Chapter Four- The Giant Snow Storm

!Warning! Some scenes are found not suitable for children. This story includes violence, mild language, and adult content. Reader discretion is advised.

Naori woke up while the others were gathering thier stuff to leave. She moaned and stretched and finally got up. The sun was shining brightly, warming thier skin. They walked through the forest trail to see what was up ahead. Mazuki was holding her brothers hand and were behind them.

Inuyasha sniffed the air,"I can smell a human village nearby."

"There is one up ahead, I've been there several times,"said Mazuki.

They continued thier path down to the village. When they got there, everyone stared at them since some of them were demons. Miroku did his usual bit telling the lord of the village that he sensed an evil spirit and they were allowed to stay and feast. When they were done, Miroku "exorcised" the demon and got them thier own rooms. They decided it was too early to crash in, so they roamed the village. They watched little girls play with dolls until someone called to them.

"Oi! Lady Mazuki!" She turned around and sighed. A boy with black braided hair was bouncing towards her.

"What do you want, Nobushi?" said Mazuki looking disapointed.
He pulled out her hand clasped it in his,"I heard that you were here and I just had to see my lovely Mazuki myself."

She took her hand away and the others giggled,"Listen, Nobushi, there's no chance that I will ever like someone like you. I need someone that can be an equal match to me and not be weak."

"But I have trained very hard and I do believe that I am your equal or maybe even stronger." He raised his eyebrows at her.

Mazuki eyed him,"You think so? Okay, show me." They sat down and put thier elbows on a stump and clasped eachothers hands.

"So what if I win? Will you be my girlfriend?"

"No because you won't win. On the count of three. Ichi"

"Ni."

"San!"

They pushed hard against eachother with thier muscles throbbing, but slowly Nobushi's hand was flat against the stump. "Told ya you wouldn't win."

They decided after a while to go to one of the springs. The girls, Shippo, and Kenta took thiers first. After nightfall, they returned to the lord's castle and went to thier rooms. Naori didn't like being by herself indoors so she went outside.

She spotted Inuyasha and they looked at eachother,"Can I sleep next to you?" She knew he would say no.

Inuyasha blinked at her and turned his head. "Yeah go ahead." Surprised, Naori sat next to him and closed her eyes. When she was asleep she fell over on the ground. Inuyasha took off his shirt and wrapped her in it and sat her on his lap like the one in the picture. She gripped his kimono at his arms.

"Oyaji," she whispered. Inuyasha stared at her. She had called him father.

He gave a small smile and rubbed behind her ears. Maybe having a kid isn't so bad, he thought as something swelled inside him. He closed his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

Naori rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She was back in the hut and was the only one there. She looked around and soon Kagome came in.

"Oh,I see you're awake," Naori nodded and got up. Kagome frowned at her,"You look a little pale."

Naori looked up at her,"Hm? I'm just tired." She got up and walked outside. Mazuki and Kenta were splashing eachother in the river. Inuyasha was high in the trees with Miroku under him and Sango and Shippo were taking out some food from Kagome's bag. Naori popped her back and sat down.

"Want some ramen,Naori?" Shippo asked. Naori took a bowl and ate quietly. Shippo watched her,"What's wrong?" She shook her head.

"It's nothing, I'm just tired." Naori ate her ramen and soon Inuyasha came.

"That's strange, Inuyasha, usually when we have ramen you're the first one,"stated Shippo.

"Tonight's the moonless night, so my senses are acting funny," he said taking his chopsticks and lifting up a bunch of ramen to his mouth.

"I almost forgot that. Are you changing into a human tonight, Naori?" Kagome asked. She nodded.

"I smell food!" Mazuki and Kenta ran over and took some ramen and began to eat.

"I think we should stay here until tomarrow so nobody knows that thier human,"said Miroku.

They all nodded and continued eating. Naori sat down her bowl and got up,"I'm going for a walk." She got up and left them and walked in the woods.

"Is she depressed because she has to turn human tonight?" Shippo asked the others.

"I don't really know,"said Sango.

