eyes for a minute, reaffirming that her soul was there and she
wasn't a zombie anymore.

Kagome blinked in surprise; tears were threatening to spill over in the
hanyou's eyes. Putting a finger to his cheek, she caught it as it
spilled over. "Why... why are you crying?" she asked, blinking at the
salty liquid on her hand then gazing at Inu-Yasha. He put a hand to her
face, delicately tracing her jawline, his eyes softening. He leaned
forward, and kissed her. It was not the usual Inu-Yasha roughness either;
the kiss was gentle, chaste, even shy. He drew her into his lap once
more, using such gentleness it was almost hard to believe this was still
Inu-Yasha.

"Kagome... I love you," he whispered into her ear, and hugged her as he
lay his head on her shoulder. Kagome was astounded for a few moments,
then smiled as she blushed faintly.

"I love you too, Inu-Yasha," she said softly, leaning into his warm
embrace. They stayed that way for a while, listening to the silence only
broken by the whistling of the wind outside and the crackling of the
fire. Kagome smiled; her wish had come true.

Fin.