Author Note: Hmm… my writing is getting terrible. My friend (who's NOT my friend anymore) used to tell me I was a good writer, and without her I feel like any skill I had just ran out the door. Oh well. Despite that fact that I have no confidence in my abilities, here I am, continuing. I'm kinda glad that I've gotten a little more contact between our favorite Taiyoukai and Miko, though.

Don't be surprised if there are a few mistakes in this chapter, I didn't bother to go over it very well (lazy!!) But yeah, same as always. Just read on, my friends.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of InuYasha (to my dismay). They belong to Rumiko Takahashi, not me.

Chapter Seven

I'm Only Human

Her scent was so much sweeter and livelier when she was as close as she was. He wasn't able to feel her through his armor, but her face was buried into his shoulder, her tears soaking through his haori. Suddenly his hands were on her shoulders and pushing her back from him, trying to prevent thoughts from roaming where not needed.

Foggy blue eyes batted stray tears away and she wipe of her tearstained cheeks with her delicate wrist, sniffling slightly. "I'm sorry…" she whined, voice strained from the tears. "I just… I didn't think you were going to come for me… I though I was going to die. I didn't mean…" her words faded as she looked up cautiously to see him staring at her.

Watching her cry like that, feeling her holding him like that, it made him realize how warm it made him feel. The last time he was hugged by anyone, other than Rin, was his Mother, and that had been centuries ago. He suddenly longed to hold the ningen again, to bring that familiar warmth back into his now cold, shell of a body.

"Sesshou…maru?" she asked timidly, any color that remained in her chilled, moistened cheeks flooding away. 'Okay… maybe I should ignore the impulse to latch on to homicidal Demon Lords from now on…'

"Let's go."

She blinked and realized that she had been staring, too. She shook her head, heavy damp hair settling over her shoulders and she followed him out the door of the cabin. When the sound of footsteps ceased behind him, he turned to see the miko kneeling down and rubbing her ankle.

Kagome hissed in pain and realized that somehow her ankle had become sprained. She felt herself being pinned with a stare and looked up, putting on a fake smile. "Its fine, my ankle is just a little sore." With a little more effort than should have been necessary, she was up on her feet again and came forward, stopping behind the Taiyoukai when he still didn't move.

"You can keep going…" she said, a little confounded. Sesshoumaru dropped down to a crouch, radiant hair falling softly over his shoulders like snow. "On my back," his voice was hoarse, demanding.

Kagome took a half step back and waved her hands in front of her. "N-no, it's fine. I can walk, see?" She walked a small circle, feigning perfect health and stability.

"On my back," he repeated, punctuating the command with a low growl.

All the hairs along her arms, neck, and back stood on end at the snarl, but she stomped her good foot down on the ground and clenched fists at her sides, shoving all other emotions to the side. "It's fine," she said again. "Besides, I don't want trouble you…"

Kikyou absentmindedly plucked at the frost-bitten blades of grass at the base of the large tree she sat under. The day was cold and the trees were mostly naked from the coming winter's harshness. She had not done anything lately. Not because she was bored or lazy, no, those were two words that were never used to describe how she felt, but because she felt something that was tied to her had been cut. She felt like a puppet who only had half its strings and the other half of its limbs hung loosely and insignificantly.

She had not sensed InuYasha and his comrades for a long time, which didn't worry her, but it caught her attention. And Naraku had been gone for a long time. Perhaps he was dead? She wasn't sure if the hanyou and his friends would be able to defeat such a strong being, but maybe…

A shuffling of steps in the frosty grass stirred her thoughts and she was suddenly brought back to the real world. She quickly stood and placed her hand on her bow, reassured that it was there. She was surprised in herself that she hadn't sensed the swell of powerful youki coming nearer and nearer to her, and it was accompanied by another power. Her hand tensed on the smooth wood of the bow, and she reached back to grab the tethered end of an arrow from her quiver and pulled it over her shoulder and nocked it back.

Something came into view from behind the next nearest tree. Silver hair fell over pretty gold eyes and for a split second a barrage of images of the hanyou flashed through her mind, but she knew too well that InuYasha had no where near this powerful of youki. She knew though, from their few encounters, that it was the Taiyoukai of the Western lands; InuYasha's brother. Stranger still to her was that the young miko, her reincarnation, Kagome, was with him. Kikyou loosened her grip and lowered her aim towards the ground and narrowed her eyes at the pair.

Kagome groaned and refrained, with some amount of difficulty, not to take Sesshoumaru's well-kept hair in her fists and pulling on it to show him her frustration. She had told him that even though her ankle hurt, she did not need to be carried. Not to mention that it was a little awkward with the normally cold, uncaring, and insensitive lord of the West.

"If I could not smell your lie and your ailment, maybe I would have let you continue on foot." He had told her, not even looking over his shoulder to see how she accepted the comment.

