Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

This chapter dedicated to 1Tierra who reviewed despite having one hand out of commission. Get well soon!

A/N: Sorry to those of you who review in the last couple of days, guessed correctly, but did not get an extra spoiler. I'm pressed for time so I thought you'd rather that I update than reply.

Also, I would like to announce that I have the best beta in the world. Seriously, I'm thinking of getting a bumper sticker that says "I (heart) my beta" because she's just that fabulous, and I know I'm not exaggerating because my reviewers say so too. Thank you once again, DarkCrystalis a.k.a. Angel.

So without further ado...

Chapter 22 – Because He Loves Her

-Kagome's POV-

She was riding Reiner down a beautiful mountain road. It was early fall and the maples had just started to turn red, though the cool and crisp air promised it would not be long before the trees decorated the ground with their bright colors.

She rolled the throttle back, reveling in the knowledge she was capable of taking the curves at up to three times the speed any car could. For some odd reason, she wasn't wearing a helmet, or even a pair of glasses to protect her eyes from the wind and dust. Her leathers, too, seemed odd; they felt as soft and thin as the finest silk. It didn't bother her, though; she merely gloried in the sensation of the wind ardently caressing her skin. She felt as if she were flying, but without the sensation of being so far from the earth. This…was perfection.

Time stretched on as she rode and rode; the scent of the forests which lined the roads filled her with peace, and the knowledge that she was free imbued her soul with joy. However, rather suddenly and most unwelcomingly, she felt Sesshoumaru's aura approaching. He was approaching, encroaching upon her treasured space whilst calling out to her. He wanted her to come back.

She hunkered down closer to the bike and increased her speed, determined to outrun him. All too soon, though, she heard a sharp "HANDO!" and felt his clawed hand upon her shoulder, trying to pull her away from Reiner and her sense of freedom.

"GO AWAY!" she growled, momentarily letting go of the throttle in order to punch him squarely in the jaw.

Sesshoumaru's aura withdrew quickly, but it was still very much in the periphery of her senses. Grumbling, she again adjusted herself to be closer to the tank, snuggling against its smooth surface. She had just started to be comfortable again when she suddenly sensed Micah. The unique, almost ticklish sensation of his aura was accompanied by what sounded like small pebbles rustling against each other in a bag.

She knew what that sound meant; the question now was whether or not it was sufficiently enticing to pull her away from her ride.

There it was again, only this time, louder. She made up her mind; in the span of a few moments, the road, Reiner, and mountain scenery faded away, unfortunately leaving room for a new awareness of pain. It felt as if every atom of her body was in a frenzy, as if she'd been burned, but not quite. Scratch that, it felt like she'd been micro-waved. She moaned.

"You'd better not have eaten all the pear flavored ones," she mumbled in a strained and raspy voice.

(Quick A/N: A microwave (I think) cooks things by causing the water molecules in the food to spin faster and faster. This movement creates heat, which is what cooks the food. I could go on, but I'll save you the aggravation of reading about molecular structure and denatured proteins.)

-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-

-Normal POV-

Sesshoumaru was pacing back and forth in the music room while Rin played quietly in the background, Shippou sitting on the bench beside her. Mia, Kikyou, Inuyasha, Sango, Kohaku, Miroku, and a very handsome blonde man were all seated in various places throughout the room.

It was Friday evening, and the taiyoukai had convened everybody at his home because all the adults had refused to leave Kagome, and he was not about to let her out of his reach for a second.

The children, though present now, had been to school earlier. Mia had offered to let Shippou stay and sit with his mother, but he'd responded that Kagome had told him he wasn't aloud out of school unless he was with her, or she was dead. When Mia raised an eyebrow at that, he merely shrugged and said, "Mum says it would only cause people to ask questions, and it's always best to give as little away as possible."

Sesshoumaru had been surprised to hear that. It made it seem as if Kagome had had the forethought to plan with Shippou for any kind of situation they might find themselves in. The fact that the kit seemed to be taking everything in stride was commendable as well. He would have thought the young fox would be crying and whining incessantly, but he'd been calm and collected the entire time.

"She has been unconscious now for over 24 hours," Sesshoumaru remarked to no one in particular as he made yet another lap around the room.

"Calm down," Inuyasha huffed. "After what she's pulled off, I wouldn't be surprised if she sleeps for a week."

