Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters. They strictly belong to the author and creator and have nothing to do with me.

A/n: I haven’t done a Sesshomaru and Kagome story in ages and I think it’s time I did another one. Naruto is all well and good, but I’ve been writing a lot for it lately.

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Kagome stared down at the small root sticking innocently up out of the ground. When it refused to move or shudder under her gaze, she huffed in annoyance and rubbed her sore bottom, mentally adding it to a long list of injuries she had suffered today. The last battle with Naraku had been a killer to their small group and she worried that, for once, he had managed to damage their spirits. She knew that Sango was hurting badly over the fact Miroku had been badly hurt from the poisons insects he had sucked in to save her. It didn’t take much imagination to picture how guilty she must feel. Inuyasha, as usual, had brought the monk in, gathered the herbs Kaede asked for, and then disappeared to find Kikyo, who had been sighted in this area. Kagome, of course, was going home to get more antidote and had been in a hurry until she had tripped over the stupid root sitting at her feet.

Kagome sighed and picked herself up, brushing off dirt as she started to walk towards the well, and being more careful of where she put her feet. Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she froze, instantly alert to the subdued aura of a demon. She was being watched by either a very weak demon, or one who was strong enough to mask their presence very, very well. Kagome felt her holy powers tingle and her eyes shot to the tree line, where she saw a shadowy figure disappear just before she could focus on it. ‘Damn’, she thought annoyed, as the fine hairs settled down again, announcing that the threat was gone. Now she’d have to tell Inuyasha about this and he wouldn’t let her go home for a week! Kagome paused, pondering the idea of not telling him. It would mean that she could keep her freedom, but with the drawback that it could put others in danger. Kagome sighed and made yet another mental note to bring back a lot of books for the period of time Inuyasha would go supermom. Kagome made a face and jumped down the well, letting herself be enveloped by the blue magic that poured out of the wood.

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Kagome groaned at the extra weight her poor backpack had accumulated with the romance novels she had stuffed in on top of everything else. It was almost too heavy for her but she just grinned and bared the extra pounds even as her mother gave the yellow bag a worried look. She couldn’t just leave them, Inuyasha was going to flip when he heard about the demonic aura in the woods, he’d never let her leave Kaede’s house until he was absolutely positive that any threat was gone or killed. He was such a mother hen sometimes. She smiled to herself as she drifted in the blue light, imagining his face when he saw the books she had brought. She had even found a really, really adult one, just for the monk while he was stuck in bed. This one might even make him blush! Kagome’s grin widened and she patted the camera in her pocket with glee. Groaning with superhuman effort she managed to get herself and the yellow monstrosity of a bag up and out of the well and was on her way towards the village. She would have been skipping with joy if the weight of her back had allowed it. She never even noticed the innocent little blue book lying in the grass, the two lovers on the front more interested in each other then the miko leaving them behind nor with the little hands that picked them up sometime later.

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Sesshomaru was most annoyed. He had been following his half-brother’s little pack for some time now, hoping that they had some inkling of where Naraku had now run off to since their little spat. It was pathetic that he was reduced to watching a group of mortals for information and it was aggravating that by the time he had come across them, their battle had been over and there was nothing left to do but wait. Inuyasha drew trouble to him like bees to honey. Naraku would not be long in attacking again. A noise of cracking twigs caught the other’s attention but Sesshomaru did not spare it a glance, he already knew it was Rin, returning from her walk. The little girl had grown, he thought, not without some pride at the woman she was turning into. She was only ten now, but it was easy to see she would be very beautiful when she was older. Sesshomaru did not particularly care about her beauty, as lovely as she would be. It was her fighting abilities that proved to him that taking her on as his ward was not a wasted effort. She would be a human above all others, he was sure of it. Rin raced up to him, eyes glowing.

“Rin has found some new writing; will Milord permit me to read to you?” Rin asked, almost jumping with excitement. Sesshomaru nodded, half listening as she sat down and began her reading.

“Marcus could stand it no longer and he lowered his lips to hers, crushing her mouth beneath his own. Katherine moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, raising her face to met him half way, enjoying the wild taste of his mouth. He groaned as he reached down and pulled her closer, fitting her against him. Katherine tried to be quiet for the sake of all involved but as she felt his hot, ha—“

Sesshomaru wrenched the book out of her hands before she could finish the sentence. Rin looked up at him shocked as to why he had taken away the book. She had never seen him look the way he did now. Just behind the mask he wore she could see shock and maybe a small amount of horror. She waited while he calmed himself, studying the book.

Sesshomaru looked down into the big, innocent eyes of his ward. “Rin, where did you get this?” he asked, his voice deadly quiet. Rin frowned, wondering why he would want to know.

“Rin found in lying in the grass by an old well. It was pretty and Rin picked it up and saw all the odd writing in it and so Rin brought it home to read to Lord Sesshomaru...”

