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 darksilvercloud and soulspirit18 for being the first to review the day I updated. I would also like to give a special thankyou to BlackDog616 who is still my most helpful reviewer, also a thankyou to those who liked Kagome's insanity slip. More on that later ;) Also I am very sorry for not review as fast as I did before as my keyboard completely stuffed and I had to get a replacement. Real sorry…

Chapter 4:

Sesshoumaru had been in a lot of situations where he had been tested to his limits. Apparently he still hadn't perfected his patience though. He had been trailing the miko ever since she left the battlefield clearing three days ago and not once had she consciously kept quiet. If it wasn't for the faint hours of sleep that she had he was sure he would have already killed her screwing the dishonour of it.

If it wasn't singing it was humming and if it wasn't humming it was whistling. On occasions she would even talk to herself, though she seemed very frustrated over that.

The miko was obviously insane. He was trying to save the life of an insane miko whom he absolutely hated. How the hell had she managed to help him?

Another thing that frustrated him completely was the fact the miko had youkai coming at her daily and yet she killed them off before he could draw his sword. It was just what the world needed an insane, annoying, powerful miko.

Yes as soon as his debt was cleared he would kill her himself. After a thorough torture of course after all a debt for a debt.

Sesshoumaru's hand was inching toward his sword again the evening of the third day of his self imposed torture when the miko suddenly stopped mid hum in the middle of the forest they were passing through.

Instantly on alert he scanned the area with both his eyes and youki. Sensing nothing he looked back at the miko with eyes narrowed. What on Earth was that damn miko up too now?

The miko suddenly turned towards his location and glared for all she was worth. In his opinion she just looked like she had smelled something foul. He stopped his musing though when she started yelling

"Alright I have had enough of your negative aura, will you just leave already!?"

Eyes slightly widening Sesshoumaru stared at the girl.

'How had she sensed this Sesshoumaru?' he thought checking his surrounding aura. There was none. Eyes narrowing again he stared hard at the miko. He had masked his aura and scent (not that he inferior nose could detect it) long before she had woken at the battlefield so it simply would be impossible for her to sense him. Who was she talking too then?

"Fine if your not going to leave then come out already or I'm going to purify the area. I don't quite know if your some type of youkai or not but I'm damn well going to check." The miko continued raising a glowing white orb ominously. It wasn't like that orb could kill him since he was almost immune to purification but it would be painful if he were to be hit. So Sesshoumaru moved to another location still keeping the miko in sight. He was shocked when she moved to face him again

'She couldn't possibly…' he questioned disbelievingly. Just in case though he moved again this time to the treetops. The miko faced his direction and then looked up into the now darkened treetops to see two glowing eyes glaring at her.

"Are you coming down or not?" she grumbled still staring at him. Sesshoumaru growled viciously making the miko below him shiver.

After a quick decision Sesshoumaru jumped from the treetop and landed before the miko without a single hair out of place and was rewarded with the miko's shocked intake of breath and wide eyes.

He glared for all he was worth at the irritating miko who gulped audibly and fingered the bow on her back. Another thought other that all the ways he could make her suffer entered his head, one that he mused over for a long period afterwards.

'Is that bow the only thing she is proficient at?'

It had been three days, three torturous days. Her nerves were frazzled and her mental barriers collapsed periodically causing her other 'self's' voice to leak into her mind. She blamed it all on her phantom stalker.

She had tried everything to annoy the stupidly persistent follower to leave her alone. She knew it annoyed it as she felt the irritation surrounding the non-aura thicken. At times she actually thought it would attack her and she would brace herself occasionally for the thing to emerge and finally do something other than follow her.

'I bet I know what it is' Her other voice said almost casually. Kagome gritted her teeth and promptly ignored it. It was getting easier to do but it was no less annoying to do so. Over the past few days she had discovered that her other self apparently had a very dry humour and was a little bit sadistic. It appalled her that she could hear some of the things it thought.

'I reckon your just too scared to confront what it is' the voice taunted. Kagome stood stock-still. If there was one thing she couldn't stand and that was people calling her a coward. Anger reaching its peak she stared into the bushes where the non-aura was simmering in agitation. Still uptight about her other self's taunts she glared at the non-aura and spoke forcefully.