Inuyasha drained his bowl and looked back at her. Finally he decided to follow Naori. He walked through the woods.

Miroku stared after him and smiled, "I think little Naori is starting to grow on him."

Inuyasha walked passed the trees until he spotted Naori bent down over a puddle staring at her own reflection. The water rippled as a tear fell. Inuyasha walked up to her and she quickly dried her face. "You okay?"
She nodded, but sniffed and when she did, Inuyasha knew something is wrong,"Don't worry, the moonless night will pass and you'll be back to normal."

"That's not why I'm upset." Inuyasha blinked at her."I'm worried that I'll never see my parents again. What if I screw up? They'll be stuck in those crystals." Hot tears streamed down,"I miss them so much. I've never been without them and I'm scared." She grabbed Inuyasha and cried on his shoulder. A little confused on what to do, he patted her and tried to comfort her.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure you get them back,"he held her tightly as she wept.

"I miss my father so much. I've never had a newmoon night without him. You're the only thing closest to a father I have." She began to hiccup.

"I promise that you'll be with them," The feeling inside his chest was swelling even more. He loved to comfort her and to hold her. Was this what a father always felt like?

After awhile they returned and the night came. Inuyasha and Naori had black hair, human ears, and no claws. Inuyasha looked at her. Wow, she looks so much like Kagome when she's human. Naori leaned back against the wall. A strong wind blew and her crystal glowed a bright color. She bolted up and called Mazuki. Her's was also glowing.

"A crystal has been activated and it's close by!" said Naori. The others looked around and the wind blew harder. Then the strangest thing happened. It began to snow and there was a lot of it.

"We'll go after it,"said Mazuki,"You guys need to stay here until the night is over." Naori looked disapointed but thought it was the best. Sango, Miroku, and Mazuki left to where the crystal pointed them.

"How can it snow in the spring time?" Shippo asked.

"It must be two crystals. Probably the wind and water one,"said Naori,"I hope they'll be okay." She looked out at the snow. It was falling fast.

But it was nothing compared to the snow outside the forest. The wind blew hard and the light flurry turned into a blizzard. The snow stung as they inched on. Mazuki could barely see the glow of her crystal in the white snow. Her teeth started to chatter as they walked a few more feet. They had walked about two miles in knee deep snow and began to shiver against the cold. When Mazuki took another step she fell in a deep hole and screamed as snow fell on her.

Miroku and Sango whipped around and saw what happened. They jumped to the hole and began shoveling the snow out. Finally they saw her shoulders and heaved her up. She was shaking madly and was very pale with blue lips and she seemed to be unconcious.

"We need to find shelter or she'll freeze to death,"said Miroku. He wrapped her in his cloth that was soaked.

They walked on and discovered a small hut and they rushed down to it. It was very small with a fire place, but nothing to burn. There was a large pile of hay and a thick fur blanket. Miroku sat Mazuki down and pulled off her armor to get her out of her wet clothes. He wrapped the blanket around her and began to rub her limbs to get the blood flowing.

"It's not going too well, we'll need to strip and share our body heat,"said Miroku. Sango glared at him,"I promise I won't do anything perverted and I won't even look." He added quickly when he saw her face.

She looked at the shivering little girl and decided for the best,"Turn around, monk." He did and she stripped and crawled in the blanket. Then he did and followed Sango and laid on the other side of Mazuki. Sango blushed heavily, but when she felt another shiver from Mazuki she turned around and so did Miroku. They began to rub her arms and the blue tint went away and her face had a healthy pink hue to it. Sango wrapped her arms around the little girls shoulders and then she shivered from the cold.

Then all of the sudden the blanket lifted and Miroku laid next to Sango."Miroku, what are you doing! You said no perverted stuff!"

"I'm not doing anything perverted, I just saw you shiver and I'm sharing my body heat with you,"he wrapped an arm around her and she shifted away.He could easily see the scar on her back and would know just how ugly she really was."If you keep moving you won't get any warmer,"he said.

Sango rolled on her back so he couldn't see it,"I don't want you to see my hideous scar." She pulled the blanket over her nose.

