Title: Help Me Through This

Author: FairyTails

Disclaimer: I own nothing…but the plot.

Rating: M

Summery: After a battle with Naraku Kagome finds herself in the middle of no where, in a strange yet familiar body.

After an encounter with Naraku's wind witch Sesshomaru wakes feeling a bit weird. But first, when did he go to sleep in the first place?!

Warnings: um…..body switch?

Paring(s): Sesshomaru/Kagome (eventually)

Spoilers: hehe, I haven't even seen the whole series....

Key:

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Kagome to Sesshomaru"

"Sesshomaru to Kagome"

'Sesshomaru's inner beast'

A/n: I was hoping for a better turn out in reviews, but I guess I overestimated myself….

Well, here's next chapter, a bit quicker than I thought…

Chapter: (5) Feeling Narcissistic

It is Kagome's least favorite part of the day, which is odd because it used to be her most beloved part, especially when she was in the past. There is just something about a hot spring that always made her giddy inside. Now, no longer in her body, if made her cringe, but so did the scent of sweat that was slowly over coming her senses.

With a sigh, she started to unhook her breast plate and spiked shoulder guard, a very hard task with only one hand but she had grown used to it. A few yards from the hot spring she had scented out she let the heavy articles of clothing fall to the ground. It grated her nerves that at that same moment, she could smell Sesshomaru coming into the clearing.

"What are you doing Miko?"

Kagome held back her growl as she looked over her shoulder at him, "Getting ready to take a bath Sesshy, what does it look like?"

She inwardly smirked as he cringed at her nickname for him, unfazed by the glare that was being drilled into her back, "This Sesshomaru can tell that Miko."

She snorted and started to untie the sash that was keeping the rest of the armor from falling to the ground. Modesty didn't even occur to her, it's his body. What does she currently have to hide from him that he hasn't already seen? She turned her head back to the spring, "You should try one too; you are really starting to reek."

Kagome didn't need to see her body to know that she had just pissed him off, "Miko…"

Leaning down she moved the armor from around her legs and stepped out of it than settle to the idea of taking off the leather and steel boots she is wearing while she was kneeled down. She ignored the threat in Sesshomaru's tone. Standing up barefoot she walked over to a near tree which she would hang the red and white kimono on, completely forgetting why she hated this part of the day.

She quietly set herself to undoing layers of clothing she had only taken off twice before, Sesshomaru's body didn't sweat that much, if at all she found. The top layer on her upper body loosened, she loosened her pants and gently took them off and stepped out of them. She hung them on the tree before her and was ever grateful that demons were farther advanced in this era than human with the concept of underwear.

Soon the red and white kimono like top was placed on top of the white pants, leaving Sesshomaru's body in only the under, off white layer and a pair of boxer like underwear. This is the part she dreaded most.

Inside her head Fluffy was laughing, 'This never ceases to amuse me.'

Kagome felt her self twitch at this comment, and tried to ignore that Sesshomaru was being very quiet not far behind her, if it wasn't for his aura spiking in anger or his strong stench, she would have thought he had left. Again, she promised Naraku a very slow and very painful death for putting her through this.

Just as she was getting ready pull off the lower layer of her current clothing she heard clothing shift behind her and turned slightly. Golden eyes widened at the sight of her shirtless body, the sash holding her ever present dagger already being on the floor at the human body's feet. Her dark red, lased bra greeted her and slowly black pants soon joined the red tank top and white sash.

Kagome suddenly became mortified with the thoughts of Sesshomaru touching her body as he stood in only her bra and panties, having kicked the shoes off to take her pants off. She felt herself shake, her cheeks flushing with color for the modesty of her body, "W-what are you doing?"

Blue eyes looked up at her with a raised brow as if reminding her that he had just asked him the same thing and she had replied sarcastically. It amazes her how much she had come to gather from just his facial movement. She watched as the edge of her lips twitched, "Are you trying to tell me not to take a bath? I thought this Sesshomaru reeked."

If possible, probably because they never did such a thing, Kagome felt as if her cheeks were getting ready to catch fire with the heat that radiated off them. In the back of her mind she wondered what Sesshomaru looked like when he blushed, but the situation made her forget that. She felt paralyzed, "Y-you do."

Sesshomaru straitened and smirked triumphantly at her, "So are you blushing because this Sesshomaru is seeing your body in all its wonderful glory?"

'Wonderful glory?' She blushes even redder, golden eyes reaching new capabilities in widening, 'Did he just give me a complement?'