'She had better not,' the taiyoukai very nearly snarled. Part of the reason why he was so anxious was because of how she had made him feel yesterday. To be surrounded by that much love, and then left, was torture. He thought it must be the equivalent of placing a starving man in front of an elaborate feast, letting him smell the divine aromas, and then promptly hauling him back into a dark dungeon without even letting him taste it.

Not that he was hungry anyway. Demons didn't need to eat all that much to survive, and they certainly didn't hunger for what mikos could serve them. 'This is the most ridiculous line of thing. This Sesshoumaru will cease at once,' he inwardly growled. Too bad telling himself that he would cease thinking about Kagome, and actually doing so, were two very different things.

Part of him never wanted to feel that strong of an emotion again; it was too terrifying. Another part of him, one he was refusing to acknowledge at the moment, was desperately worried that he never would.

A hundred other thoughts were simultaneously racing through his head. He was shocked that that much power had been summoned and used by a human…a human! Yes, humans could be powerful, even more powerful than some youkai, but this was beyond that. The only instances he'd ever felt that much power in his life were from his father and himself. He knew she was a Gaean miko, but still. Humans were just not built to hold that much power. 'Which, of course, brings us to the point that she is now…'

"Sesshoumaru-sama I'm sure she will wake soon," commented a very tired but still calm Mia. "She's made definite progress through the night."

"Hn," he muttered, pretending as if nothing was bothering him. After all, he wasn't pacing, he was just walking amongst his lovely possessions, keeping his blood flowing. Walking was very beneficial exercise.

"Mia's right, Sesshoumaru," the tall and athletic blonde said, not buying the taiyoukai's 'I-could-care-less' act.

Letting his control from a moment before snap, he whirled around to growl at the last speaker.

"How can you be sure?" he demanded, glaring at the blonde, blue-eyed person. Sometimes it was hard to take anything he said seriously, because his lightly tanned skin, rosy complexion, and slightly goofy and pointed ears gave him the appearance of a lovable cherub.

However, Sesshoumaru was fully aware that said cherub knew more ways to kill a person than there were grains of rice in a twenty pound bag, so he was grudgingly willing to admit he might have an insight.

At Sesshoumaru's abrupt comment, Rin fumbled a few notes, but Shippou put a comforting hand on her arm and she continued.

"Use your senses," the blonde chided, having noticed the small exchange between the two children. "Had you not been skulking around like a caged animal, you might have noticed that her aura has calmed dramatically in the past few minutes. Given the way it feels, I'd be willing to bet you fifty bucks she's dreaming."

"This Sesshoumaru does not skulk, or make such petty bets," Sesshoumaru retorted coldly. 'He couldn't possibly know that she was dreaming just by how her aura feels, could he?' he wondered. Squashing immediately the tiny pricks of jealousy he felt, he headed for the door. "Well, if she is dreaming, then she can be woken up."

"Woah, reign it in there!" the blonde said, making a move to stop Sesshoumaru. "You don't want to wake her from a dream if you can avoid it. She's not pleasant when you do, unless, of course, you know the magic way to go about it."

"You are being ridiculous. I will wake her, and we will finally get to the bottom of this situation. It will not matter in what manner I do so," Sesshoumaru shot back, annoyed that the other thought him incapable of even waking the girl.

"Actually, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kikyou cut in, "he has a point. If Kagome is exhausted, she has ways of being resistant towards those who try and disrupt her rest."

Sesshoumaru was still not convinced despite the emphatic nodding Kikyou's warning had elicited from the fox kitsune, Sango and Mia. Miroku too, had an abject expression of horror in his face as a memory played in his mind. His left hand flew to massage his right shoulder, and Sango patted his back in sympathy.

"Fine, Sesshoumaru," the blonde said. "You go ahead and try to wake her. BUT…if you can't get her up on the first try, but I can, then you have to let me be the one to question her. It's not like she'd talk to you anyways." The gleam of a challenge was in his eye and the taiyoukai could not ignore it.

"Hando has had multiple conversations with me in the recent past, and I have no reason to suspect she would prove hesitant now," he stated calmly, despite the fact that he was really quite anxious. True, they'd had an opportunity to 'bond', as some would say, but then she'd sent those purifying shocks at him, lied, drugged him, and cut his chest open…twice.

