DISCLAIMER: Have to come up with a way to make this more interesting...I don't own Inuyasha or the characters. I don't own the song "Rain" and I don't own Breaking Benjamin. What I DO own is the concept for this story and this Milky Way bar...

AMP: So here we are yet again...

Sessho: If I agree to go through with this chapter may this Sesshomaru have another vacation?

AMP: I doubt it. However, I am very tired after writing this chapter, so maybe we'll do something fun at the end of this chapter just to unwind, ok?

Sessho: I suppose that will suffice.

Inu: Party AMP? I'll bring the chips and dip!

Kags: :walks in dressed in her pink kitten pajamas:: Can we make it a pajama party?

AMP: Sure! Sounds like fun. ::goes off to get her penguin pajamas:: Sessho, you're the only one old enought to buy alcohol, the liquor store is down the street. Kags, you're in charge of games! I'll bring the movies and music!

Sessho: This is NOT what I had in mind...but I suppose it could get interesting. ::takes AMP's car keays::

Inu: Wait up Sessho!

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Chapter 5: Rain

The rain had hampered his plans for reaching the outskirts of his lands before nightfall. One minute he had been glancing over his shoulder again just to see the slight widening of the miko's eyes as she looked over the edge of his cloud. The next minute the rain was gushing down on them. He guided the cloud to the ground and took a quick glance around to find shelter more sufficient than that of the trees overhead.

A slight tug on the sleeve of his haori brought his attention the young woman behind him. This was the first time she had initiated any contact with him and the demon lord was momentarily stunned.

Kagome raised her hand and pointed towards a cluster of bushes, giving him an imploring look. Sesshomaru stood perfectly still. "It's a good sign that she's willing to make contact," he thought. "But maybe she'll speak if I pretend not to understand." Kagome tugged the edge of his haori a few more times before giving up. She turned and walked in the direction she had chosen with the demon lord following.

About an hour later Sesshomaru still could not decide how she'd known there was shelter in this direction. Maybe she had passed by here during her travels with the half-breed. But then how would she have distinguished that area from any other? Even with his superior senses everything still looked the same.

Giving up for the moment, he turned his attention to Kagome. She was lying next to the fire he had made looking as if she would fall asleep any moment. Their shelter was not really a cave, more of a rocky overhang which kept the rain off of them as long as the wind didn't change direction. While he could easily deal with the rain, he knew that humans were more fragile and she would get sick if exposed to it for too long. "Weak human," he said aloud. "Why you are still alive is beyond the understanding of this Sesshomaru. Time and time again you have brushed the hand of death and yet you still live. If you call what you are doing now living."

He half expected a reply. Even an insult would have satisfied him. But Kagome only raised her pain-filled eyes to his for a brief moment before returning her gaze to the flickering flames.

"Weak human," the demon lord said. "Why you are still alive is beyond the understanding of this Sesshomaru. Time and time again you have brushed the hand of death and yet you still live. If you call what you are doing now living."

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"I don't," Kagome thought. "And why am I still alive? Why couldn't Kikyou have killed me? "

Because that was not your fate, bitch.

"You again. Why wasn't it my fate? Why did Inuyasha have to die? What's going to happen to me?"

Not so many questions at once. It's not your fate because it isn't. Kami has other plans for you. Inuyasha died because that was his fate. He accomplished what Kami had in store for him on earth and his presence was required elsewhere. And as I said, Kami has other plans for you, and that should be enough.

The other voices were trying to get in again. She wasn't ready to give up contact with the only voice that didn't threaten her just yet.

"Thank you for pointing the way earlier."

Don't mention it. Sesshomaru would have kept you out in the rain all night looking.

"Required elsewhere? What is that supposed to mean? Didn't Inuyasha's soul move on to the afterlife?"

The voice was silent.

"Tell me!" she screamed at it in her head.

I will eventually. In the meantime, the voices and memories are getting to be too much for you to ignore. Let them win this time; you're too tired to fight. But at some point in the future, you will have to drive them out. Rest now.