She tried to shake it off, and bring back the emotionless mask she had been working so hard on, when another thought occurred to her, one that might help, "N-no, I have seen you naked so it is only far." His eye brow twitched at her, not believing her words, so she continued, "It's Naraku who I deem unworthy of seeing me naked."

Blue eyes widened in, what she hoped is, understanding and suddenly Sesshomaru was standing next to her. He had started to train with her energy in his legs for speed so that isn't what startled her. No, if was her body's soft hands grazing over her shoulders and pulling of the under garment that made her heart flutter in shock.

On one movement Sesshomaru had the off-white silk off of her and around himself, covering his nude body from anyone who might be looking. Blue eyes looked up at her, "Then he should not see it, the bastard."

The red started to drain from Kagome's cheeks, and she found her self admitting that she didn't mind Sesshomaru seeing her naked form. Heart no longer fluttering as if it would fly from her chest –who knew Sesshomaru had a heart- she looked down at the receding form of her body as Sesshomaru walked over to the hot spring, leaving her in only his odd underwear, "Do you really mean that…?"

She half hoped he didn't hear her statement, and if he did, didn't understand it. But as luck would have it, he did on both accounts. Blue eyes looked over at his body, emotionless again, "You have a very attractive body, miko; for a human."

It was a half complement, she knew, but a complement none the less so she only nodded her thanks with a faint blush hiding the stripes on her cheeks a little less than before and he went back to walking towards the spring.

Something changed that moment, something between them and their odd relationship. It would just take them a while to figure out what.

!!!!

Sesshomaru looked up from the fire he had been staring at when he heard Kagome stand up, pulling his pelt closer around himself as his human body shivered as a sudden cold breeze tickled him. Blue eyes fallowed the white silk clad figure as she disappeared into the darkness of the forest at night in somewhat of a hurry.

The incident from the hot spring, still very fresh in his mind, played back again for the umpteenth time. He was not lying to her; the miko truly does have a very beautiful figure. What he did not share was that it is one of the most beautiful feminine figures he had ever seen, knocking many a demoness from the top of the list.

He is not one to fiddle with such things, but the miko's curvy figure would not remove its self from his mind, and that was not just because his mind is literally in it.

When bathing, he could not help but run his hands over her curves more than necessary while washing. In the back of his mind he had wished desperately that he was in his own body, discovering her body with his hand, not hers. He shivered again, this time not from the night air.

Is he falling for a human?

Under any other situation he would reply no, but now he is not sure. He trusted the miko more than he did anyone else, and for him, that was saying something, as he trusted no one but himself and his beast. He didn't even trust Rin the way he found himself trusting the priestess. He trusted the young human female to always be cute and brighten his day, even if he didn't show it.

But he didn't trust her with his life, like he did with the miko. Of course, at first it had been because he had no other choice, but now that he knew from his own experience, that she could defend him if ever he could not. This train of thinking startled him, but he soon realized that he could no longer care.

'Trust and only trust forms the truest of love.'

He had heard this some where during his many centuries of living, a demon had said it surprisingly. In his young age he had brushed the words off, but now they struck a cord with him. He is not as self-centered as he lets people think, it is just a part of his mask that hides his emotions, his weaknesses.

He is not driven for vengeance to make his half brother's life a living hell; he could care less about the sword their father refused him. Sesshomaru had come to find that he only fought with his brother to keep the hanyou on his toes, training him in his own sick and demented way. He could never love his half brother; he is just incapable of letting the betrayal of his father falling for someone other than his own mother…be forgotten like that.

At first it had been because she was human, yes, but then he met Rin. He allowed himself to smile at the thought of the innocent young girl, happy that he had left her at his palace and gone out to travel on his own for once. He knew she was probably worried sick for him, and this brought a pang of guilt to his chest even if the situation was -in no way- his fault.

Sensing the miko return however, he let if fall in to emotionless again. He raised a brow however, when she kept glancing back into the forest even after sitting down across from him on the other side of the fire, "Something bothering you Kagome?"

He didn't even notice using her name until she returned his look with widened golden orbs. Luckily for his pride, she didn't say anything, just smiled slightly. Maybe she would stop calling him Sesshy now. Putting this all to the side he listened to her talk as she, yet again, looked back into the forest.

"Something is different." He raised an eyebrow at her and she continued, explaining herself, "A new scent; a new chirp from a bird I didn't hear before. Small things like that."

