A/N: Agggh! Sorry this is sososo late XD I blame school. Everything can be blamed on school. Either way, here's chapter 4, enjoy!

Chapter 4 – Stubborn

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Kagome scrambled backwards hastily, not stopping until her back collided with a tree a few meters back. Her heart was pounding in panic as she stared wide-eyed at Sesshoumaru who hadn't moved. He simply lay there with his head propped up by her jacket, staring at her.

The young miko calmed down as she realized he was not going to try and kill her and seemed just as surprised at awakening to see her face hovering above him as she had been discovering he was now awake.

This was only partially true. Indeed, Sesshoumaru had been surprised, but not from her. Well, not exactly. He had been surprised when the girl had released that ear-piercing scream, not from her face taking up his entire field of view, as it was completely unexpected since he had not threatened her or anything of the like. He was quite certain he was deaf in his left ear now... or his hearing was at least severely damaged.

In fact, everything did sound a bit duller than usual. And what was that girl doing near him anyways? Sesshoumaru's mind raced as he tried to pick up the pieces of what had happened. Then he slammed into a memory he had been dreading and actually hoping wasn't true in the back of his mind.

I'm human...

The former Taiyoukai could recall severe pain and irritating laughter but after that it was only darkness. He remembered eventually regaining some consciousness and hearing someone talking softly. The girl perhaps? Either way, he awoke completely at the uncomfortable feeling of someone scrutinizing him closely only to be greeted by that deafening scream. He focused his gaze on the girl again, slight surprise running through him as he found her staring at him with a furious glare.

During Sesshoumaru's recollection of thoughts, Kagome had been steadily growing more and more irritated at him.

Why did he have to wake up then? It's obvious he was conscious before that. He could have waited until I sat back to wake up! He wouldn't have scared me then! I wouldn't have screamed! It's all his fault! Jerk!!!

The miko glared fiercely at the brown-haired man, irritation racing through her as she noticed that his gaze had wandered off somewhere into the trees. When his gaze did return to her though, the fragile wall holding her anger back shattered and she found herself shouting at him. And she didn't even know why.

"You jerk! You scared me half to death! You could have been polite and waited until I had left!" Kagome yelled, pointing at him accusingly. "Here I am running back and forth putting myself in mortal danger to find medication for your fever and this! This is what you do after I saved your life! You're so rude! I deserve some courtesy! I..."

She trailed off as she realized that her words sounded absurd even to her. Also, it was starting to unnerve her how Sesshoumaru had said nothing through the entire outburst and had simply been staring at her the whole time.

"Uh..." Kagome stared back at him uneasily, "are you going to talk?"

Sesshoumaru hadn't bothered to speak since he wasn't so sure saying anything would have stopped her. If anything, it probably would have fueled her on. Instead, he set himself the task of remembering where he had seen her before. It annoyed him that he couldn't recall how he knew the bitch that had done this to him, so he was determined to figure this out at least.

She's being remarkably disrespectful to someone of higher status. Reminds me very much of that pathetic half-breed... In fact, this is indeed the same girl that always tagged along with him, the reincarnation of the clay-and-bones priestess. How pathetic these mortals are, resorting to yelling to get their point across when more than half the time they don't even have a point to begin with. How I despise their futile little minds...

"Well... I'm sorry for being so rude; you just startled me," Kagome continued when no response came, "I suppose it's good that you're awake now, don't you think?"

Kagome glanced at her watch, when he still didn't answer, to avoid his gaze and uttered a soft, "Oh! Already?"

She picked up the white plastic bottle and tapped out two white pills onto her palm like before. Shuffling over to Sesshoumaru nervously, she knelt down and reached over to put one in his mouth when he suddenly released a low growl. Kagome jumped back then glared at him, hands on her hips.

"What?! I'm trying to help!"

"I need no help, girl. Especially from a human."

The miko rolled her eyes. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you are a human now, Sesshoumaru. I have no idea how that happened and I'm betting you won't tell me, so I won't ask. But would you just let me help you?"

When no reply came yet again other than a cold look, Kagome threw up her hands in exasperation and stomped back to her seat by the fire.

"Fine! I didn't have to help you, you know. Since you don't seem to want my help, I won't bother. If you do want it though, just ask and I'll be glad to help. I'm going to bed. Good night." With that, she dropped the pills back into the bottle and yanked her sleeping bag out of her backpack. She climbed into it and turned her back to the fire and Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru stared at the back of her head for a moment, through the flickering flames of the fire burning between them, before turning his head away and closing his eyes. His human body was slowing down, in need of rest, and he figured since the demon wench probably had no idea he was still alive for the time being, he might as well get some sleep.

