Disclaimer- If I have to be technical, then yea he ain't mine...

Chapter 26- Frozen in Time

The chilling night stole the warmth from Kagome's body as she hugged her jacket closer to herself. Cheeks burning in the frosty air, she glanced down at her attire, which only consisted of her red silk pants, and a black tank top under her jacket. Silently questioning her sanity, she pushed herself against the wind in an attempt to reach her destination.

Pulling her bare hands away from her coat, she reached into its left pocket, pulling out her note from before. Her eyes settled on the words, finding slight comfort from them. Sighing before letting her smile cross her lips, she stuffed her note back into her pocket, leaving her hand inside for a moment of warmth before returning to its post against her coat.

"Whatever possessed him to meet me out here is unknown." She muttered to herself, staring out into the sky. She frowned when she dark clouds greeted her. "That's funny, and here I thought it was going to be clear tonight. Maybe that's why it's so cold."

Staring straight again, her mind shifted from the darkened sky to her destination, which now stood silently. Her smile came back, batting away the grimace from before. Letting her thoughts wander again, Kagome quickly remembered the small conflict before her mission.

Flashback

The lights were now sleeping peacefully, as were two of the three girls inside of the toasty room. A pair of blue eyes were still wide awake, listening to her friend's sleep before she slowly sat up in her bed. Dipping her feet onto the wood floor, she pulled the covers from herself before standing up. Creeping down the small isle, she was only able to pull on her boots before she heard a soft voice enter her ears.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Sango's whisper was enough to stop Kagome dead in her tracks. Guiltily, Kagome looked across the hall to see Sango now advancing on her, stopping feet in front of her.

"I'm just going out for a walk." She replied, standing up.

"Oh really? Care to explain why you're going at midnight? Only insane people are going out onto a mountain, which I'll remind you is much colder than is it in the day, with only boots and a pair of pajamas!"

"Well I'm brining a jacket too you know. It's not like I'm that dumb." Kagome reached for the coat, but was stopped when Sango's hand grasped it first. "Give that back!"

"Will you keep quiet; you're going to wake up Kikyo." Sango pulled the jacket away from Kagome's reaching hands. "Now tell me why you're really going out there. I know you wouldn't just go without some reason." Seeing no way out of it, Kagome only sighed.

"Fine, here." Shoving her hand in Sango's face, Kagome let her friend grab the note from before.

"What's this?"

"Well maybe if you read it you'd find out?" Kagome suggested sarcastically. With a soft glare from Sango, she watched her friend read the note.

"So let me get this straight. Inuyasha wants you to meet him outside at the ski lifts tonight at midnight? Doesn't that sound a little too suspicious?" Sango asked, returning the note.

"No way, it seems just like him. Think of it. Me and Inuyasha have been in a fight for this whole trip basically, he probably wants to apologize or something."

"I can't see Inuyasha apologizing like this. Or rather, I can't see him saying he's sorry. As in ever." Kagome's eyes fell down to the ground.

"It has to be it; why else would he want to see me? No, he wants to apologize, he has to want to...besides-" Kagome looked back up at Sango, a smile returning to her lips. "Inuyasha doesn't like to apologize when there are other people around. This must have been his only solution."

"I still don't know. Inuyasha's not that stupid, he knows how dangerous it is to go outside in this type of weather. I just want you to be careful."

"Stop worrying, I've been through worse at this camp anyways. A little cold won't be so bad." Kagome grabbed her coat from Sango, slipping it onto her. "If you want, we'll make a deal. If I don't get back before one, you can go wake up Kikyo and you two can come find us Oka?"

"Alright. All I'm asking is for you to make sure you're careful. It gets really cold up there. Maybe you should change into something warmer. You won't even last an hour up there in that."

"I don't have time; I'm going to be late as it is!" She smiled and opened the door quietly, slipping out of the room and down the hall silently.

End Flashback

"Sango fears too much anyways. I better just get this over with and then I can go back so she'll stop worrying. I don't want her to stay up all that time; she might be drained in the morning. She isn't used to staying up like me and Inuyasha." At the mention of him, Kagome felt the butterflies float around in her stomach. They only intensified when she stepped into the ski lift area, glancing around for the boy.

"Hello? Inuyasha? You better not be late!" When all she saw was the seats of the ski lift, she sighed and moved towards them. Stopping inches from them; she saw something stick out against one of the seats. Walking towards it, she tried not to smile as she saw another note. Grasping it tightly, she read it slowly.

