An Unlikely Guest

Disclaimer: Inu Yasha and co is not mine.

Something you should know before reading:

Tetsuiga is a very powerful sword capable of destroying a hundred demons in one swing.

Youkai is a demon.

Hanyou is a half demon.

Miko is a priestess.

How could he have let Naraku escape? He was so close to killing the evil bastard too. Nevertheless, no, right when he was ready to use Tetsuiga's ultimate attack; kaze no kizu, Naraku escaped, without even leaving a trace behind.

Now Miroku, Sango, and Shippo were all gone, wherever they flew off to... Alas, they were not so lucky and were knocked away by Naraku's strength during the first half of the battle.

At least Kagome was safe. He had found her lying on the ground not too far away from himself; she was unconscious. She was not moving when he found her but his sharp ears heard the faint beatings of her heart.

He tried waking her up by talking to her, but to no avail. Finally losing patience, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Most likely, not the smartest thing to do, but at least she woke up, albeit screaming 'pervert' and striking out. He held his face in horror as Kagome, realizing that she was in no immediate danger, yawned and stretched.

She just then noticed him.

"Oh, Inu Yasha, where are we? The last thing I remembered was Naraku tailing off and leaving us with a smoky surprise. Then I woke up and here I am. Where are the others? Are they alright?" Kagome said rubbing her eyes.

Removing his hand from his stinging cheek, he answered (though still a little piqued): "I don't know where in hell they are, and I don't know where we are either, but I do know that there's a shelter not too far away from here." He finished, walking off.

He heard a bit of shuffling behind him and a rustling of leaves.

"Well, are you coming or not? We have to get there before night fall!" He was still obviously indignant to the oblivious girl.

"Ok, just needed to find some of my stuff. By the way, how'd you get that red hand mark on your face?" Kagome asked strapping on her backpack.

"......"

After a short while of walking, and muttering, it began to snow and Kagome fell behind even further even though he was carrying her pack.

A wind went past them and he suddenly realized how much colder it became. Of course, he wasn't affected too much by the chill being half demon and all but Kagome on the other hand was human, would she freeze in this temperature? He would have to get her to some shelter soon but somehow it was further than he had calculated.

"Achoo!" He whipped his head around in alarm, was she in danger?

"Are you alright?" He asked concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just a little cold," Kagome said rubbing her hands together for warmth. The school uniform she often wore to his time provided little shield from the snow and wind.

"We're almost there, its just another 20 yards or so. We can make it before it gets dark." He could barely see the little hut, but the very faint smell of humans told him that the shelter had been empty for quite a while.

"Let's go." He repeated, slowing his pace a little. Every step seemed to drag her deeper into the snow, Kagome tried to walk, but her legs were just so tired; she collapsed. Sighing, Inu Yasha adjusted the backpack, picked her up, and resumed the short but arduous journey.

"Hey, I can walk by myself!" She protested but stayed put.

"We would get there faster if I carried you." He retorted, and it was true. She realized this and said no more. The silence that followed was awkward and irritating for him, embarrassing and slightly humiliating for Kagome, but Inu Yasha spoke first.

"Kagome, do you still have the shards of the jewel?" He quickly regretted what he said as soon as it came out of his mouth. In fact, he did not really care too much about the jewel, (well maybe he did), but it was Kagome that he worried about the most. Somehow, his idiotic mouth opened before his mind processed the thoughts.

She did not respond and he was worried for a moment that she was going to say the word again but she did not.

He realized how long it had been since he carried Kagome on his back, but in fact, it was very long at all, and how long it had been since they were alone together.

He inhaled her scent, and sighed, content. She smelled so nice, even when she was dirty from fighting demons or surrounded by Naraku's puppet dolls, her scent still stayed pure and untainted, just like herself. He wanted to have her near him forever or just to have the moment last, but he began to fret over the fact that she still has not said anything. He was sure she could hear him; human ears were not so poor. Therefore, he tried again.

"Kagome?" Upon concentrating, he noticed that her heartbeat had adapted to an erythematic pace, and some sort of snort coming from her nose. He turned his head around, only to find her asleep...

BAM "Anybody home?" He 'asked' whilst kicking the door off its hinges; again, probably not one of the smartest things to do. As he stepped into the hut, a viscous storm of dust attacked. He covered his nose with one hand and with the other tried to disburse the troublesome particles. He then picked up the door to set it back in place.

He was right; indeed no one has been living here, or any other living matter to be precise. Nothing but dust, thought Inu Yasha. The previous owners seemed to have left in a hurry; a few logs were abandoned near the entrance of the door.

He set the still sleeping Kagome gently down on the floor. He touched her face, not surprised that she was still cold. He took off his kimono and placed it over her. 'I should start a fire.'

After placing the logs in the hearth, he went to dig in Kagome's backpack; maybe she had one of her fire lighting sticks in there.

"Aha!" There it was the skinny wooden sticks that she called 'matches'. He flicked one across his hand and like magic, the thing lit up. 'Heh, Kagome made this seem so hard'

"AH!" He had held it a second too long, the damned thing burned his finger, treacherous little things... He threw the match into the hearth and the little flame slowly matured into a fire.

He moved her closer to the fire and wrapped his clothing tightly around her.

Now with Kagome warm and asleep, he didn't really have anything else to do. The only thing interesting about the whole room was the fire. Blue, and crimson, its dancing flames taunted and reminded him of that fateful day.

Flashback (The story shall now be in first person perspective.)

"Too bad guys, I'll be taking the Shikon no tama!" Laughing evilly of course, I steal the precious jewel and leave the village burning to the ground. The smoke and smell of death exciting me even further, I flew at top speed toward the forest where my escape route would lay.

With this, I can become a real demon. Nothing else crossed my mind; I was finally getting what I had wished for all my life, no more being made fun of because I was only half. I was so ecstatic that I didn't even notice the arrow heading for my heart.

WHUMP! the next thing I knew, I was pinned to the damned god tree, of all the places...that was where I met her. I accidentally drop the Shikon no tama, and I try to catch it before it hits the ground but it's too late I can't move anymore. I was pinned to the tree. I scan the darkening landscape for the assaulter and lo and behold, it was her.

A single woman stood amidst the destruction behind her, she smelled heavily of blood and she was dying...

"Kikyou...." The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was the angry and distorted face of her, the one who shot me, the one who killed me, and the one who loved me.

Flashback ends

Now she's dead because of me.

"Inu Yasha?" I felt the touch of her hands on my shoulder, was it Kikyo?

No, now that I had my eyes open, and my nose unclogged, I realized that it was the sweet scent of Kagome I breathing in and her brown eyes that I was suddenly staring into.

"What do you want?" I didn't mean to sound so cold, but it hurts too much to look at her right now.

"Were you thinking of Kikyo again...?" By the gods, she must be some sort of seer or one of those people who could read minds. Maybe I shouldn't lie this time then.

"What makes you think that?"

She did not say anything for a while and just stared at me with those accusing, transfixing eyes; it was as if she was probing my head. I quickly turned away.

I still felt her eyes drilling holes at my back, yet I still did not respond. I strained my ears for what she said next.

"Were you...?"

I finally gave up pretending to be deaf and looked at her trembling shoulders. Oh god, I didn't mean to make her cry! What is with humans and crying!

I open my mouth to answer her but just then some other idiot knocks down the door. Not my fault this time and I am not going to put that piece of junk back up again...

Silhouetted against the doorway, gleamed the same silver hair and the pair of familiar gold eyes.

Maybe something was wrong with my nose, how could I not sniff out that murdering psycho earlier? He's come to pay me a visit, that stupid Sesshomaru.