"Excuse me!" She piped. "I never asked you to carry me!" She would admit, though, it was much better than walking. She wasn't so sure how he had exactly gotten her on his back, however. Kagome had expected him to just throw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, but he was nice about it, well, if nice could be used to describe him. And the view wasn't so bad; she got a good look at his profile and he didn't even seem to notice.

Sesshoumaru sniffed the air and smelled that someone was up ahead. Kagome sensed it, too. Whoever it was had some spiritual powers. They passed a tree and came to see the priestess Kikyou, her bow aimed at them. Kagome gasped and tightened her legs on Sesshoumaru once then wriggled her way out of his grip so that she was standing again.

"Kiky-"

Kikyou lowered the aim of her bow. "Where is InuYasha?" she cut Kagome off as a soul collector slid silently through the air and coiled itself around Kikyou's arm, perhaps affectionately. Hard to tell with a serpentine creature, really. Kikyou's gaze drifted to the Taiyoukai. "And what are you doing with her?"

'Of course she would ask where he is…' Kagome thought to herself, before feeling the panic set in that Kikyou did not know of the hanyou's demise. She nervously swallowed and began to chew on her lip, fiddling her fingers behind her back.

Sesshoumaru slid his gaze to Kagome next to him, watching as the muscles in her neck flexed and she swallowed and as she began to chew on her lip. She had broken out into a light sweat, not visibly, though. Looking from one to the other, Sesshoumaru realized that he might have, if it was possible, been wrong for once. He had thought Kagome looked very strikingly similar to the dead miko across from them, but now that he could compare the two in person, he realized that there were obvious differences.

Kagome was slightly shorter than Kikyou, for one, and Kikyou's face always had a tense look, she never seemed relaxed. Kikyou's hair was obviously much longer than Kagome's, and a different shade of black, if it were possible. Kagome had an air of innocence around her all the time, but Kikyou was always on edge and suspecting. And their eyes… they were both blue, but completely different. Kagome's eyes were deep blue tinged with grey around the edges, truly the window to her soul, but Kikyou's were a deep blue also, but somehow reflected something much colder.

Sesshoumaru was stirred from his reverie as Kikyou began to walk forward.

The older miko reached out and touched the completed Shikon No Tama around Kagome's neck. "It's complete," she said, not really a question, not really a not really a statement.

Kagome nodded. "I thought you should know… that Naraku has been killed… but he has a reincarnation. I don't know if he'll come after you or not." The words came out slightly choked from her burning throat.

Kikyou nearly gasped, and looked up to see the look on Kagome's face. Her head was hung down, as though she were ashamed of something. "And? Is that all you have to tell me?"

"And InuYasha is dead."

The silence roared around them, swallowing every sound that could be made and obscured it. Kikyou blinked once, and then turned on her heel.

"Kikyou…"

"I knew he was dead," she said stoically, her undetectable lie. Sesshoumaru sensed it.

"What should I do with the jewel…?" Kagome asked, hoping the older and more experienced miko would know what to do.

"You keep it," Kikyou almost smiled to herself. 'You keep the torment and sadness that plagued me for so long. You can have a turn.'

And Kikyou vanished into the mist with her soul collectors.

Sesshoumaru and Kagome stood next to one another in silence, staring at the space that Kikyou had wondered off into. Kagome felt strange, as though the deed she had set out to do was not completed, or not to its' fullest anyways. Maybe it was just the way that Kikyou accepted Kagome's kindness of searching for her and telling her what she needed to know that gave her that feeling of unaccomplished duty.

Sesshoumaru looked down at her.

Kagome was brought back from her thoughts when she felt his gaze and looked up at him, smiling. "Well," she let out a breath that was held in, "We're away from that reincarnation for now, and I told Kikyou what I needed to tell her." She turned and with her gleaming smile, began to walk, and then fell to one knee. "My ankle still hurts…" she groaned softly with an almost weeping chuckle at the end. Kagome looked at the grass in front of her and saw a pair of black shoes. Sesshoumaru had come to stand in front of her again and stared down at her and she looked up, not able to tell what he was thinking with his blank expression.

"Do you need me to carry you again?"

Kagome blinked in surprise. She was almost afraid to agree. She knew if it had been InuYasha who had carried her against her will in the first place and after she argued with him about not needing to be carried, then when he asked she agreed, he would laugh and tell her he wouldn't carry her. But this wasn't a devilishly tricky hanyou; it was a demon; the devilishly tricky hanyou's brother, no less.

"Umm…" Without warning an arm curled around her waist and she was suddenly being carried bridal-style by the handsome youkai. "I didn't agree!" She squealed.

"Your face told me all that I needed to know." he said coolly, not looking down at her to see her reaction. And they set off back towards the castle.

Author Note: Ah! I've never been good at ending chapters, at all. But, it might take longer to get the next chapter up, because my brain has been juiced of any ideas right now. But you know, thanks a million for reading, and please review and tell me how I'm doing, it would be much appreciated. :D