"Sit down; I have a surprise for you? Inuyasha, you better not be trying to scare me." She sighed slightly before sitting down against the seat. Just the contact of the cold metal sent a chill up her spine, though even when she had gotten over the cold, the chill still swum through her veins, icing her to the bone. Breathing out icicles, Kagome slowly pulled her legs towards her body, trying to conserve some of the warmth from the lodge.

"Inuyasha, if you don't come out soon, I'm going to leave, apology or not." She tried to keep her teeth from chattering as she let her angry sentence pass her frozen lips, which were already starting to feel the life stealing breeze of night. As she started to pull her legs away from herself to stand, she quickly pulled them back when she felt the lift suddenly jerk into motion. The realizations of her movements were suddenly thrown onto her like a splash of cold water, and she screamed before hugging herself closer.

"Oh god..." Kagome closed her eyes tightly when she felt the lift rise higher. Her body was shaking, both from the cold and her fear. She felt the lift slow its pace before falling into a complete halt. "Please let me be back on the ground." Her plead was not answered as she opened her eyes, screaming when she glanced at how high she was. Looking around, she couldn't see either post that she could jump onto.

"I'm stuck up here, I can't move." Her voice was hoarse as horror wrapped slender digits around her throat, chocking her. She glanced around the seat, finding nothing but the note from before. Reaching out with shaky hands, Kagome grasped the note, staring at it with terror filled eyes. "How didn't I notice this before! I'm so stupid..." She felt her stomach flip when she discovered the dreadful truth of the note.

"The note, the paper...it's red..."

Sango bit her lip as she stood outside of the boy's room, holding her hand uncertainly up against the door. Tugging at the clothes she wore to bed, she looked around, making sure that nobody had woken from her search of looking for the boy's room.

She hadn't intended in waking up Miroku, but this was an emergency. Sango had wanted to stay up until Kagome came back from her conversation with Inuyasha, or until she had the right to wake Kikyo up to go retrieve their friend. Without realizing it, Sango had slipped into a small cat nap and had woken up around quarter of one.

Feeling that she had waited long enough for her friend, she had gone to Kikyo to wake her up. She was slightly surprised when she realized that Kikyo wasn't in her bed, or for that matter, in the room. Now that she thought of it, she hadn't heard Kikyo's snoring when she had caught Kagome sneaking out of the room. She had only assumed that she had been there, and was too worried about Kagome to notice if Kikyo was actually sleeping or not.

Now being the only one in the room, she had only one more person that she could go to. Knowing if she told Rin or Sesshoumaru what was going on, everyone would be getting cafeteria duty for a week, she decided to go to Miroku. It had seemed like a brilliant idea until she had gotten to the actual room Miroku was in, where she seemed to hesitate.

"This is too important to be nervous about seeing Miroku. Your friends are out there in the cold, something might have happened to them. He'll understand what's wrong." Taking another breath, Sango let her hand connect with the door in a soft knock. Knowing that the knock may not have been loud enough for a sleeping person to catch, Sango contemplated the idea of knocking again.

Her thoughts were slammed to a sudden stop when the door opened, revealing a messy haired Miroku. Her mouth went instantly dry as she blushed.

"What's up Sango?" Miroku asked, glancing at the girl in front of her. He caught sight of the attire she was wearing; taking note of how cute she looked with the silky blue pants and white tank top. He glanced at her hair, which was bound in a high pony tail, leaving her hair to sway against her back.

"Um...did I wake you?" She asked, glancing down at her feet. She mentally smacked herself for not wearing shoes, her feet starting to feel the effects of the hard wood floor.

"Nope, I was actually playing a game of poker." He replied, stepping out of the doorway. At the invitation, Sango lifted her head to walk in, only to spot another boy sitting on the floor, holding a group of cards.

"No way..." Sango whispered, causing Inuyasha to glance up at her.

"What didn't expect us to be awake or something?" He asked, trying to read her expression. He leaned against the bed behind him, glancing behind the girl.

"What are you doing here! You're not supposed to be here!" Sango quickly walked into the room, dropping onto the floor next to Inuyasha. She looked around, trying to find if her friend was with him. When she saw no sign of the girl, panic started to take over her mind.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, backing away from the girl slightly. "And where's Kagome? She still pissed off?"

"She's supposed to be with you!" Sango replied, scrambling to her feet. Miroku and Inuyasha both glanced at each other, then back to Sango.

"You mean she's not in her room?" Miroku asked, trying to keep and eye on both teens. He could already tell Inuyasha's body was tensing. From anger or fear he wasn't sure.

"NO! She...and the note...and the lifts! And you!" Sango turned to face Inuyasha, shifting her finger to point at him. "You were supposed to apologize! She's waiting for you to apologize!"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but where the hell is Kagome!" Inuyasha pushed himself on his feet, watching his friend try to comfort the trembling girl.