As the safe voice retreated, the others began to close in. When the memories began flashing in front of her she turned on her CD player and welcomed the music that fit her mood.

"Take a photograph,
It'll be the last,
Not a dollar or a crowd could ever keep me here…"

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Sesshomaru almost jumped at the sound of Kagome's voice. Her singing was mildly soothing, even if he had to put unsuccessful effort into understanding the lyrics. He was coming to the conclusion that she sang when she was farthest away from reality.

"I don't have a past
I just have a chance,
Not a family or honest plea remains to say…"

So she was hiding from everything around her. Why? What was she so afraid of? Or what was so appealing in her head that she refused to see beyond it?

"Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun…"

The human mind was never something he had wanted to delve into. Occasionally Rin made him wonder for a moment, but this miko was dominating more of his thoughts than he was comfortable with.

"Is it you I want,
Or just the notion
Of a heart to wrap around so I can find my way around…"

Once they reached his home he would have other things to take up his mind. "How will a miko adjust to a household full of demons and one human child?" he wondered.

"Safe to say from here,
Your getting closer now,
We are never sad cause we are not allowed to be…"

For that matter where would he put her? He couldn't house her with the few servants he employed. She could share his wing. That was probably the best option. There was an empty room across the hall from his private rooms. Rin's rooms were down the hall, so the miko would be able to spend extra time with the child. And as strange as it sounded, he might need the child's help to look after the disturbed woman.

"Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun…"

Was she safe to have in his house? He hadn't thought to consider that before taking her with him, but after seeing what she had done to the spider, it was worth considering now. With raw power like that and no training with which to control it, if she lost her already fragile hold on her power she could take out all the youki in a mile radius! But for sure she wasn't really dangerous. The only time she had exhibited her power so far was to eradicate a threat. Therefore as long as she wasn't threatened, his household was probably safe.

"Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun…"

The miko was shivering. Why was she shivering? He had built a fire and her clothing had dried. Was she getting ill or just cold? Wonderful, just wonderful. As if he didn't have enough problems. He needed to keep her warm or it would just get worse. Years of having a human child around had taught him that.

Rising, he moved to the other side of the fire and sat next to the shuddering priestess. When Rin was sick the human healer he had summoned from a nearby village had piled extra blankets on her. He knew that the human had no covering other than her strange hooded haori. "How did this Sesshomaru stoop as low as to worry about the health of a human," he asked himself, removing his own haori. He tucked it around the small human woman and settled back down next to her.

"To lie here under you,
Is all that I could ever do…"

She was still shivering. He was at a loss for what to try next. The old healer had given Rin herbs and she had recovered in a few days. He knew nothing about herbs, so that was not an option. So he did the only thing he could think of. Sesshomaru positioned his own body next to Kagome's and curled around her.

"To lie here under you is all,
to lie here under you is all that I could ever do,
to lie here under you is all…"

He knew she wasn't sleeping, and that made his current position incredibly embarrassing. However, she was so lost in her own world she hadn't even noticed he was there, and that made it tolerable. The fact that her hair smelled nice didn't hurt either. Sesshomaru clamped down on that thought and forced it from his head.

"Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun…"

The demon lord heaved an irritated sigh and shifted his weight. While he found Kagome's voice soothing he found being her personal blanket to be more than he was willing to put up with. "As soon as she stops shaking I'll move back to the other side of the fire and forget this ever happened," he decided. "And if she remembers later I'll hit her in the head until she doesn't." The thought made him laugh slightly as he closed his eyes and relaxed against the young miko. He wasn't going to sleep, just rest a little while he waited…

"Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun,
All the world is waiting for the sun,
All the world is waiting for the sun."

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Amp: Ok everyone, chapter's over! Party time!

Kags, Inu, and Sessho: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

::Kags breaks out the Dirty Minds game, Sessho starts making margaritas, Inu brings in eight bags of chips, and AMP puts in some Def Leppard::

Kags: Two hot dog demons in pawprint pajamas, could that be any cuter AMP?

AMP: That IS about as cute as it gets, lol.

Sessho and Inu:Grrrrrr...