Author Note: Ninth chapter! Yay me! happy dances right into a wall Yeah let's ignore that :D. But I'm just glad that I've gotten this many chapters done! I'm really bad at making decent-length stories, so this is going surprisingly well. Just again, wanna say sorry for the really short chapter before! Ah! (slams self on desk) okay… I do that when I'm hyper. It's funny, because at first I was all depressed when I started this and now I'm like, freakin' out! I should NOT be this happy when I'm listening to depressing music! (turns on techno) dance party!!! RIGHT HERE! I love having random dance parties. Just the other week I had about twelve of them, and they were all in a parking lot somewhere. :D I know, I'm SO weird, but hey, I live in a box, what do you expect!!! Okay, okay! Okay, I'm done now… pass out

SilVer-mOOn-LiGHt-kAGURa: Thank you so much!! And I do plan on adding more fluff and stuff! It's just hard getting their because my brain is slow, haha.

MissAlviss: Lol, my story really isn't sucky? Ha, news to me! Well, not from what people have been telling me, but you know! I'll try to update soon! Lately my brain has been squeezed of ideas! You have been so kind to me since I started this!

Whoops!! I'm sorry if I've missed a few of your reviews (I just discovered them now). I'm still so crappy at working this website, haha. But if I did not reply to you in some way (or if I did and it didn't reach you) I apologize!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of InuYasha, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi, not me.

Chapter Nine

I'm Only Human

Kagome's eyes fluttered open and at first she thought she had died. She was looking up at a bright white sky, and when she shifter her gaze she saw the demon lord, his silken platinum hair tossing glossily in the breeze, making him look so angelic and surreal. She blinked a few times and came to all the way.

"Where are we?" she asked groggily, trying to move when she realized she was being held in place.

Sesshoumaru spared her a momentary glance before averting it back to his path. "On our way back."

Kagome twisted her head to see that she was once again, held in his arms bridal style. "What happened to, 'I'll leave you if you don't wake up on time'?" She said in her best mocking voice with a slight grin.

Sesshoumaru thinned his lips and furrowed his eyebrows, irritated obviously, but did not retort. Truth was, he didn't have the heart to wake her. He hated even considering the fact that he had any compassion at all, but she looked so helpless, so fragile, just laying there in dead sleep.

Kagome just sighed and crossed her arms. "I think I can walk now…" 'Not that I mind not having to anything.' She grinned to herself mentally. Suddenly the arm that supported her under her knees left and her feet clumsily hit the ground.

"Alright." Sesshoumaru said, as he released her completely.

Kagome re-gathered her composure and followed behind him with a feeble pout. The wind picked up and slapped her in the face and she felt the tears come to her eyes from it. She sniffled and rubbed her nose. "I hate this weather…" but her voice came out nasally and odd due to he nose being stuffed. "How much longer?" She whined.

Sesshoumaru bit into his lip and wished that she had stayed asleep. "I do not know, a few hours maybe."

Kagome hung her head down and groaned. "Hours? I wish I had a car…"

Sesshoumaru heard the foreign word slip from her lips and his ears perked. "Car?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's…umm… like a big cart that takes people places, but you don't need animals to make it move."

"Then how does it move?"

Damn his curiosity. "I don't know." Kagome slapped her forehead. "I'm not a mechanic." A thought struck her. "Can't you travel, like, super fast?" She asked.

"Yes, I suppose." Just as Kagome opened her mouth to suggest something he stopped her with his words. "But you did say that you did not want to be carried, so if I were to travel at such a speed, you would be left behind, and thus, become lost." Kagome opened her mouth again and he spoke again. "And I do not wish you deplete my energy in such a task."

Kagome decided to keep all ideas to herself so that she would not be shot down again. Her feet crunched through the snow and she found that she could no longer feel them. 'I wish I didn't open my mouth and say I didn't want to be carried…' Kagome looked down at Sesshoumaru's shoes and wondered if his feet were cold at all. Her eyes began to droop closed and she stumbled forward. "Wow…" she breathed. "I'm getting tired…"

Sesshoumaru heard her and stopped, and as he turned around, she bumped into him. Instead of jerking back she stayed there, face buried in his shoulder, eyes shut. His sensitive ears picked up her heartbeat and it sound slightly slower than normal.

"Ka…gome?" He asked.

Kagome groaned, "Sesshoumaru… I can't walk anymore…." she mumbled through chapped lips.

Sesshoumaru took a half step back, and she tipped, still leaning on him for support. "Kagome…" he said again. "Stay awake," he said, as he curled his arm under her nicely shaped legs and the other around her shoulders, lifting her up. "Do not go to sleep." He said, almost urgently.

Kagome blinked through slowly heavy-ing eyelids and could only make out the Taiyoukai's face, his lips moving, words barely audible. "I'll… try…" she whispered, and closed her eyes completely.

"Mmm…." Kagome mumbled, shifting in her state of half-sleep. She lazily picked herself up and looked around to see she was lying next to a nice fire. Then she searched the area again, not able to see her companion anywhere.

"Sessho-!" she was saying, when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, pulling her back.

Sesshoumaru looked down at her as he pulled her so her back was to his chest again. "Stay still…" he whispered.

Kagome swallowed and color suddenly rocketed to her cheeks, and not from the fire. "S-Sesshoumaru…" she said quietly. "What are you… doing?" She noticed that she was sitting between his raised knees, and could feel on her back that he wasn't wearing his armor.

Sesshoumaru shifted slightly to pull the large fur boa off his shoulder and lay it across her lap. "Keeping you warm. You almost passed out, and you could have died had you done so in this weather."

Kagome blinked in surprise and looked at her surroundings. Smooth walls radiated orange from the light of the fire. "Where are we?" She asked.

"A cave."

"I see…" she yawned and raised her arm up to stretch, just missing hitting him in the chin by doing so. "Sesshoumaru?"

He was quiet as he watched her, each miniscule movement, each breath, making sure she was healthy. "What?" He finally said, after a long silence.

"Why… are you being so kind to me?" She asked him, fisting her hands in the sleeves of his haori that she still wore.

The Demon Lord scratched tiny white lines into the stone floor of the cavern with the tips of his claws. "Go back to sleep." He instructed.

Kagome sunk down lower so her head rested against his stomach and she yawned again, shutting her eyes. 'It's nice trusting him….' she thought, still blushing about the awkward amount of contact between them. 'I didn't expect him to answer… but maybe you tell me someday.'

Sesshoumaru listened to the crackling of the fire as she slowly became limp and once more drifted of into sleep. Her breathing was quiet, almost childlike. Sesshoumaru leaned forward, out of curiosity, to see if her face would look as innocent. Her thick lashed eyes were shut and her lips were parted ever so slightly. Even though her lips were chapped, they were still a perfect cherry pink. He noticed how perfect her pale skin was, without scar or blemish, and had and urge to touch her cheek…

He quickly pressed himself back against the wall of the cave and clamped his eyes shut. He had been having too many of these little thoughts lately. His duty was merely to protect her…. Nothing more. They were never to become friends or anything alike… he was to watch her and keep her safe… like he promised. But still…

Author Note: Awww! Sesshy's such a cutie, idn't he? I just love him! I hope I'm doing alright and satisfying everyone's hopes for this story!! I'm working hard to get to more fluffy and romantic stuff, but as before, my brain is getting dryer and dryer by the day for ideas! You guys do such a magnificent job of making me feel good! So, just leave a review if you could please and tell me how I'm doing, it would be much appreciated!