"Alright then, if she wakes up for you on the fist try, I promise not to interfere in your conversation. Same goes for if I can wake her up. Agreed?"

"Agreed," he replied, walking out the door. If he had hesitated but a moment, he would have caught the wink the blonde sent towards Mia who in turn smiled, but unfortunately for him, he missed it.

"And if neither of you can do the job, I'm sure I can think of a few pleasant ways to wake her," Miroku added.

If Sango had not slapped him upside the head, the monk would have realized his comment had earned him a red-eyed glare from the taiyoukai.

"Can I come see Kagome-chan, too?" asked Rin.

"Sorry kid," Inuyasha told her, "but I think it'd be best if you and Kohaku steered clear of this one, okay? I'll make sure someone comes and gets you two the minute she asks for you, alright?"

The two children nodded their heads, but looked to the kit to see if he would ask.

"Shippou, would you like to come and see her when she wakes up?" Mia asked, realizing that her grandson would probably want to be the first to make sure his mother was okay.

Shippou looked at the understanding expressions of six of the seven adults and was about to respond when he noticed the impatient glare of Sesshoumaru. "Uh, that's okay Grandma, Mum will come find me soon, I'm sure."

Inuyasha, who saw his brother's glare, scowled, but didn't say anything as Mia only nodded and went with the rest of the group to the guest room Kagome had been placed in.

"Is Kagome-chan really that hard to wake up?" Rin asked.

"Well, it's like they said," Shippou said, "you just have to go about it the right away. Otherwise, she can be scary."

"Will Otou-san be okay?" Rin looked apprehensive. Generally, she believed Sesshoumaru was invincible, but after what Kagome had done the day before, she knew she wasn't someone to mess with.

"Don't worry Rin, he'll live," the kitsune grinned. "I think Mum's too tired to kill anyone just now."

"Yeah," Kohaku added. "Besides, Kagome-san wouldn't do anything too serious with her mother standing right there."

"Shippou?"

"Yeah Rin?"

"Were you scared?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to figure out a way to explain it to her. "I was worried at first, and I'm sad she got hurt, but I knew she would pull through."

"How?" Rin was amazed. She had faith in her otou-san to overcome anything, but he was the greatest youkai in the land, and Kagome, though strong, was still human.

"Well, Mom has this way of staying connected to me. As long as I can still feel her, I know she'll be okay. Besides which, she never said goodbye."

"What does that have to do with it?" Kohaku asked.

"Mum would never leave me without saying goodbye," Shippou said seriously.

Rin nodded. After a minute, she started up again. "Shippou?"

"What else do you want to know?" he asked with a mock sigh.

"Who is that man named Peters? Why is he here? Is he human? He doesn't look like most youkai, but his ears aren't like human ones either, and he doesn't feel like a human. He looks like an angel."

Shippou and Kohaku both raised their eyebrows at her comment about how Micah 'felt', but laughed at her last statement. Rin was comfortable enough with them that she didn't bother with her usual cloak-and-dagger style of questioning, but rather just plowed ahead. Neither minded as she in return would answer any question of theirs. Between the three of them lay a store of knowledge that would shock the adults…if they were only aware.

"Well let's see…where to begin? That guy is Michael Peters, but Mum and I call him Micah. He has the same job as Sesshoumaru-sama, but instead of being in Japan, he's located in America. Mum and he are really good friends and she used to work with him before she came back here. Yes, he is a youkai, but he's a human youkai."

"I don't understand," Rin mumbled. "How can he be a human youkai? I mean, you're either human or youkai, not both, unless you're a hanyou."

"Yeah, well you know how there's all kinds of youkai, right? There's inu youkai like your dad, there's cat, bird, dragon, weasel, all kinds. For just about every kind of animal or element, there's a youkai for it, right?"

Rin nodded.

"Well, a while ago in America, their government thought they should try and figure out how to make a human youkai."

"How do you make a youkai?"

"I dunno how exactly, but it has something to do with scientists, genetics, and experiments." These were all things that Shippou had heard of, but being only seven he hadn't quite grasped the entire scope of the matter yet.

"Transgenic implementation, possibly combined with a directable, mutant form of tRNA. In the very least they would have to do something to keep the telomeres from being depleted during the cell reproduction process." Kohaku said with authority. You didn't come from a long line of demon slayers without learning more than a few things about youkai after all.

