Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Summary:

The funny thing about falling in love is that it's always with someone you least expect and at the most complicated times. Kagome saves Sesshoumaru's life and he feels honour bound to return the debt but it's hard to save someone who doesn't need his help, at least not help in the way he planned.

Sess/Kag

Dedicated to Miss Irisu who was my first review, thankyou so much to other reviewers as well. It really encourages me to write more.

Chapter 2:

The clanging of metal echoed around her as she neared the sight where she felt the disturbance. Her bow out and an arrow in place she crouched down low as she peeked through the bushes in front of her. She had pulled her aura and scent in before she arrived so that whoever was fighting had a very low chance of noticing her. It was a good thing that she had the sense to do this as she watched the combatants battle. There were at least a couple of hundred hebi youkai swarming a familiar pale figure who was valiantly cutting them down.

Her reiryoku flared against her shielding barrier she had set up against her presence. Panicked she figured she had two options. One: Run far, far away and continue her isolated survival training before her barrier collapsed, Two: Help the ice prince and then run far, far away before he killed her. Either way she would end up running.

Kagome was about to choose option one (as it guaranteed the most likelihood of her survival) when she noticed another wave of hebi youkai entering the clearing without any shift in the youki. Eyes widening she realized what was going on in an instant. They were duplicating. That meant somewhere there was one youkai controlling them all. Hunkering down in the bushes again she spread her aura to try and seek out the main source of power on the battlefield.

That was a huge mistake. Instantly the occupants in the clearing snapped their heads towards her location involuntary as if someone had yelled out to them.

'Oh no…' A river of dread washed down her spine and she automatically charged reiryoku through her system in an intense flight or fight response. Heart thumping she chose the cowardly option of fleeing, Sesshoumaru was a big boy he could handle himself.

Jumping to her feet she swiftly turned and ran. She ran as fast as she could running past trees, bushes and a girl in hopes to get away. She suddenly stood stock still in shock as she realized there was a girl back there. She could be in danger! What kind of idiot would be out in such an isolated, dangerous place as this?

'Oh yeah… I am' she thought scratching the back of her head sheepishly. Regardless she had to go back and save her. Retracing her steps she found the girl reclining against a tree seemingly asleep. The girl had chestnut brown coloured hair and ivory skin she was also garbed in a blue satin kimono that screamed wealth. Kagome stood at a distance observing. Something wasn't right with this girl her aura was ebbing and flowing all over the place. The woods were suspiciously quiet here and it had her hackles rising.

Suddenly the girl's eyes open to reveal blood red eyes. 'youkai' her mind screamed and Kagome ran as fast as she could away. The girl was quick though and materialized in front of her and hissed viciously. Charging her reiryoku into her hands Kagome struck her hand out and let loose her power. A pearlescent beam of light fired straight towards the girl whose eyes widened fractionally and disappeared in some black smoke. Kagome staggered slightly from the drain of her powers but recovered quickly. She grabbed her bow from her back and notched an arrow and crouched in a defensive position. Her aura flaring she scanned the area with all her senses. The only thing she could pick up was the faint brushing of angry auras in the distance.

Kagome contemplated running away again but there was something very strange about this youkai attack. How could Sesshoumaru still be fighting? Wasn't he supposed to be a killing perfection and everything? Her body still thrumming with remnants of her reiryoku she sprinted towards the battle. She just hoped her strength would hold out and Sesshoumaru would recognize her as an ally and not kill her.

'I'm so gonna die…'

Blood drenched the surface of the clearing and Kagome was hard pressed not to regurgitate the rabbit she had consumed earlier. Despite the numerous kills there was no leeway in the number of youkai battling. Sesshoumaru was valiantly hacking away at them with his Tokijin spurting red youki at frequent intervals. The only thing that gave away his weariness in the battle was that his usually masked emotions clearly showed his anger on his face and his intricate clothes were ripped in several places meaning that he had slowed enough for them to get a hit on him.

Kagome wasted no more time pondering though as she drew her bowstring and started firing arrows in succession at the youkai on the battlefield carefully giving Sesshoumaru a wide berth. Even with her help though the battle had no progress. Kagome's reiryoku was starting to ebb and her anxiety was increasing.

A flash of pale blue entered her vision as she scoped around. It was that girl she saw before! Honing in on the girls aura she was shocked to find it identical to the hebi youkai they were battling. Her eyes widened as she realized it was this girl who was controlling the youkai swarm. That meant in theory the battle would be won if she killed the source. She was about to shoot the girl when she flashed into black smoke again. Damn that was getting annoying.