"I knew it, she wouldn't listen to me. This is all my fault, I should have stopped her, I shouldn't have let her go..." Miroku quickly wrapped his arms around the girl, placing her head against his shoulder.

"Just calm down for a moment, getting all worked up will not help the problem. Just relax." Though he was speaking with Sango, his eyes never left Inuyasha. He tried to hide his smile when he saw Inuyasha visibly relax; though he knew inside he was waiting to snap. "Just tell me what happened so we can help."

"Kagome, she got some note...I don't know when." Sango whispered softly. "It was signed by Inuyasha."

"I didn't sign anything!" He instantly calmed himself when he saw Sango jump. "Oka, so what happened next? What did the note say?"

"It said you wanted to see her at the ski lifts tonight at midnight. She thought you were going to apologize for something, she never told me exactly what." Sango replied, slowly pushing her head away from Miroku. She sent a thankful glance, now gathering her wits again. "She told me that she was sure it was you."

"So she's at the ski lift? And she left at midnight?" Miroku glanced at the clock that sat on the shelf. "That was almost an hour ago."

"I promised I wouldn't come after her until one. I was going to bring Kikyo, but she's not in the room either!"

"That's weird, Kouga left too. He was playing poker with us before he said he wanted to take a walk. We were supposed to cover for him until he came back." Miroku said, shifting his attention to Inuyasha who was now growling.

"That bastard, he went to go see her! That's why the note was signed from me, because he knew me and Kagome were in a fight. It was the only way she'd go out to see him."

"Inuyasha, think about what you're saying. Do you really thing that Kouga would do that?" Miroku asked.

"If Inuyasha thinks I went to go see my 'boyfriend' again, then I'm going to have to kill him." Kouga yawned as he walked into the open doorway, shutting the door after himself. He didn't have time to breath when Inuyasha had him pinned up against the wall, hand at his throat.

"Where is Kagome?" Inuyasha growled out, his eyes darting dangerously close to gold. Kouga stared at him before trying to push him off.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Kouga managed out, his breathing starting to become choppy.

"Inuyasha let him go! You're going to kill him!" Sango shouted, breaking away from Miroku and grabbing Inuyasha's arm. "Stop hurting him, we need to go find Kagome!" At the mention of the missing girl's name, Inuyasha instantly dropped Kouga to the floor.

"You're lucky I'm in a rush, or else you would be dead." Kouga watched in slight fear as Inuyasha grabbed his shoes and tore the door opens, running out of the room.

"Come on Miroku, let's go! God knows what he'll do if he finds anyone else." Sango ran through the doorway to her room, grabbing a pair of shoes and shoving her feet into them before running back out into the hall, surprised to find Miroku waiting for her. She didn't waste time with words as she ran down the stairs that led to the outside of the lodge, catching glimpse of Inuyasha putting his shoes on.

"Did she tell you where she was meeting me?" Inuyasha asked Sango, who had approached him.

"No, all she said was that she'd be at the ski lifts, nothing else." She replied.

"Did you see what color the note was?" At the odd question, Sango took a moment to remember what color the paper Kagome passed to her was.

"Oh god...it was red! I didn't even think about the color until just now! It was the same color as the note we found in our cabin when it got destroyed!" Sango glanced at Miroku, who now stood beside his best friend.

"Let's worry about this stuff when we find her. She's been out here for an hour, if she stays out there too much longer..." Miroku watched Inuyasha take off, Grabbing Sango's hand before running behind his friend.

"How is he going to find her! She could be anywhere now! And it's so dark I can't make anything out!" Sango shivered as she ran, cursing herself for forgetting her coat.

"His sight isn't affected by the night. It's one of the benefits of being a half demon; he can see twice as good as any human can." Miroku explained, headed towards the lift's entrance. Taking note that neither Inuyasha nor Kagome were at the entrance, he sighed and slowed down.

"What are we going to do now, neither of them are here." She shivered again, crossing her arms to keep warmth. She blushed slightly when she felt an arm wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to Miroku.

"We already have one person in danger of freezing, we don't need two." She sighed and glanced back out into the snowy ground.

"Let's just hope he finds her before she does."

The sound of Inuyasha's heart boomed in his ears as he ran alongside the railings that kept the lifts up, hoping to catch sight of Kagome. He took no notice of the chilling air that stung his eyes as he bounded forwards, his eyes glued to the chairs above. It was his only way of getting to her.

He suddenly stopped when he saw a small bundle huddled on one of the lifts, sending two clashing emotions spiraling in his stomach. His heart soared knowing he had found her, but his stomach dropped in seeing her visible shaking even from his far distance away. Pushing both thoughts from his head, he pushed towards the seat, stopping right under it.