He frowned at her,"I don't think that scar is hideous. I think it's beautiful since it's apart of you."

She gave a small sigh through her nose,"What beautiful women have scars as these?" A hand grabbed her shoulder and flipped her on her stomach so her scar was easily seen,"Miroku, what's with you!"

He traced a finger over the scar and it tickled her slightly,"I think it's very beautiful just like you. This scar shows that you have lived." He bent down and kissed it gently. Sango blushed heavily and shivered as his lips tickled,but it felt so good. He kissed up her shoulder and sucked on her neck while she moaned. He turned her over and was directly above her. They stared at eachother and looked into eachother's eyes.

They moved closer to eachother and thier lips met. He tickled her lips by moving his tongue across and she let him slip through. It was the most amazing kiss she could have ever imagine. His tongue rolled in her mouth and when he took it out, he nibbled on her lower lip.

He left her breathless and he smiled,"Don't ever think that you're not beautiful ever again because you are."

Her eyes glistened and he wrapped his arm around her and they fell asleep.

"Damn, what's taking them?" Inuyasha hissed. The others had been gone for hours and they were getting worried. "If they don't return by tomarrow we'll go after them."

Shippo and Naori were wrapped up in a blanket asleep. Kagome looked at him,"I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I just want to hurry and get to where we belong."He stared at the night sky. It was still snowing and was getting very cold. Inuyasha shivered slightly and Kagome draped his shoulders with an extra blanket. He would have rejected but he needed warmth. When he saw her shiver, he grabbed her hand and forced her also under the blanket.

"Inuyasha?"She looked at him surprised what he did.

"I can't have you die on me yet, when we get back to our time I'll need you to detect the jewel shards." He didn't look at her but blushed when she wrapped her arms overhim and put her head on his chest.

"Thanks Inuyasha," she closed her eyes."Hey, what do you think about me?"

"Uh, what kind of question is that?"

"I just want to know."

"Uh...," Inuyasha could feel heat rising in his cheeks, "I like how you always stand by me even though I'm mean to you. . ."

"That's because you always protect me."

"What about you? What do you think about me?"

"I think you have a huge ego and you are always getting jealous, but I like when we have those rare moments when we actually talk, like now. I like when we're alone because it's so rare."she sighed through her nose,"But you do protect me and I like that. You make me feel that I'm your friend, like I have a place where I belong."

Inuyasha brought her face to his and he tenderly kissed. She was wide eyed but took in his taste. When they pulled back Inuyasha said,"I've wanted to do that for a long time." He smiled at her and Kagome had never seen his eyes so soft. But INuyahsa had a different thought in his head. Damn humna form! Makes me weak to emotions! Feh!

Tears filled her glistening eyes but she smiled and kissed him again. They sat there in eachothers lips, but then Kagome pulled away."What's wrong?"He asked her.

"What about Kikyo? You love Kikyo." She felt her eyes swell with tears.

Inuyasha blinked. He dreaded the question, but knew it was going to come sooner or later. "I used to love Kikyo. I might owe her my life but I owe you my heart. You changed me in a way that she couldn't. I can't forget about her, but I can no longer love her like I do you." His heart skipped a beat. He had just told her that he loved her. Shit.

"I love you so much Inuyasha!" She hugged him tighter and had joyful tears in her eyes. He hugged her back and they held eachother in thier arms. Kagome remembered what Naori had told her."He loves you. He told me about Kikyo and that he owed her his life, but he loved you and owed you his heart. That's why you guys got married and had me.You guys got married when you collected all the shards of the Shikon No Tama." Kagome smiled at the thought of her and Inuyasha having a future together and having a family. She fell asleep in her loved one's arms.

Naori saw them and smiled.That was the Inuyasha she knew. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Mazuki spied on them and smiled. Her parents, her future parents held eachother in the arms of thier lover's.

A/N: I bet you thought that's where the lemon would be didn't ya? Well it ain't they just kiss. I like Inu's thoughts, he acts so soft and cuddly when he's human. I have such a sick mind! Naught thoughts! Naughty thoughts!