"Alright I have had enough of your negative aura, will you just leave already!?" She could sense the surprise from the non-aura. Didn't it know she could sense it? The shock of the non-aura turned to disbelief. Anger rising again she decided a little demonstration was in order. She didn't know what it was but she was suspicious that it was youkai and if so purification should work nicely. She pooled her reiryoku into her hand and continued speaking

"Fine if your not going to leave then come out already or I'm going to purify the area. I don't quite know if your some type of youkai or not but I'm damn well going to check." The non-aura moved quite quickly after that but still didn't show itself. Glaring at the position it was not in she felt its shock again. This was quickly becoming annoying.

Kagome was slightly shocked when the non-aura leapt high into the treetops confirming that this thing wasn't human. Two glowing eyes of an animal stared down at her. On a normal occasion this would have scared her silly but she so wasn't in the mood for silly fears. All she wanted was a good night sleep preferably without this thing watching.

"Are you coming down or not?" she grumbled. A ferocious growl answered her and she involuntary shivered.

'Damn…' her other self uncharacteristically whispered in her mind seemingly in awe.

'Huh?' she thought wildly. Now the anger was fading and dread slowly replaced it. A blur of silver landed before her and her eyes widened drastically.

'Oh God… I am seriously gonna die' she thought. This was it, death by Sesshoumaru the way everyone wanted to go… Not! She gulped thinking of many excuses and escape plans none of them any use to her. She contemplated firing an arrow and running for it but as her hand went up to collect her bow a realization that she wouldn't get very far with that due to the callous taiyoukai being infinitely faster than her. She stared up into his furious golden eyes and silence reigned throughout the vicinity until Kagome's nervous reaction kicked in.

"Ermm… nice weather we're having?" she said laughing nervously as she scratched the back of her head. If possible Sesshoumaru's glare increased.

"Look I'm only trying to ease the tension," she grumbled crossing her arms as her fear almost dissipated being replaced by the feeling of being slighted. Sesshoumaru growled again.

"Hey look buddy it was you following me! I have had hardly any sleep so just tell me what you want so we can go on with our merry lives. I am fed up with-" Kagome's rant was soon cut short when Sesshoumaru lunged at her. Acting on instinct she ducked and drew her bow.

"Insolent human! Cease your disrespect on my person." Sesshoumaru growled out. Kagome's eyes flashed and she lowered her bow and straightened her back.

"Insolent human? Cease my disrespect!?" she spluttered before continuing angrily "Why you… you arrogant prick! What did I ever do to you? In fact if I remember correctly I saved your sorry hide! So don't you 'human' me!"

"Silence! It was simply by chance you shot that arrow. Now keep quiet before I forsake my oath honour be damned." He replied angrily

"Chance? Hardly that was skill! And what oath?" she questioned both insulted and curious. Sesshoumaru let out another growl and slapped a hand over her mouth before she could react. She shivered again and glared intensely up at the taiyoukai

"Due to you firing the arrow that… saved this Sesshoumaru from what could have been a fatal injury this one is honour bound to repay the favour. Unfortunately it seems to be taking longer than first seems." He gritted out almost hissing at her. Kagome digested this information but it took a lot longer than usual as a rather warm hand was still covering her mouth proved to be insanely distracting. Getting annoyed again she narrowed her eyes at him even more before getting a rather mischievous idea. She parted her lips slightly licked his palm. It got the desired reaction when the hand was immediately removed. If she wasn't so wary of the youkai she would have laughed at a rarely shown expression of surprise was shown on his face. She was quite insulted though when it turned to disgust. He bared his fangs at her and growled again.

"Never defile this Sesshoumaru again dirty ningen," he hissed. Anger clouded her eyes again and she was going to give him a piece of her mind when she felt the aura of another youkai. Raising her bow she turned towards it. The youkai's aura was powerful but she knew she was stronger. As the misshapen bear-like youkai lumbered towards their location a feeling of dread washed over her.

It was huge! Its fangs were almost the size she was and its body was larger that Sesshoumaru was in his base form. There was no way in hell one arrow could take down this thing despite the impressive amount of reiryoku she could charge them with. Notching an arrow in place she fired one in it direction and managed to purify it tail. It only served to make the youkai even more pissed. She dove out the way as a large clawed paw swiped at her. She drew another arrow but cried out as her bow was ripped out of her arms as the paw came at her again. Creating a barrier out of sheer instinct she blocked the next attack and waited for the next blow that didn't come.

