Author's Note: Hello again and welcome back. I hope you enjoy the next installment. If you have some time at the end, I would appreciate any comments or feedback.

Chapter 13

Sesshomaru burst through the heavy wooden doors of the main hall, his expression unreadable but his aura tense. His form cut a stark figure against the dim firelight of the Main Hall as he carried Kagome, unconscious and pale, in his arms. The staff had already gathered at the entrance, their faces filled with worry and anticipation. Sesshomaru was not surprised to see Rin and Shippo, eyes wide with fear, waiting for them. What did surprise him, however, was the concern etched into the faces of the other servants—servants who had always seemed to keep their distance from the miko, deferential but neutral. Even Jaken, his most loyal and abrasive retainer, looked more worried than flustered. It seems that the woman in his arms had affected everyone in the castle.

For a brief moment, Sesshomaru paused, surveying the scene. He could smell the fear, the rising worry that seemed to spread through the hall like a palpable force. Rin's eyes darted to Kagome, her mouth forming questions she did not dare voice, and Shippo… the kit looked desperate, his little hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"The kitchen," Sesshomaru commanded calmly, though his youki still hummed with urgency. "Prepare something warm. Now."

Shin and Shun, already anticipating his orders, sprang into action. Their long black hair whipping behind them in their haste. Others were quickly dispatched to arrange Kagome's futon closer to the hori-gotatsu. The braziers had been stoked ahead of time, the servants having realized the most likely situation in Sesshomaru and Kagome's absence.

With preparations underway, Sesshomaru walked carefully towards Kagome's chambers. Rin, still silent, followed Sesshomaru, the girl's eyes filled with worry and confusion. Shippo trailed behind, his little feet making almost no sound against the stone floors as they moved through the castle's dimly lit corridors and onto the engawa.

"Is she going to be okay?" Shippo's voice was barely a whisper, but Sesshomaru heard the tremble behind it. When there was no immediate answer, the kitsune's voice broke again. "I—I can't hear her heartbeat!"

Sesshomaru's golden eyes flickered toward Shippo briefly before shifting back to Kagome's still face. He could hear it—the faint, irregular thrum of her heart struggling against the cold that had seeped too deep. It was fragile, on the brink of collapse, but still there. For the children's sake, his voice remained steady, betraying nothing. "Her heartbeat is weak, but present."

Shippo let out a shaky breath, though it didn't seem to ease the anxiety in his small form. Rin, meanwhile, remained uncharacteristically quiet. She clutched the edges of her kimono, her eyes never leaving Kagome as they walked. Normally, Rin would have bombarded Sesshomaru with questions, with assurances and optimism. Now, she looked so small, so scared. Sesshomaru said nothing, but he noticed, and it gnawed at something deep within him.

Arriving at Kagome's quarters, Sesshomaru kicked off his own damp footwear before entering the warmth of the room, feet gliding over the tatami until he came to a sudden stop in the middle of the room. It occurred to him then that he did not actually know what to do, other than the obvious.

Sesshomaru knelt by Kagome's futon, his hands moving swiftly yet with a controlled precision as he began to remove the soaked layers of her thin kimono. The fabric clung to her skin, heavy with snowmelt and frigid air. His movements were fluid, almost detached, as he slid the outer layers from her shoulders, exposing the faint blue tinge to her skin beneath. The sight made something twist uncomfortably inside him.

"Rin," Sesshomaru commanded without turning his gaze, "lay out something dry for her to wear."

Rin, still quiet but focused, nodded and quickly grabbed a sleeping yukata from the drawers, spreading it neatly over the futon that had already pulled closer to the coal warmer. The braziers burned brightly, casting a soft orange glow over the room as Sesshomaru and Rin patted and dried Kagome's skin with various cloths left by the servants.

Shippo, meanwhile, was busy rifling through Kagome's bags. The unfamiliar scent of something sharp and foreign hit Sesshomaru's senses. He stiffened momentarily at a new scent with an acrid tang that cut through the air, before turning to look at the fox. They didn't have time for hesitation.