Humans... with their useless emotional outbursts... how ever do they manage to survive?

The next morning was silent and awkward. Kagome prepared her own breakfast, ignoring Sesshoumaru completely, before leaving to go take a bath, bringing her bow and arrows with her. Sesshoumaru simply watched her go with contempt, deciding he would leave before she returned. Tensing his arm to support his weight, he pushed upwards, only to discover he hadn't moved at all. Eyes narrowing slightly, he tried again with the same result. It seemed he was weaker than he thought and the former Taiyoukai cursed silently.

He would have to remain with the girl until he recovered enough... or until she decided to pack up and leave.

So he was human now. What a despicable state to be in. When he regained his strength, human or not, he was going to find that wench and make her regret even thinking of doing this to him.

She will pay... and the revenge will be sweet. This Sesshoumaru does not overly approve of revenge, but will allow myself the satisfaction just this once.

He grimaced as pain shot through his shoulder and turned his head to eye the bandaged appendage.

Whatever that girl gave me must be wearing off. I will not ask her for help. I need no human to help me. This pain is nothing.

After most of the medication had worn off though, Sesshoumaru began to rethink his whole 'pain is nothing' idea. He figured that humans had a lower tolerance as the reason for why the damned puncture was causing such excruciating pain. But he was set on letting himself heal without any human medicine or care and Sesshoumaru was not one to give in easily.

Kagome returned from her bath quite wrinkled having stayed there for a few hours. Her eyes were red and it seemed she had been crying. Sesshoumaru stared at her impassively with slight disgust.

What is the point of emotion? It only causes problems. There is no practical use for such a thing.

The miko flopped down onto her sleeping bag, ignoring the cold stare from the figure lying on the ground. She rubbed her eyes and sighed.

I guess I'm more worried about Inuyasha than I thought, she mused, tilting her head to braid her wet hair.

She had spent most of her bath sitting at the edge of the water, crying her eyes out. She didn't know what caused it; perhaps she had expected Inuyasha to have found her by the time she woke up. She sniffled, hugging her knees and resting her head atop them. Not to mention she had an unappreciable former youkai on her hands.

The rest of that day and the next few days continued in a similar manner. Sesshoumaru paid little or no attention to Kagome whatsoever and any acknowledgement he did give her was in the form of a cold glare of disgust. Kagome busied herself with reading the few books she had brought along, which she found could be very compelling when you were trying to avoid a glare from a youkai that hated you.

The only thing that changed across those few days was the condition of said youkai. Instead of becoming any better, Sesshoumaru, in fact, steadily became much, much worse. His fever returned full force and his shoulder wound was becoming increasingly more painful each day.

He hated to admit it, but it seemed that Sesshoumaru needed help.

Grimacing in pain and annoyance at having to result to such a thing, Sesshoumaru blearily focused on the form sitting by the cheerful fire, reading another book.

"Girl..."

Kagome dropped her book, startled since neither one had spoken the past few days and turned to stare at him.

"I have a name you know. It's Kagome, but I won't expect you to call me that anyways. Do you want something?"

Sesshoumaru narrowed his violet eyes, cursing his damned human body for being so weak and dependent before answering.

"I do not want your help, but it seems I need it."

Kagome nodded solemnly before reaching for her first aid kit, but inside she was grinning like mad and secretly relieved. She wasn't going to rub his face in her victory, for she found it quite amusing that he had decided to ask her now because she had been planning on forcing him to take the medication that night and abandoning her seemingly uncaring exterior. She just couldn't stand seeing him in such a horrible condition.

It seemed Kagome had won this battle of wills.

A/N: I feel like this chapter wasn't as good as the others lol So I'm sorry. XDXD Please read and review!
Thank you to: Dragonfaeriex, cobaltwind, shadowgirl/ashleigh, i-wish-i-was-kagome, Hanyoubanshee, LatinaKagome, animefreak321654, Mori'quessir, Tokyogurl1, JohnnyBoy, RavenSilverKat, Skitzoflame, Spork or Foon, DragonessOfDarkness, crazy-punk-gurl, utena, Faero of Egypt. XD
(Um, if this annoys anyone, just let me know and I'll stop lol So if I do stop, just know I thank you all anytime you review!)

And if you want to know what evil demon lady looks like check out my deviantART account in the scraps cause won't let me post links. The link to the devART account is on my author page. :)