Chapter Six: Illness

Kleenex, she'd still had one in her pocket and was thankful for it. She managed to wipe at her snot without alerting the demon lord holding onto her other hand. It was a slow process and by the time she'd finished crying and soaked the tissue she winced at littering it into the sea below them. Noticing for the first time that they had been speeding over water she slowly blinked at it and then at where they were headed.

The mountain she spotted in the distance was covered in snow at it's tip and was very familiar. It confused her that they would need to pass over the ocean to reach Mt. Fuji but more so that it had taken them this long to get there. They'd left in the morning and it was already well past noon. They shouldn't have been that far away with as quickly as Sesshomaru had been moving them.

His skin was warm, something that stood out now that she was thinking about it. It was still far too early in spring to be very warm, they didn't have the protection of the trees and the winds were picking up here compared to where they'd started. It was as if the soft grip of those clawed fingers was the only thing keeping her from being completely numb.

It was at least much harder to cry when you were shivering. Her cheeks and nose being red was covered by the high altitude and quick travel even if the pink of her eyes wouldn't be covered she wasn't as nervous when she finally gained a glance from Sesshomaru.

He'd stopped them, though they were still weightless and just levitating midair where they'd paused. She could make out the mountain a little more clearly and realized it wasn't large enough to be Mt Fuji but looked a lot like it. Which probably made it Mt. Yotei, an active stratovolcano in Hokkaido. They'd traveled all the way to the north in an afternoon?

It was a breathtaking view, the northern land was still almost completely covered in ice, the spring warmth hadn't touched it at all yet. She pulled the long sleeve of the priestess outfit closer to her face and tried to warm her free hand, silently glad she'd chosen to keep on the more covering outfit than the revealing school uniform.

Sesshomaru moved them again and she found the sensation of touching ground awkward after the long time flying with him, though once he let go of her hand it seemed like even more cold crept in and the shivering was renewed.

"They are near here." Sesshomaru's voice was certain. "I can smell them, but it is still several miles. You aren't well, we should pause in the human settlement."

While his tone was generally neutral it was difficult to disguise the irritation such a prospect gave him. He didn't like humans and generally they reacted in such a way he'd be forced to swat them.

"Um...I can go alone." Kagome couldn't stop her teeth from chattering as she said it, she didn't like the idea of Sesshomaru and a villiage any more than he did. It was larger than a lot of the villages they saw but it seemed to be a port for any ships coming to the north so that was logical enough. To Kagome it was just more people Sesshy would kill if they got in his way.

She tried to walk that way but found herself wavering and needing to stop to try to catch her balance before she fell. She was dizzy and lightheaded, the cold was definitely effecting her. "No, I don't want to be sick. It's not the horrible disease but I can't be sick right now." She thought frantically but before she could try to walk again she was enveloped in warm and lifted from the ground again. Glad for the pink in her cheeks as she stared at Sesshomaru carrying her again. "This is happening too much lately."

He didn't smell like last time, instead it was more like the smallest hint of freshly cut grass and dew in the morning. Though his face hadn't changed from the staquesqe tranquility of the last time. He was the single most beautiful creature she'd ever laid eyes on and in the last few days of being close to him she was convincing herself that description was a grand understatement.

She could tell he was carrying her again, she somewhat wanted to protest but just couldn't get the energy, she instead occupied her time trying to memorize every line and detail of his face, not that it would be easily forgettable even if she didn't.

"This woman is sick, we require a warm room with a fire and food for her." His baritone was strong and rumbled in his chest almost like a deep growl waiting to be released. She wasn't sure all the shivering was from the cold.

"Yes of course, we'll get right to it Lord Sesshomaru." Kagome didn't bother to look away to see the person speaking to him, somehow they were more muted. She didn't really feel as cold now, and it was very warm inside, it felt downright hot. Just how many fires did they have burning in here? They were going to sweat themselves out of other people visiting at this rate, but she couldn't complain, she was just too tired.

"She has a fever." The woman that had come to attend to the fires in the separate but large room and that had brought the food as well as a bowl of water and towels. "How long was she out in the cold? She's sleeping now but her breath sounds shallow, she probably has something in her chest. She'll need to be kept warm and whenever she wakes up you'll need to get her to drink some water and eat some of the soup if you can manage."

Sesshomaru didn't reply, the added frustration of being forced to visit one of his mother's estates was enough that keeping his dealings with the humans to a minimum was wise. Even if they were better about showing respect placement as well as delay were making him restless. If they didn't hurry then things could only get worse...but as it had begun to snow and was looking to be quite a blizzard they should have a little time.

The disease demons had rarely picked to move during poor weather and thus far they hadn't changed habits, if luck held out then they wouldn't this time either. Hopefully the storm would hold out through the girls sickness so she would have time to properly recover. He'd already requested new garments for the weather be made for her, he knew anything he asked would be followed when he was on the holy land of the north. Humans here worshiped demons in a way unheard of or ostracized on the mainland.