"Kit, what are you-"

"I found the book!" Shippo exclaimed, pulling out a small first aid manual. He flipped through the pages quickly, his brow furrowed in concentration, though he was quickly becoming more agitated.

Sesshomaru didn't know what was distracting the child but knew what he had to do: he gently placed Kagome on the futon, wrapped the dry yukata loosely around her, then arranged the thick covers over her. It was only then that the fox's frustrated growls registered in his ears, and he saw the boy throw the book to the ground angrily.

"It's no use! I can't understand it!" the kit cried, tears beginning to spill over.

"Understand what?" Sesshomaru asked, annoyed at the seeming lack of help but unsure what to do now.

"This is the book Kagome uses to help us when we get hurt or sick… or when the humans get sick anyway. It says what to do, but… but… I can't read it. She's gonna die because I can't read it!"

A pang of sympathy hit Sesshomaru deeply. He looked at the pale, unconscious woman a moment longer before walking up to pick up the discarded "book."

"Can you read it, Lord Sesshomaru?" the kit asked hopefully.

Sesshomaru frowned and knelt down by the scattered—what he could only assume were—medical supplies. The script of the text was foreign to him as well.

Shippo reached over him and flipped to a few pages at the front. "This has the list of illnesses and injuries," he explained. "Do you see anything… like what's wrong with Kagome?"

Rin leaned over to peer at the pages with him, but both children struggled to decipher the more complicated kanji. "Sesshomaru-sama, what does it say?" Rin asked, her voice wavering slightly.

Sesshomaru glanced at the text, his eyes narrowing. While the names and style of writing were not familiar, he quickly found one that read "low body temperature illness."

"This one," he said, pointing at the four kanji characters. Shippo jumped into action, looking at the associated number next to the illness and flipping through more pages until he reached the right one.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked, small voice hesitant to disrupt her lord.

"…I can't read all of it," the demon lord admitted.

"But you can read the difficult parts!" Shippo said. "We need to work together."

The children looked up at the demon lord with hope in their eyes. He nodded, and the three took turns reading until they finished the passage.

"We must keep her dry and warm," he summarized in his usual calm tone, though he felt anything but that at the moment. "And find those... 'kairo.'"

Shippo's eyes lit up with sudden recognition. "Kairo! I know where those are!" He darted back to Kagome's kit, rummaging through until he found the small warming packs. His hands moved quickly, tearing open the plastic as he activated the warming packs inside. "Where do we put them?" he asked nervously, glancing at the book again.

Sesshomaru took the kairo from Shippo and walked back over to Kagome, placing them at critical points—beneath her arms, near her neck, and along her sides, where the blood flowed closest to the surface. His fingers brushed against her chilled skin, and though his face remained stoic, he couldn't help the faint spike of concern that flared within him.

"She's still so cold…" Shippo murmured, his voice small and frightened. He looked at Rin, then back at Kagome, his eyes filled with worry. "What if we're too late?"

Sesshomaru's gaze flicked briefly to the kitsune, noting the fear in his eyes, but he had no words of comfort to offer. Instead, he focused on what he could control. His golden eyes shifted to the cloth lying beside Kagome's futon—the strange, absorbent cloth she had used on her wet hair only days earlier in his study. Without hesitation, he picked it up, holding the unfamiliar texture in his hand for a moment before gently running it through her damp hair, drying the long strands with care. The cloth soaked up the moisture quickly, surprising him with its efficiency.

While he worked, Rin glanced back toward the book. "Sesshomaru-sama, it said something about tea, if she is able to drink."

Sesshomaru nodded slightly, still distracted drying Kagome's hair. "Go to the kitchen," he instructed Rin calmly. "Ask them to prepare tea with the food."

Rin jumped up and rushed out of the room, her small feet pattering down the corridor as she hurried to fulfill the task. Sesshomaru continued his work, silently willing Kagome's body to respond.

It was then, as he listened to the faintest thrum of her heart, that Sesshomaru realized just how out of his depth he truly was. The sense of helplessness weighed heavily on his chest. He was not used to this, this feeling of powerlessness. He could battle armies, face down the strongest of foes, but here, as Kagome lay unconscious and pale, it felt like an enemy he could not simply overpower.