Sesshomaru began to tune her out as she kept talking about the pretty book. Sesshomaru was very tempted to rip the offending book to shreds, partly because his brother’s miko’s scent was all over the book and its pages. How dare that woman leave something as disgusting as this where a child could find it. Sesshomaru paused and then squashed the desire to kill her. It was not her fault that she had dropped the book, how could she have know that Rin was nearby? Sesshomaru glared at the blue book and prepared to toss it on the fire until an idea struck him. Sesshomaru contemplated the book and then tucked it into his sash. He would find a better use for this book.

Later, as his ward and retainer were asleep, he pulled the book out again to look at it. The cover should have tipped him off as to what lay inside. It was a couple locked together, covered thankfully, but together nonetheless. He looked up at Rin, who lay curled up against Ah-Un on the other side of the small camp. Sesshomaru looked at the book again and opened it, cautiously reading each word.

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Kagome sighed and pushed a brush aside. Inuyasha had reacted as badly as she had thought he would and had immediately ordered everyone to stay inside the village while he, the dashing hero, ran around in circles, looking for the threat. Kagome quickly looked over her shoulder in case he was nearby. If he knew she had disobeyed his order and had actually gone into the woods he would have a heart attack. Kagome bit her lip and looked under the plant again. She had to find her book, she couldn’t believe she had dropped the very one that she had brought for Miroku. The stupid book, if only it had stayed in her bag like all the others. She gave herself a mental kick for losing it and moved to another section of bushes. She felt her hair rise again and the memorable feeling of demonic aura. But this time, it wasn’t as masked as before and she could feel that this particular aura was very familiar. She cussed and looked around wildly, hoping against all hope that he hadn’t spotted her yet and if he had he wouldn’t care enough to seek her out. If Inuyasha caught his scent on her she was so dead!

Quickly she backed away on her knees, still praying up until she bumped into something. Startled she flipped over to see what she had backed into and saw a recognizable yellow and blue sash. She groaned and looked up into the cold face of Lord Sesshomaru. He didn’t look happy having her at his feet. Kagome began to stutter apologies until she noticed what he was holding.

“Hey, you found my book!” she said happily, jumping up to stand before him. His eyes narrowed and she gulped backing away a bit. “Uh sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you, Lord Sesshomaru.” She said, using his title in the hopes it would calm him down. Sesshomaru said nothing and Kagome found the silence to be a bit awkward. Nervously, she began to fidget and tug on the edge of her shirt. She was so glad she had worn jeans today; it would have been way more embarrassing if she had been in her normal skirt. Finally, the silence became too great.

“Uh, do you...do you think I could have my book back? Uh, please?” she asked, apprehensively. Sesshomaru said nothing and stepped closer. Kagome began to sweat. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Was he mad at her? Was he going to kill her for bumping into him? He took another step and Kagome backed up again. This continued until her back hit the tree and he jumped the few feet between them until he was pressed right up against her. Kagome gulped as she felt the cool metal of his armour push as her chest. Trapped against the tree, with his arm blocking her escape, she started to shake slightly, fear clouding her mind. He leaned down until their noses were centimetres apart. Her eyes caught his and suddenly it wasn’t just fear that was clouding her mind. She watched, holding her breath has he slowly turned away from her face until his mouth was right at her ear. She could feel the warm heat of his breath as he whispered in her ear, his lips brushing the sensitive skin of her earlobe. Kagome stiffened, her face pink, as he pressed even closer to her.

“A most interesting book.” He whispered softly into her ear.

And then he was gone, leaving her at the tree, clutching her book in her hands. Still shaking, Kagome let out a whoosh of air and slid down the rough bark until she was sitting on the ground, and looked down at the book. One of the pages had been dog eared and, trying hard to breath, she opened it up and read that page. Kagome let out an ‘eep’ of surprise and nearly threw the book off into the darkness. ‘He read it!’ he mind screamed while Kagome hyperventilated. ‘OhGawdohGawdohGawdohGawdohGawdohGawdohGawd!’ her mind continued. She looked at the page, reading farther. This time she did throw the book and cover her burning face with her hands. “He read tha...he was going to... OhGawdohGawdohGawdohGawd...” Kagome was sorely tempted to bang her head on the tree and die from embarrassment. She took a deep breath and stood up, walked over to the book, picked it up, and tore off towards the village, not caring who saw her. She was never going to be able to face him after this! Not in a million years, not after he had read that and then...with her... Kagome could feel her face heating up again and she fought to calm her racing heart. Finally she stopped at Kaede’s door; amazingly, Inuyasha was inside, asleep, right where she had left him. Kagome brushed aside the mat and began to prepare for bed, trying not to let her heart race every time she saw Inuyasha’s silver hair out of the corner of her eye. Well, she thought as she lay in her sleeping bag alone, who wouldn’t have a heart attack after that? She gave herself a firm mental shake. She was just lucky Sesshomaru hadn’t finished acting out that particular scene...or so she firmly tried to make herself believe.

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THE END

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