She dodged a blow from a gruesome looking hebi youkai that had found her hiding place in the bushes. She grabbed the arrow she was going to fire at the controlling youkai and used her hands to wedge the arrow into the youkai's chest. It disintegrated into black powder. As the dust blew away she ended up seeing Sesshoumaru receive a particularly nasty blow to his arm. The same arm in fact that had finally regenerated over time. Cringing for him she duck another blow that was heading her way. Many more youkai were heading towards her so she decided to come out of the bushes into a place with more room to fight. She fired more arrows and concluded there was too much for her. Maybe if she blasted a way through the swarm to get to Sesshoumaru's side maybe then they could watch each others backs… in theory of course.

Deciding quickly she renewed the reiryoku in her body and raced towards Sesshoumaru's location just as another wave of youkai entered the clearing and it became increasingly more difficult to dodge fangs and claws. Delayed for a few moments fighting she lost track of where she was until glimpsed the white of Sesshoumaru's haori and cut her way towards him.

Sesshoumaru was fighting on a low rise in the clearing and hacking away at any youkai that got too close. He seemed to fight with a certain grace that she knew she could never have and would in fact look incredibly ridiculous if she even tried. She wondered faintly the reason why the battle was even taking place until a disturbance in the air was brought to her attention.

A large dokuhebi youkai made from a large number of the youkai in the battle clearing manifested itself in front of Sesshoumaru hissing at him and baring extremely large fangs dripping with sizzling poison that promised agonizing pain. To be honest Sesshoumaru at that moment scared her more. His face was like thunder with his eyes a faint red as he blasted the large youkai with his Tokijin.

Kagome who had snapped into action was just about to fire at it to help him when a flash of black smoke appeared behind him. It was that girl again and this time she was holding an ornamental dagger and creeping up behind Sesshoumaru as he battled the giant youkai.

'That coward!' She thought vehemently completely disregarding the fact that she had run away from the battle when first coming across it and she was completely hypocritical.

She was about to release a reiryoku charged arrow at the slithery youkai coward when it was knocked out of her hands. Panicked she ducked as another hebi youkai strike that would have taken her head. Charging her reiryoku through her hands she struck the youkai and it dissipated immediately, as well as the rest of the youkai that stood behind him that hadn't been part of the giant hebi youkai's creation.

Kagome fell to her knees and cut herself on a spearhead that had been discarded. Grimacing at the pain she felt and the loss of her strength she was sorely tempted to just lie down and embrace the darkness that flickered her vision.

'No' she though resolutely. She must save Sesshoumaru. Being as stealthy as an injured, exhausted woman can be she closed the distance between the battling combatants and the cowardly demoness. She knew she only had the strength of one shot she wanted to get as close as possible. The problem is what she wanted didn't necessarily happen. The youkai girl chose the time to strike when Sesshoumaru gathered his youki to blast the giant dokuhebi with Tokijin's ultimate attack. Kagome raced forwards as fast as she could without using her reiryoku as it was being channelled into her hands. Things slowed down to a crawl as the youkai girl descended the dagger towards Sesshoumaru's back as Kagome let loose her pure white purifying orb while Sesshoumaru eyes widened reluctantly as turned his head to see the dagger descending and he realized the giant dokuhebi was a ruse to distract him as his own attack toward it blasted it apart.

A bright light showered the clearing and an unearthly shriek of pain erupted as the youkai girl's body took the full blow of Kagome's purifying orb. All the remnants of the hebi youkai disappeared as the youkai girls body started to disintegrate as well confirming Kagome's guess that they were duplicates.

"Curse you both!" The youkai girl spat at both Kagome and Sesshoumaru as they both stared at the dying youkai. "I swear to you that you'll wish for death once my mistress hears of this. A death to all human lovers!" she managed to choke out before her whole body succumbed to Kagome's reiryoku in a burst of light. Kagome dazedly glanced towards Sesshoumaru who was now regarding her with thinly veiled displeasure.

'Obviously he hadn't managed to put his mask up yet' Kagome thought vaguely as the world started to spin.

"Miko what is the meaning of your presence?" he grounded out through his teeth. Kagome was beyond confused her head was muddled and black dotted her vision. She had a niggling feeling that even if her strength weren't so sapped she still wouldn't understand what he meant.

"Didn't you want to be saved?" she said thickly. There was a slight silence before the last of Kagome's strength finally ran out. Her legs crumpled beneath her and black finally overtook her vision. The last thing she heard before she fell into was unconsciousness was Sesshoumaru's heated curse.

'Maybe its best if I just stay asleep…'

Translations:

Youkai- Demon

Hanyou- Half-Demon

Miko- Priestess

Shikon no Tama- Jewel of Four Souls

Reiryoku- Spiritual Power

Youki- Demon Power

Haori- Traditional Japanese shirts

Hakama- Traditional Japanese pants

Taijiya- Demon Slayer

Houshi- Monk

Hebi- Snake

Dokuhebi- Poisonous snake

Karasuhebi- Black snake


Sorry for any spelling mistakes and for not updating often.

Please review.

-Evyira