Stolen Seasons VIII
Heat Stroke I
Lm. Samiko

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High summer, the heat and humidity making even a taiyoukai uncomfortable enough to gaze at the sea with longing, though he might not show such things upon his face.

The woman had not appeared yet; a puzzling event. Their meetings had begun to take on a feel of regularity, of purpose, though they were not dictated by any schedule or set meeting place. It was more a pull towards a certain direction, a tugging from behind his breastbone that led him to a certain place for a certain reason. A query and he knew that her experiences matched his own. Something--a Greater Power, perhaps--had bonded them together, for a reason he could not fathom. Certainly, nothing of import occurred; they exchanged a few words at most. Sometimes they said nothing at all, merely watching the world move around them.

Of an instant, the bond pulled him forward physically, almost violently, causing him to stumble a few steps southward before righting himself and taking off in that direction with an inexplicably urgent haste. He scented Kagome before he saw her, heard the sound of battle being engaged before he could reach her. For the merest fraction of a second, something seemed to choke him, but he fought the sensation down and joined the fray. From a corner of his awareness, he could see her alternately standing and running, bow in hand, firing arrows with a calm assurance fueled by adrenaline and built over years of combat. A small smirk graced his features as he ripped the rest of the attacking youkai to tiny chunks of meat. The woman was indeed impressive for one of her kind. She knew her limitations as well, targeting lesser youkai and leaving him the more powerful ones--not that any of them were at all a match for him.

She stood and watched him, panting, once the skirmish was over. "Thank you for your help, Sesshoumaru," she said. He was about to reply when she continued, "I didn't really need it, you understand, but I appreciate it." Sesshoumaru merely glared at her, outraged. She began to giggle, a sound he had never heard from her before. "Oh, you should see your face! I do appreciate it, though, really. I would've taken a bit longer and then I would have been more late than I already was, wouldn't I?" She cocked her head to one side and grinned.

"You might have ended up dead, woman. Then you would not have been able to come to me at all."

She sobered. "You're right. As usual. But I've spent more than enough time being weak and scared and hiding in a corner, Sesshoumaru. I don't want to feel frightened and helpless any more. And I can take care of myself up to a point. Besides, 'To die with your intention unrealised is to die uselessly.' I don't intend to do either. But I do think we work rather well together, don't you?" She smiled again and began to pick her way through the bits of dead youkai to where he stood. "'Great and small go together,' ne?"

He blinked at her. "You know the sayings of bushido."

"A bit," she admitted. "Not a lot. I only started reading things a few years back. I don't really think it's my calling, since I'm really a miko and healer, but I thought it was a good idea to know it."

"Hn."

She looked at him critically and frowned, which he replied to with a raised eyebrow. "Your sleeves have little bits of youkai on them," she commented. "So do your sashinuki, for that matter." He examined his clothing to discover that she was correct. His lip curled slightly. "And mine," she added ruefully, "aren't much better. I think a swim is called for."

"A swim, woman?"

"A swim," she said firmly. "Don't pretend you aren't as dirty and hot and sweaty as I am, Sesshoumaru, even if you don't look it. You want to bathe as much as I do. I'll put a kekkai around your stuff, if you're worried about it. And my kekkai are strong enough to stand up to anyone except you at this point." Her expression betrayed a great deal of pride in this achievement.

"Very well," he agreed after a moment's contemplation. "A swim would be most pleasing in this heat. But let us remove ourselves to someplace less... messy." She glanced at the piles of entrails that were beginning to rot in the sun, shuddered, and agreed.

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Author's Notes

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bushido - The Way of the Warrior. Devoting one's self entirely to the ideals of swordsmanship, honour, giri, etc. was meant to bring enlightenment. This was meant to be the ideal for the samurai and, one can well imagine, Sesshoumaru himself. Kagome's quotations are from A Book of Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto.

kekkai - a mystical barrier

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Next up: Heat Stroke II and blatant fanservice. Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Hope you enjoyed.