Thank you two everyone who's read my fic thus far! I really appreciate that. Feel free to review. I would love to hear what you all have to say!

Once again, Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha and all characters related. I own Rain, and the stuff about Murasaki-sama. This would not be fanfiction if I owned Inuyasha in the first place.

Chapter Four: Tsuwamono Miko Shows Her Hand

Rain gasped as they went through the gate to Kaede's village. It was more that she could have ever pictured. ' Man, these villages put feudal Europe to shame. They're so beautiful...'

A pleasant stream murmmured its way past the village. Despite the worn roads, it seems an explosion of green, green not found in present time. Rain smiled to herself. This was definately a place she could get used to. The surprisingly large houses were of beautifully hewn lumber, polished in a way that further surprised her. She could help but tear up just a little.

Kaede stopped the cart in front of her house attached to the village shrine. Rain slowed her mount to a stop, dismounting gracefully despite the lack of a proper saddle. She could think of no way this moment could ever be ruined.

" Drop me and I swear I will kill you!" Sesshomaru bellowed, proving her wrong.

Rain rolled her eyes. Miroku had a hold of Sesshomaru's legs, Inuyasha carried the statue with his hands. Nothing supported the youkai's midsection. He was nearly bent in half and squirming worm-style against those who held him.

She handed the horse's reins to Shippou. " Shippou-chan, would you please ask Kaede from whom she borrowed this horse and return him? I have to go save the day again."

Shippou hesitated. " Why should I?"

Rain chuckled. " Do you think I would just ask anyone to do this? I know you can do it and I trust that you will do it well."

Shippou grinned and skipped off with the horse in tow. Rain smiled to herself again and jogged in the direction of the three men. " Inuyasha, Miroku! Wait up!"

Rain slipped herself under Sesshomaru's chest, her head just under his chin. She pushed upward slowly, easing Sesshomaru's back to a straighter position. She ignored the rumble in his chest as he growled at her.

" What are you doing, fool?" he demanded, hitting her in the head with his chin as he spoke.

" What does it look like I'm doing, playing shogi?" Rain snapped back, struggling to hold him up and walk. " I'm trying to save you from a chiropractic nightmare, since these two were folding you in half. A simple ' Thank you Rain for trying to make me more comfortable even though I've tried to kill you' would suffice."

Neither youkai or human said anything more, except to themselves. Rain was surprised that the taiyoukai was so warm. She'd expected more of a cold dead body feel, yet rigimorits definately had not set in. He was pliant, actual blood running through his veins rather than ice.

Sesshomaru yelled at himself over and over again. ' This is not happening!' He refused to feel more comfortable with the woman pressed against him to prevent permanent spine damage. He refused admit he liked her scent, the mix of woman and ripe raspberries. He wished it really wasn't happening when is brother and the monk dropped him smack on top of her. She crumpled under his weight with a muffled 'oof'.

Rain squeaked. " Inuyasha? Miroku? Guys?"

" They're gone. " Sesshomaru sighed deeply. " Off to help the other pathetic wenches."

" Are you sure you want to call me pathetic right now?" Rain's tone was threatening as she shifted her leg so her heel was just under a very delicate place on him. " I have the power to make you quite uncomfortable."

" You wouldn't dare."

She added little pressure to her threat. " I dare."

" When I get out from under this statue, I'm killing you first."

" When I get out from under you, I'm gonna' smack you into next week. Gah! Now stop breathing doen my neck. It tickles."

Sesshomaru tried to shift himself off her with no avail. ' That wound must have weakened me more than I previously thought.'

" Why don't you try moving, wench?"

Rain snarled. " I'm just a dumb human woman, what can I do?"

" Do you wish to be stuck like this?"

Rain wiggled as best she could but somehow, she couldn't get free either. All she did was flip herself around to face him. " The spell must be working on me as well. This is awkward."

" You speak the obvious, little wench."

Rain groaned. " You call me more crap than anyone. I'm either fool, wench, little human or weakling to you. My name is Rain, please call me that."

" Why should I, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands, lower myself to your level and call you by name?" He made a face akin to being force-fed a lemon.

" Because,I, Rain Freemark, saved you from the blade of the taijiya Sango not once but twice, when you were in no position of defend yourself. The second was at risk to my own life, I might add."