Shippo knelt beside Kagome, his small hands hovering over his second mother, as if afraid to touch her, afraid that any contact might make things worse. "She'll wake up, right?" he finally asked, his voice barely audible over the crackle of the fire. There was a tremble there too, an uncertainty that Sesshomaru felt in his own being.

Sesshomaru's response was quieter this time, almost a murmur. "She is strong."

As the words left his mouth, he wasn't sure if he was telling them to Shippo or to himself.

Time seemed to pass slowly as Sesshomaru, Shippo, and Rin waited for something—anything—to happen.

As Kagome's body began to warm, the initial stillness of her form gave way to small, almost imperceptible movements. Sesshomaru, always attuned to the subtlest of changes, noticed the slight twitch in her fingers first. The warm air in the room and the kairo seemed to have warmed her enough to stir a response in her.

Then, without warning, Kagome's body was wracked by a violent shiver. Her muscles tensed, as if rebelling against the cold that had sunk deep into her bones. A soft, rattling sound escaped her lips, her teeth beginning to chatter uncontrollably. Shippo, who had been watching her intently, flinched at the sight, his eyes wide with both fear and hope.

"Kagome!" Shippo whispered, inching closer to her side. He reached out, his small hands hovering uncertainly before finally resting gently on her shoulder. "She's moving! Sesshomaru-sama, she's moving!"

Sesshomaru remained silent, but his sharp gaze was fixed on the miko's trembling form. The sudden onset of shivering was a good sign—it meant her body was fighting to regain its temperature—but she was still far from recovery. Sesshomaru's youki swirled in agitation, but his outward demeanor remained composed as he monitored her reactions.

The warmth of the kairo packs seemed to have begun their work, faint color returning to Kagome's cheeks. Yet, as Sesshomaru adjusted one of the blankets over her, his nose caught a scent that spiked his concern anew—the faint, coppery tang of blood. He looked down at Kagome's forearm, finally noticing the claw marks he had inflicted earlier, now seeping faintly against her pale skin as her circulation revived.

"Her arm," Sesshomaru murmured. "It's… bleeding again."

Shippo's eyes widened, and he jumped into action, already digging through Kagome's first-aid kit with a single-minded determination. He tossed aside a few items before pulling out a brown bottle, several cotton pads, some small folded bandages, gauze, and medical tape. Shippo carefully unscrewed the bottle's lid, the sharp, medicinal scent wafting up to Sesshomaru's nose, more pungent than anything else in Kagome's kit so far.

"This is called 'iodine,'" Shippo explained, trying to sound confident despite the tension in his voice. "It's... it's for cleaning wounds. To stop it from getting infected." He handed Sesshomaru the bottle with a little more trust than usual. "Just… be careful. It stings."

Sesshomaru dipped a cotton pad into the iodine, watching it darken before he pressed it gently to the first claw mark on Kagome's arm. Kagome winced faintly, her arm twitching as though in protest, though she remained unconscious. Shippo sucked in a breath, glancing up with silent reassurance to Rin, who watched nervously.

"Now we put one of these on," Shippo said, pointing to a packet of butterfly bandages. He peeled one off and carefully showed Sesshomaru how to apply it to keep the wound closed. "It'll hold it together. But… we should probably wrap it, too, right? Just in case."

Sesshomaru nodded, already rolling a length of gauze around Kagome's arm, his movements focused and exact. Shippo and Rin, however, quickly picked up on his task and started handing him extra pieces of gauze and more medical tape, their anxiety adding to the growing layers. Each strip was carefully pressed and fastened by their small hands, but their definition of "just in case" quickly veered toward overkill.

By the time Sesshomaru tied off the last strip, Kagome's arm was secured with far more padding than necessary, looking less like a bandage and more like a warrior's forearm guard.

Shippo blinked, tilting his head as he took in their handiwork. "Um… maybe we went a little overboard," he admitted sheepishly, scratching his head.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, but he did not remove the layers. "It will suffice," he replied, his gaze softening a little as he looked at the children's earnest faces. "The care is… appreciated."