"Kagome! Kagome can you hear me?" Inuyasha screamed as loud as he could, hoping he could hear her. Slowly, Kagome stuck her head out to see him, which he took as a yes.

"Inuyasha! What is going on!" Kagome called out, trying to ignore the pain in using her voice. She had been screaming so much, her voice was giving out on her.

"I didn't write that note! I promise I wouldn't ever do something like this to you!" His voice was loud, but Kagome could easily tell something was wrong.

"I know you didn't write it!" She replied, trying to comfort him from where she sat.

"Then why did you come out here!" He screamed. She shook her head, trying to reword her sentence.

"I didn't realize it till after I was up here! I-" She screamed suddenly as a strong swing of wind pushed her seat forward, causing her to clutch the chair for dear life. "Inuyasha, please get me down! I'm so scared, I don't want to fall." Her eyes were wet; though she made sure she didn't cry knowing the water would easily freeze against her face.

"Kagome you're going to have to calm down, give me some time to think of what to do." God damnit, how can I get her down? If I think too long, she'll freeze to death up there. She's already been out here for an hour, god knows if she's even realized if she has frostbite or not.

"Please hurry Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered, trying to curl up again. Her face felt numb, as well as her hands and feet.

"What if I go turn the machine on, let it go around again, and you get off at the end?" Inuyasha shouted.

"No! Don't turn it on; don't make me stay on here, please!" Her desperate cry caused Inuyasha to growl, his blood boiling under his skin. Kagome's beyond scared...She's terrified and I can't do a single thing to help her. Whoever did this to her...

"Kagome you're going to have to calm down." He called out.

"I can't Inuyasha! I'm so scared; I'm going to die out here!" Inuyasha bit his lip as he listened to her, thinking of a way to get her to relax.

"Kagome...I'm sorry!" When he noticed she stayed silent, he continued. "I'm sorry got so mad on the mountain, I'm sorry I yelled at you! It's just... Kouga makes you happy, and you never fight with him. But every time we talk, you always get so mad. So when you complimented him I...I got jealous."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She asked, trying to take everything in.

"I don't know." He admitted, placing his gaze on the ground. Staring at him for a moment, Kagome slowly pushed herself to the edge of the seat, trying to keep her balance.

"Inuyasha, you know I trust you right?" She asked, waiting until he looked up at her to smile weakly. Her legs were dangling off of the side of the chair, and she knew he could tell they were badly shaking.

"Kagome what are you doing! Get back on the seat!" Inuyasha ordered, watching her shake her head. His eyes widened at her next sentence.

"You're going to have to catch me." She said, her eyes closing before she fell forward.

"You idiot!" Inuyasha quickly let his arms reach out, catching the girl around the waist and pulling her towards him. The contact made his knees shake slightly, though he kept himself up. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I knew you'd catch me..." She whispered tiredly, snuggling into his chest. Fearing the worse, Inuyasha quickly pinched her. "Ow!"

"You don't get to sleep until we get back to the cabin." He replied, picking her up and walking where he knew his friends would be waiting for them.

"Inuyasha, how did you find me?"

"I um...heard you."

"You couldn't have, the wind was too loud."

"Does it matter how I found you! All that is important is that you got out of that, and you're safe." She sighed when she snapped, placing her head against his shoulder.

"I hate it when you keep things away from you." She whispered, making him shift her slightly.

"I'm not keeping things away from you. Stop saying it like that." He said, lightly pinching her arm again.

"Will you stop that!" She glared up at him, causing him to smirk.

"Then stop trying to go to sleep." He replied. She only pouted and looked away from him.

"Inuyasha, back at the lifts...were you Oka?" She asked.He stared at her turned head for a moment before looking forward again.

"Fine, why?"

"Because...you're eyes were that color again..." He stopped suddenly, looking down at her. She glanced up at him, a serious glance greeting him. "Was that why you could find me? Your eyes...di-"

"It doesn't matter. Look, Sango and Miroku are waiting for you." He nodded to the two who were rushing towards them, never letting his eyes drop.

Kagome, on the other hand, couldn't keep hers away from him.

There you go, the wonderful disaster that I call my chapter! I hope that it was worth the wait and all, I tried to make it as good as I could but it was hard to get writing time this week. Anyways, the third clue to Inuyasha's secret is out, and he has no idea what to do now. Will Kagome realize what Inuyasha is? How will the stranger strike next? What the hell were the boys playing poker for at one in the morning! What are they, vampires! Talk you all soon!

Chapter 27- You're Leaving?

17