Sesshomaru barely prevented his jaw from dropping onto her face. " You mean jumping those pititful fences was actually dangerous?"

"Yes, very much so. If the horse had spooked and ran off, or balked at a fence, I could have been thrown. That could cripple me for life or kill me. Not to mention the horse could have been injured, and most likely would have been put down on my account. I value life that much to take that risk. I haven't taken any horse back riding lessons since I was fourteen so I was rusty as well." Rain swallowed a bit, the fullness of her risk hitting her like a ton of bricks.

" Why did you do this, Rain?" Sesshomaru narrowed his golden eyes to better see her face, which was paler than before, if that were possible.

Rain swallowed again. " What else am I supposed to do for a friend?" 'He actually said my name...I like my name when he says it...'

" You don't want me as a friend. I don't need them, you should learn to live without them."

Rain's face became unreadable to the stoic youkai as she spoke. " That's such a sad existance. What made you so cold?"

Sesshomaru refused to answer such a prying question, especially when Rain's fragile body was giving off a dizzying array of signals that his powerful sense of smell would not let him ignore. From his expierence, he knew that humans had a scent that went along with frustration. Rain was loaded with it. There was no trace of fear only the last scent he'd expected. She was mildly aroused, a thing apparently uncommon for her, as it was clear in her scent mix that she'd never been with a man before. In that respect, this was new to her so he didn't blame her. On the other hand, he scolded himself severely, as he was giving off his own arousal scent, much to his surprise.

Grateful that Rain didn't seem to notice this, he found his voice again, though at first it came out lower and hotter than he remembered. " It is normal for a youkai to be what you call 'cold'."

" Explain the youkai that do show emotion then, even if it's just the negative ones?" Rain's voice was barely a whisper. " You have none, or at least you face doesn't show it. It's like you were not born, but carved from white marble. Beautiful, but always cold to the touch."

' Am I truly that cold?' the taiyoukai mused to himself. ' I should be, as long as it keeps me from giving in to this wench...who's completely in touch with her warmth. No wonder I cannot read her face well...'

" I really hope that no one thinks anything bad about us because of this." Rain chuckled. " To the casual observer, we look a bit too comfortable, even if you don't have use of your hands...wait...Kagome told me you only had one arm! Inuyasha had cut off your left arm..."

Sesshomaru growled a bit as she trailed off. " My stupid half brother did indeed cut my left arm off. It had been slowly regenerating, until yesterday. It was there when I woke up."

"You have no idea how lucky you are to be able to do that."

" Shame you're a human." Sesshomaru replied in feigned boredom. " I might be inclined to like you if you were a demoness."

" Oh thank you." Rain's voice dripped with sarcasm. " At least I don't want to change you."

" Who said I wanted to change you?"

" You did."

" I never said I wanted to like you, therefore I don't care if you remain human."

Rain elbowed him. " Youkai... so stubborn!"

" Humans... so weak. " He kneed her in the leg, almost playfully. Almost.

Rain chuckled and kicked him back. " Sesshomaru...so dang heavy..."

Sesshomaru didn't miss a beat. " Rain...so damn fidgity..."

Rain became still. " See, I'm not that fidgity."

"Your heartbeat makes you twitch. " Sesshomaru corrected, leaving out the fact that it was not all of her, but her ample chest pressed tightly against his that was twitching. This was just one more thing he was surprised to enjoy more than he expected. " Lucky for you, Twitchy Wench of the Bone Eater's Well, someone is coming. The old woman and that Kagome wench."

Just as he finished speaking, Kagome and Kaede walked in, cheefully chatting about seemingly random things. Kagome stopped a bit upon seeing Sesshomaru lying there. She still hadn't gotten used to his presence, since he'd tried to kill her more than once that she could remember. That became fleeting though, when she noticed someone missing.

" Kaede- baachan, have you seen Rain? I thought she was still in here. I saw her help Inuyasha and Miroku bring him in here and she never back out."

Rain squirmed a hand out from undernethe Sesshomaru, waving it like mad. " I'm over here under Sesshomaru-sama! Please help!"

Kaede's good eye sparkled with glee. " Sesshomaru-sama does like humans. Such a horrible liar."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. " You can thank my idiot brother and the perverted monk for this awkward situation."