Something about the way she spoke gave Sesshomaru an uneasy feeling. He of all people knew the significance of a change in sent and sound, it could mean danger if ignored and he would not ignore it, defiantly not in the current situation. He sat up a little, "Can you define the scent a little?"

Kagome blinked at him, "That's the strange thing," she mutters, looking back into the forest, "When I left I could have sworn I smelled my kit's scent."

"The red-haired fire kit that is always with you?" At her nod he continued, "That could be Naraku toying with us."

Kagome barely hid her frown, "I know that, but there is no way the bastard knows my mother's scent and it was so strong I thought she was next to me."

He was getting ready to ask her why that was so impossible when he remembered her words from the first night they were trapped in their prison, "When Mistress Centipede dragged me down the well…she dragged me five hundred years into the past." He suddenly understood her uneasiness.

Seeing his realization Kagome added, "And my mother has not and can not travel into the past."

A silence fell over them as they thought about this new development but suddenly Kagome stood, eyes alertly looking around the forest, as if whiffing another one of the mysterious scents. This time Sesshomaru smelled it as well and jerked up, eyes wide, "Impossible!"

Kagome looked over at him, "You recognize it? I think I do faintly but I'm not sure from where."

Sesshomaru looked around the forest, "You wouldn't know it, but this Sesshomaru's body will never forget it."

The inu demon turned human looked over at his body as it took a stepped forward, "Sesshomaru, whose was it?"

The Taiyoukai found himself glaring at the closest tree as the smell disappeared, "That was Inutaisho's scent."

Kagome gasped, recognizing the title, "Your…"

She couldn't finish.

Sesshomaru growled, more to himself than her. The sound turning more and more into the sound his body could make, "My father."

!!!!

They were on edge the entire night, and they suspected that that is how Naraku wanted it. No more mysterious scents had appeared, but that did not mean that they wouldn't. After smelling Sesshomaru and InuYasha's father's scent, Kagome hadn't said anything else.

She would alert herself to every sound around them; as every fall leaf fell in the wind and settle back to the ground, at every chirp from the night birds, or every out burst of buzzing from a cicada, she would look around, franticly looking for danger. It was slowly grating on her nerves, and she hated the Naraku could do something like that to her.

'Go to sleep miko.' Kagome nearly jumped out of Sesshomaru's skin when Fluffy suddenly spoke up in her mind. Across the fire she was getting an odd look from blue eyes as her lone hand when to her chest to stop the fluttering, 'And that only proves my point.'

Her eye twitched, 'When the hell did you make a point to even begin with?'

Before Fluffy could answer it was Sesshomaru who spoke up, "He has a way of doing that," he mutters to her, "Speaking out of no where."

Kagome looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Want him back?"

She was shocked when the demon lord smiles –however small she is sure it is a smile- at her, eyes glow with mirth, "Depend on what mood he is in."

The time traveler could find her self agreeing with that, 'It bugs me slightly when you two talk about me like I can't hear you.'

Kagome's retort was cut short when it grew to be Sesshomaru's turn to jump out of his skin, eyes uncharacteristically wide. She stood up, looking around but found no danger, 'Idiot, what makes you think he sensed something before you did?'

It was Sesshomaru who replied, to Kagome and Fluffy's shock, "Damn it, and here I thought I was free from his bickering."

Kagome could only stare at him, not only was it the first time she had ever heard him cuss, but he had replied to something she thought only she could hear. Slowly realization dawned on her, "Y-you can here him?"

'Why the hell would he be able to do that miko!?'

Sesshomaru groaned to himself, "Part of me what's to take this as a good thing…"

'You can hear me!'

Sesshomaru nodded in defeat, closing his eyes and leaning back against his tree, "Unfortunately…"

Kagome's lip twitched as an understanding smile threatened to break her mask, but she held it back when fluffy spoke again, 'Finally! I have a bone to pick with you! No matter how much I enjoy the Miko's presence…why the hell did you let that damn hanyou trick us!?'

Again Sesshomaru groaned, and Kagome fallowed him in covering her face with her hand, 'Don't you ignore me!'

Kagome leaned back against her tree, "I'm going need some headache medicine after this, aren't I?"

Sesshomaru grumbled to himself, Fluffy's rant continuing in both of their mind, "Probably." He rubbed his temples just to prove his statement.

"Great…"

It didn't even occur to the demon lord that she hadn't spoken out loud, he just mentally agreed.

TBC

Ending note: Well, I had wanted to continue on…but decided to stop here. Not as long as the last chapter, but I think you will live.

The powder is wearing off.

Thanks for reading,

~FT