DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters in this story. I won't profit in any way from it. The characters belong to and are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.

CHAPTER 3

Instantly Inu Yasha was awake. His eyes still closed, his nose tested the air for scents. Dust, dry earth, woody smells, and...the smell that was dearest in the world to him. Kagome's. What then had woken him? The body pulled against his chest shook and small moans came from Kagome's mouth. His eyes flashed open and he laid her on her back as he levered himself upright so he could see better. Her face was flushed and pink, her lips almost back to their normal colour. Her limbs were starting to jerk in small spasms which is what he was waiting for. He smiled grimly. This was likely not only going to wake her up but hurt a great deal also. He decided to keep her body covered and start with her feet. He climbed from under the cover and crouched on the futon. He pushed the cover up to expose her feet. Small, delicate toes, high arch a rather pretty foot. It was once again pink but still a bit cold to the touch. He started working on it.

Taking her foot into his strong, clawed hands he started rubbing the foot, firmly hanging on it to as it tried to jerk from his grasp. Kagome's body jerked and her moan became louder. He could see that her head was moving as she instictively tried to push him away with her other foot. He called to her, " Kagome". Her head stilled and her dark eyes slowly opened, rather bleary and blank. "Kagome," he said again. " you have exposure. I need to rub your feet, legs and arms now that you have warmed up enough. Do you understand?" Kagome frowned as she tried to force her mind to focus on what Inu Yasha was saying to her. Exposure? Why did that sound so familiar? A lesson from a First Aid course she had recently taken came to mind. Hypo...what? Hypo--ther---mia. Hypothermia, sometimes called exposure, and frostbite came to mind. She tried to focus. Inu Yasha was saying she had this. She thought back, to being cold on Inu Yasha's back. More cold than she could ever remember being. She remembered clinging to him as he searched for shelter then....nothing, blankness. " I must have fainted," she thought in surprise.

His voice came to her again, sharp with irritation. "Wake up, Kagome!" Her tongue tip peeked between her lips, then licked them. Her mouth was so dry. She tried to speak. " Inu....Inu Yasha?" she said. She was surprised, her voice was all wispery and it was hard to speak. She saw his keen ears twitch on top of his head and knew he had heard her. His amber eyes bored into her, sharp with impatience and demand. "Kagome," he said. " Your main body has warmed up, now your body is trying to get blood back to your fingers and toes. I have to help it. I have to start rubbing now." He saw her head nod that she understood. He said the next part quietly but firmly. " It's going to hurt. It may hurt quite a lot. Do you understand me? I don't want to hurt you but I have to help your body now. You are warm, your temperature is near normal and if your blood can't get to your toes you could lose them." Kagome shivered. He sounded so, so serious. Looking at his grim face, framed by his silvery white hair, she knew he was serious and so was their situation. She swallowed, realizing that this may be one of the toughest parts of her life. She nodded her head and wispered, "Ok, go ahead. I know it will hurt, I'll do my best not to fight you." White ears flicked again as they caught her wispered words. The ghost of a smile flashed across Inu Yasha's face. " I know you will, " he said. He started to work on her foot more.

Kagome's body arched under the sleeping bag as the pain of returning circulation hit her. One foot had been massaged until she'd screamed in pain. Inu Yasha was now working on the other. It wasn't that he was being rough or unkind. He was being as gentle as he could but very firm in trying to encourage the circulation to return. A few tears leaked from under her closed eyelids. She bit her lip as she tried to stifle the cries. She knew Inu Yasha couldn't stop and wouldn't until the foot was warm again. Her hands and arms would be next. She had tried to move them herself and they felt like lead. She wasn't looking forward to this.

Inu Yasha for his part was hating every moment that Kagome cried, flinched and tried to stop her body from fighting him. He was holding down her other leg with one of his, partly because she'd been unable to control a muscle spasm and had kicked him in the face. It had given them a moment of levity as he looked into her horrified face afterwards. He'd shaken his head more than he needed to and a glimmer of a smile had crossed her face that she'd kicked him so hard. In actuality it hadn't hit him that hard, he'd had worse blows but he'd attempted to lighten the mood as he continued to work, on her feet and legs.

He hadn't noticed how cold it was still in the cabin since he was concentrating on her feet. Once he was done though he covered them and stood up and stretched. Sitting hunched over feet for a long time had cramped the muscles of his shoulders and upper back. He needed to stretch them. He looked over at Kagome. Saw the look of surprise cross her face, the blush that suddenly stained her cheeks. He looked down at himself and allowed a smug grin to come to his face. His body, tall, strong, was displayed without much covering it right now he remembered. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kagome. There was an unusual look on her face. She looked embarrassed but also....admiring? His grin widened. He knew he was good to look at. He was tall, not as much as his brother, Sesshoumaru, but still tall. Taller than Kagome was. His muscles were iron hard and shaped his body in a very pleasing way. Broad shoulders, muscled arms, firm chest and flat abdomen arrowed to narrow hips and long strong legs. He walked to his clothes and felt them to see if they were wet. His under kimono pants were slightly damp so he put them on. Everything else was wet.

He walked over to the wood box. " I'm going to chance a fire now, " he said. I think you are warm enough. Besides, you can't dress in wet clothes and neither of us has anything else to wear. He busied himself making the small fire. Then he hung the clothes near the flames of the small fire to dry them. There were metal hooks from the fireplace that served for this and hanging metal stew pots over the fire. He knew his kimono was safe as the hair of the fire rat was impossible to burn but her things could and would burn so he arranged them farther from the flames. Satisfied with his arrangements he walked back to the futon where Kagome, lay. He sat down beside her and pulled one of her arms out from under the sleeping bag. He started again working to increase her circulation with her hands and fingers by rubbing the skin and kneading it to get the blood flow increased.

Kagome had watched with attention as he started the fire on the far side of the room, arrainged their wet things and come back to her side. It was in fact hard to keep her eyes off of him. His grace and strength was in every move he made. It made it harder for her to realize that no matter that they fought so much he really must care for her after all. He'd done everything he could to help her. Taken care of every detail he could while she was unconcious. She watched as he came over and sat on top of the cover and started to work on her hand and arm. His brow creased with concentration, careful of his claws that could slice her and careful not to put too much pressure on her body to hurt or bruise her. His attention and care was evident in everything he had done since she had fainted. She wondered why he was being so careful of her. Was it because she could sense the shards of the jewel? Was she only a detector of the Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls, to him? Somehow she didn't think so. She wasn't sure what his reasons were really, just that right now she was grateful to have someone like him to look after her.

Just then the pain started to hit her again. Thankfully it seemed to be less in her arms and hands, compared to her feet. Still it caused her to tighten her jaw and grit her teeth in the attempt not to cry out. Finally, Inu Yasha seemed to be done. Both arms and hands, legs and feet had been massaged to encourage returning circulation. He returned to the bottom of the futon and checked her feet again. He seemed really concerned about them. "Is everything ok, Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked. Watching as he checked her feet, flexed them for movement, etc. Inu Yasha raised his eyes to hers. " They seem, fine now," he said. " But feet can be tricky if I remember right. They were more frozen still when I was working on them than your hands and arms were. I think they are fine now."