Kaede and Kagome, with far more effort than expected, managed to move youkai lord enough so that Rain could slip out from under him. She actually felt a bit weird about it, as if she'd been comfortable where she had been. ' Rain Noelle Freemark, get a hold of yourself right now! You are not the least bit attracted to the Giant Idiot of the Western lands. He's rude, arrogant and has a superiority complex the size of Asia. He's a friend at the very most...'

The others filed in, along with a pair of new face. Myoga the flea sat on Inuyasha's shoulder, prattling on about who knows what. Kouga the wolf youkai that Rain had heard about earlier, followed Kagome like a puppy following a porkchop. Rain chuckled in amusement as Inuyasha sent him the look of death.

Rain spent the next few minutes listening to everyone explain the story of Midoriko and Murasaki. As she listened to Murasaki's prophecy, her eye went wide. ' This is a lot to take in...'

Kaede noticed her expression. " Rain-chan, there seems to be confusion in thy face."

" I don't understand how this pertains to me."

Kagome sighed. " We think you may be the person Murasaki-sama was talking about."

"ME!" Rain cried.

Sesshomaru did his version of cracking up. " Like she could ever change this whole land."

Rain glared at him, then went back to her previous expression. " So you're saying that I'm supposed to change this time? That the head Tsuwamono miko, who died ages ago, even from this time, said that I would come here?"

Kaede nodded, her good eye dancing. " I'm am almost sure that you are she that Murasaki-sama spoke of."

Rain smirked, her look almost smug. " You wouldn't be hiding anything now would you, Baachan?"

Kaede nearly howled with laughter. " Thou art quite perceptive to have caught this crafty old miko. I was indeed hiding part of Murasaki's prophecy."

Inuyasha huffed. " Why'd ya' do that old woman? Don'tcha' think we should have known?"

Myoga finally spoke up. " Kaede-san did precisely what the prophecy called for. I am familiar with this tale myself. If a woman is suspected of being this woman, she is not told the entire story, nor are those around her."

Kaede nodded. " Myoga-san is correct. This omission is because she that is the prophesied one would recognize that the story of her coming is not being told in full. Rain, thou hast recognized that your story is incomplete."

Rain put her hand to her chin to prevent it from dropping. " So, what did you leave out?"

Kaede's eyes flashed. " That you will possess the Yomigae no Tama within your body. Until it is remove, you will be sought for it's power."

Rain fell backwards and groaned, pretending to twitch. "Wonderful...just wonderful..."

Kaede leaned over. " Art thou alright?"

Sesshomaru smirked. " Some miko you are. You can't even tell when someone's being overly dramatic."

Rain snapped back into sitting position. " Shut your giagantic trap you overstuffed,overbred, egotisical jerk! I've had enough of your insults to everyone here. It's digusting that even thought you're at our mercy right now you can still go on and on about how everyone is inferior to you. You're the inferior one because you can't see the value of life, the value to friends, the value of anything that really matters in this life! You're ungreatful for your father's gift of the Tenseiga, even though the darn sword still protects you. You've been given power to halt death in its tracks. You've been given so much yet you can't, just once, think of someone besides yourself. What if you got yourself killed? Where would that leave Rin? Jaken can't protect her forever, he can't provide for her like you do. Do you even care at all about anyone? You saved Rin, but you drag her into dangerous situations all the time. "

Everyone paled as Sesshomaru stiffed. Every word cut him like the sharpest of blades. Yet he couldn't let her get away with this insult. " How dare you speak to me like this! I am the lord of the Western Lands!"

Rain narrowed her eyes. " How dare I speak like this to you? Maybe if people spoke to you like this more often, your head would deflate back to its normal size. I don't care if you are the lord of the Western lands. Where I come from, that doesn't matter one little bit. I speak to you like this because this is how you speak to someone who's been nothing but horrible to the people I care about."

Sesshomaru readied a retort, when children's screams shot through the anger tangibly winding about the room. Rain shot to her feet and sprinted out the door without a word.

"Shippou! Rin!" she cried.

Sesshomaru panicked a brieft moment. 'I can't do anything for Rin...not like-huh?'

The ofuda sealing him to the statue fluttered to the ground like a landing butterfly, bearing the scent of raspberries.