Sesshoumaru who had drawn his sword and hacking away at the youkai's underbelly took the attention of the lumbering youkai. The youkai roared its pain and the ground shook. Sesshoumaru jumped away from the youkai as it stood on its bulky hind legs and attempted to use both paws to squash the nimble taiyoukai.

Kagome hurriedly retrieved her fallen bow. She almost cried out in despair as she saw the state of her beloved bow. It had a large crack in the frame and it would be lucky to even shoot another arrow before snapping completely. Deciding to take the risk she notched a stray arrow and took aim.

Sesshoumaru was steadily making way with the large demon and released his ultimate attack with his Tokijin. Kagome took this as her cue and aimed for the beast's heart.

A twang of the bowstring was heard before the crack of the wooden frame of the bow. Deep cuts adorned Kagome's arm as the fragments of the bow pierced her skin. She flinched at the same time the huge youkai was purified into oblivion with her supercharged arrow that was still trying to recover from Sesshoumaru's deadly attack.

Blood dripped from the various cuts where the wood had hit and she thanked every god she could think of that none of the fragmented pieces of wood hit her eyes. She saw a flash of silver to her right and she stood shakily then turned to face Sesshoumaru.

"Is your debt repaid?" she asked wearily trying to use her healing powers to heal her various injuries, unfortunately she was still very low on energy.

"No, unfortunately held your own" Sesshoumaru replied bitingly. Kagome sighed before a sudden thought came to her

'Wait that was almost a compliment?' she looked up at Sesshoumaru's face, which was slightly pinched. She could tell he wasn't too happy about the fact his debt wasn't repaid even without scanning his aura.

Kagome's eyes fell to her shattered bow again and she couldn't help a small whimper escaping her. What a bother now she would have to buy a new one or worst-case scenario carve a new one.

"Are your injuries causing much pain miko?" Sesshoumaru asked suddenly making her jump with surprise. She looked at him curiously.

'Surely he couldn't be concerned?' she mused as she studied his face carefully. His mask was firmly in place and she could bring herself to scan his aura. It seemed a little too intrusive.

"No they will heal as soon as I have the energy to heal myself, I was upset because my bow is broken. I don't have any other sort of weapon," she explained.

"Hn" was all he replied and he seemed to go in deep thought before continuing, "Do you know any other form of combat?"

"No, I could never find a master willing enough to teach a woman and before you ask Inuyasha refused to teach me too… stubborn hanyou…" she grumbled remembering Inuyasha's face as he told her it was too dangerous. A realization overcame her as she eyes Sesshoumaru sceptically. Here was a very proficient swordsman who could teach her but the thing was getting him to agree. Hiding a growing mischievous grin she used the oldest female trick in the book, making the male think it was his idea.

"I mean what was Inuyasha thinking, learning another form of fighting such as I don't know… swordplay or perhaps hand to hand combat could possibly 'save my life' someday…" she continues somewhat casually being carefully not to seem too obvious.

Sesshoumaru's alabaster brow crinkled slightly before smoothing out and he seemed to come to a decision.

'Yes!' she thought gleefully 'Hook, line and sinker!'

"This Sesshoumaru has decided that repaying this debt might take and infinite amount of time that is far from necessary so this one will train you miko in combat to relieve himself of the debt." He proclaimed haughtily. Kagome was trying very hard not to laugh in his face.

'He is a little bit arrogant, cute… but arrogant' her other self mused causing Kagome to sober somewhat.

'Oh shush' she replied it before ignoring it again. Honestly it was hard to believe it was a part of herself.

"That is such a good idea Sesshoumaru! When do we start?" she happily agreed while her mind started sniggering again.

"Tomorrow after we have left this place and you have cleaned that infernal smell off of you," he replied causing Kagome to splutter indignantly.

'Oooh the nerve of him!' she thought vehemently. 'I'll show that smug prick someday!'

Translations:

Youkai- Demon

Hanyou- Half-Demon

Miko- Priestess

Ningen- Human

Taiyoukai- Demon Lord

Shikon no Tama- Jewel of Four Souls

Reiryoku- Spiritual Power

Youki- Demon Power

Haori- Traditional Japanese shirts

Hakama- Traditional Japanese pants

Sakura- Cherry blossoms

Taijiya- Demon Slayer

Houshi- Monk

Hebi- Snake

Dokuhebi- Poisonous snake

Karasuhebi- Black snake


I hope you liked it. Please review it is always good to get advice.

-Evyira