Thankfully the poor weather should cover his scent from his mother as well, so the good part of the day had been the growing storm.

As it was the place smelled of smoke so much it was difficult to pick out other things, with the human need for warmth in such conditions they needed the fires. Though his senses were offended he knew Kagome needed to be kept warm to recover. They would try to burn out the fever, the sooner it broke the better.

He eyed her and the way she was turning her head a little, the small slant of her eyebrows and wrinkle in her lip before her mouth moved as well. She was muttering so lowly he couldn't make out what she was saying, if anything decipherable at all. Those along with the fluttering of her lashes made him realize she was dreaming. Having a nightmare seemed more likely given the pained expression on her face.

Despite the fact that she was wincing a little he had to admit she was pretty for a human, she didn't have a lot of the ache or skin problems many of the creatures her age seemed to possess. No physical imperfections he had seen, she was certainly not shy about showing it off either given the strange outfit she normally wore.

Her hair was exceptionally pretty compared to almost any other human he'd seen, it was soft and even, shiny even. He'd rarely seen non-demons with such lovely tresses, the long silky black locks didn't possess any of the grim and tangles that the majority of the populace would have. It made him wonder if she wasn't from either a distinguished family or possibly a distant geisha house, those were the only two castes of people he could think of that kept themselves so clean.

There was the option of being raised by a militarist family but given her reactions and behavior he doubted that one. She was too innocent and open with her emotions for that to be very realistic. The most likely one was that she was somehow related to mortal nobility.

As he watched she was getting worse, her face had crunched further, nose wrinkling with forehead and frown drawing deeply across her lips. "No, no, please, inuyasha stop..."

She'd hardly whispered it but Sesshomaru's hearing was beyond the average, he moved over to pull the blankets back up she was pushing off, surprised when she calmed at him touching her shoulder. It was a easily noticeable change.

Her body and face relaxed and the sigh of relief was audible, it was almost as if his touch had ceased the bad dreams that had seemed to be haunting her previously.

Was she that disturbed? That any contact, even that of a demon such as himself, would offer her solace to such a degree? Another irritation but one he could indulge without a loss of dignity, he sat next to the mat where she was so he wouldn't be relocating himself anytime she began to mutter again.

Then he noticed her bag and eyed the contents as the top was open. She'd always lugged the bright yellow thing around with her and while it wasn't uncommon for women to have smaller purses it seemed a bit much. There were a bunch of books, the quality of which he hadn't seen before. It was enough to make him reach out and pick one out, a few boxes of ramen, some granola bars, and a couple bottles of water shifting around to fill in the new space of the overstuffed backpack.

The lettering was exceptionally crisp and he could barely feel the difference the touch of ink had caused on the paper. All of it was smooth, there were pictures of the like beyond the best of artists to capture. The language was a little different but Japanese, it was hard to read parts and some words he didn't recognize. Possibly a dialect from the southern provinces as he'd never visited them before, he didn't like the lord of the southern lands.

Books themselves were already quite rare, most written things were kept on scrolls, only recently had the way of keeping the written word reached them from lands far beyond their own. A few had come to his library by way of traveling demons that knew he had a taste for learning all he could of all lands, local or foreign. None of them had been anything like this though, most of them were fragile and he'd actually had them being translated into scrolls so they wouldn't completely break.

This gave him reason to reconsider the format, if it was done to this quality it would definitely be more convenient. How she'd gotten such smooth and thin paper was something he was curious about. The book itself was interesting, it appeared to be something akin to a book of stories, also not overly common in a time where only the most famous of tales earned a place on scroll.

He couldn't completely follow it but the story appeared to be about a mouse helping a lion by taking a thorn from it's foot. Then the lion later helped the mouse when it was being chased by another predator. An entertaining tale if a bit off from how he would see things going. Exctic choice of animal, though he understood the ideal behind it, it was clever enough. Humans were capable of being entertaining in such venues at times, not that he'd normally admit it.

At least he'd found a way to pass the time while he waited for Kagome to get better, turning the page to another tale quietly as the workers came in to check on her and force her to drink some water. He didn't watch them but instead found himself being pulled into another tale.

End Chapter

So I figured Sesshy would be interested in reading, he just seems like the sort to be a bookworm when he's not out slaying his enemies.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Sugar0o - That's true. Kagome is destined to be screwed and confused I guess with all those souls in there.

crimsonmoon19 - Yeah I suppose so, but I decided to change that for the idea of not wanting to bring him back to life in my fiction.

BiNeko - It's more repsect for a former comrade. She helped defeat Naraku after all.

xokaggyfanox - Well, I'd be frightened if doing the right thing possibly meant getting a horribly painful disease and then going insane.

BleedingBlackRose - Aw I'm glad you are such a fan, I need to see if I can possibly salvage my laptop someday but it looks bad. :(