"So anyway," Shippou said after shaking off the blank stare that had taken over his face at Kohaku's comment. "Micah's parents were some of the first human youkai, and so, Micah, his siblings, and some of his other family are all human youkai. They can heal fast, and have super strength and other abilities, but their true forms are really just bigger, muscular versions of themselves."

"That is so weird!" Rin gasped. "So, why did Peters-san come all the way from America?"

"Because Grandma told him that Mum had gotten hurt, and she thought he might want to be here when she woke up. Micah has helped Mum a lot in the past, and Grandma thought he'd want to again," Shippou explained.

"But why?" Rin persisted.

"Because he loves her," came the honest reply. Before Rin could ask anything else, a loud, crashing noise came from upstairs.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I could end it here and drive you all insane but I won't. Aren't you glad I'm not in a malevolent mood right now?

-x-X-x-

Upstairs, Sesshoumaru approached Kagome's room. He could tell from her breathing and eye movements that she was now back from her comatose state and merely in a restful sleep. He flared his aura, hoping that that alone would wake her and he wouldn't even have to make a show of it in her rooms. Unfortunately, all Kagome did was grumble and burrow further into the bedding.

He walked into the room, momentarily puzzled by everyone else's choice to remain out in the hallway.

"Hando, wake up," he ordered. Nothing. "Hando, you will rise this instant."

Snickering from Peters as well as another round of grumbling from the girl was the last straw. She had abused his trust, damaged his person, attacked his home, hidden her abilities from him, defied him, plagued his thoughts, disrupted his peace, thrown his life into disorder, and scared the living shit out of him with her actions yesterday. He'd never felt so distracted in his entire life. Caution be damned, she would wake up and explain herself now!

"HANDO!" he barked as he shook her shoulder.

Not two seconds later, the taiyoukai felt himself sailing through the wall and into the room adjoining the one he'd just been punched in. A blistering burn appeared on his jaw where the girl's fist had made contact while she bellowed "GO AWAY!" He also landed right on the spot where she'd zapped him the day before…

The pain cleared his head just enough to realize something. 'This is the first time I've been exposed to her aura for thirty-six hours straight, she must be affecting me!' He slowly picked himself up from the floor, preparing to, at the very least, remove an appendage for her a.) Striking his face and, b.) meddling, unconsciously, with his emotions. Unfortunately, the snide tone of Peters interrupted him.

"Ah, ah, ah, Sesshoumaru, remember what you promised? It's my turn now," Micah chuckled. The look on his, and everyone else's face, as if they were trying with all their might not to laugh out loud, stilled him. He refused to show his anger to such as them.

The blonde youkai reached into his pocket and pulled out a white bag with a red and yellow "Jelly Belly" logo on it. He stood in the doorway and shook the bag.

Sesshoumaru looked on with disdain. Surly the ridiculous man did not think Hando would wake up for candy? But then again, some shifting and mumbling began to emanate from the lump in the covers.

Taking courage, Micah stepped closer to Kagome and shook the bag a second time after he'd removed a light green colored bean and popped it into his mouth. A few seconds later, two hands shifted the covers down to reveal messy black hair and two blinking, steel colored eyes.

"You'd better not have eaten all the pear flavored ones," she mumbled in a strained and raspy voice.

-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-

A/N: Okay so maybe ending it here isn't much better, but hey, it's still a decent length overall don't you think? Plus you got to finally meet Micah! Kudos to all of you who guessed it correctly.

So yes, here be the spoilers for Chapter 23: Refiner's Fire -

- Inuyasha, upon hearing her sound as if she was surprised her endeavors had succeeded was sorely tempted to start shouting something along the lines of "You didn't KNOW it was going to work!", but the sight of sobbing females stilled him. 'No,' he thought. 'Kami please no! Anything but crying!'-

- "Wait a second, did you just say I…" Kagome looked over at Sesshoumaru and noted the blistering burn on his jaw, and then the rather large hole in the wall. "Oh no! I am so sorry Sesshoumaru! I didn't mean to, or at least I don't think I did," she wavered.-

- Clearing his throat while waggling his eyebrows Miroku called out, "My my, Kagome, would you like us to leave so you could continue?"-

-x-

P.S. Addicted2reviews where have you gone? Have you abandoned me!