Rin nodded, biting her lip as she looked at Kagome's face. "She'll be okay now, right?"

Shippo swallowed and reached out to adjust one of the blankets around Kagome. "Yeah… we've done everything we can for now."

Shippo, sensing that she was more stable, crawled into the futon beside her, wrapping his small frame around hers in a gesture of comfort. His little body, warm from sitting by the coal, provided additional heat as he nuzzled closer. "I'll help keep her warm," he said resolutely, his voice soft but determined. Rin, not one to be left out, quickly joined them, settling on Kagome's other side. Her small arms wrapped protectively around Kagome's waist as she whispered, "You'll be okay, Kagome-neechan."

Sesshomaru observed the scene quietly, feeling a strange pang in his chest as he watched the two children huddle close to the miko. They were doing their part, showing their affection and care in the simplest of ways, but for Sesshomaru, there was a different battle taking place within him. His eyes flicked toward the door, knowing that this was Kagome's private space. It was filled with her scent, faint and sweet, mingled with the sharper, unfamiliar scent of the strange medicines. This was her territory, her sanctuary, and for a moment, he contemplated leaving her in the care of the children.

Yet, the thought of stepping out of the room, of putting distance between himself and the fragile life he had carried through the storm, felt wrong. He didn't want to leave her side, though he knew he could not stay by her futon. The propriety of it all loomed heavily in his mind—he could not compromise her honor, not here, not in her own chambers. Although the demons that served him would know by scent that nothing happened, it was a matter of principle, something his years of training and discipline would not allow his instincts to overrule.

With a quiet exhale, Sesshomaru rose to his feet and moved to the door. Instead of leaving entirely, he settled himself cross-legged near the entrance, ensuring the servants could come and go as needed. From this position, he could still easily sense every change in her condition, hear every soft breath she took. It was a compromise, one that let him remain close without overstepping any boundaries.

In the flickering glow of the braziers, he kept watch, his sharp senses attuned to her recovery while the children nestled against her.

Kagome drifted in and out of consciousness, her mind barely clinging to awareness as warmth began to seep back into her body. She felt shivers rattle through her, deep and involuntary, the violent quaking making her limbs ache. It was an odd sensation, hovering somewhere between pain and comfort, as her frozen body struggled to come back to life. Each time she tried to pull herself out of the fog, she found herself slipping back under, unable to break through the blanket of fatigue.

In one of these moments, she felt the faint weight of something warm pressed close—a small hand curled against her shoulder, another by her side. The soft pressure of Rin and Shippo's small forms brought her a feeling of safety and comfort, her mind dimly registering their presence even if her senses were dulled. She wasn't entirely sure if she was dreaming, but the soft puffs of breath and gentle snores coming from beside her chased away any lingering cold.

Gradually, the shivering ebbed into a steady warmth. Her mind grew clearer, her senses adjusting, and she opened her eyes, vision settling on the pair of children nestled against her. The sight brought a weak, instinctive smile to her lips, even as her limbs remained heavy and numb.

Then, just beyond them, she noticed a lone figure seated at the doorway. Sesshomaru sat cross-legged, his back straight, arms loosely resting in his lap. In the dim glow of the room, his silver hair cascaded over his shoulders and shone faintly. His head was tilted slightly forward, eyes closed as if lost in a moment of quiet contemplation—or perhaps sleep. She blinked, surprised. His typically impassive face looked softer, almost relaxed, and his form silhouetted against the wooden panels behind him carried an air of calm vigilance.

Something about the sight tugged at her memory. That steadfast stance, the quiet strength that radiated from him even now, half-dreaming or perhaps only partially awake—she was reminded, oddly enough, of Inuyasha. Sesshomaru had always seemed to her the opposite of his younger brother, with his composed, unyielding demeanor. But now, like this, she could see faint echoes of a kinship between them, in ways subtle and unspoken.

Her eyelids drooped, her energy ebbing once more, but comfort enveloped her, and she allowed herself to drift back into sleep, feeling safe.