A Winter Discovery by bookgirl813

Frozen Find

AN:  Originally written for Dokuga’s Holiday Exchange in 2012 for Kayelin.  This is a re-post from 12/31/2012.  I've had to go through all of my fics and clean them up, pulling out the trash from the treasure.

I'm also breaking this up into pieces, as the entire oneshot came to be about 17k in words.  

There will be slight modifications from the original writing. Please forgive the errors I still managed to miss this time around.  

oOo  

It was cold. So terribly, frigidly, freaking cold.

Granted, it was December and a few days before Christmas day; that alone should have clued in the Miko from the future that it would be almost freezing at this time of the year, especially in the Feudal Era. Why she hadn't dressed more appropriately, she didn't honestly know.

'Stupid, stupid Inuyasha. It's all his fault,' she internally ranted.

If she were honest with herself she would admit that it wasn't his fault.  However, Kagome felt that she wanted to blame someone for her current predicament and he was her first choice. Inuyasha deserved good butt kicking right now in her opinion.

The 20-year old, onyx-haired woman trekked through the wilds of Japan, her trusty bow and quiver of arrows slung on one shoulder while a newer dark blue backpack dangled from the other. The trusty old yellow bag had finally been retired, replaced by a newer and not so loudly colored one. Kagome was on her return trip to Edo after having snuck out the evening before to see her good friend Jinenji.

The winter had started out milder than the past years, yet the villagers still managed to catch seasonal illnesses that seemed to spread like wildfire. This year, though, there was a strain of flu that had Kagome worried. Not wanting to depend on the drugs from the future, she thought of an alternate solution; to see if the horse hanyou had a cure using the herbs and roots that grew only in his garden in his part of the country.

Kagome had been correct in her assumption, as evident by the heaviness of her carryall. Jinenji had been able to discern the proper mixture roots and herbs needed based on Kagome's detailed description of the symptoms the villagers were exhibiting. He instructed her in the proper preparation of those items, telling her that she needed to be careful not to give anyone too much of the concoction at one time. Too much could cause death.

No pressure.

Kagome shivered again as a particularly blustery wind passed through her, chilling the miko to the bone. She glanced up at the once clear blue sky only to find that the wind was blowing in a group of dark, ominous clouds from somewhere.

She was afraid it would begin to snow if she was reading the signs correctly.

'So not cool.'

Kagome pulled the light jacket she wore closed, zipping it up and pulling up the excuse for a hood over her head in an attempt to keep the warmth within. She was grateful that she no longer wore those school uniforms with the short skirts, blouse and blazers that were just not practical in this era. Instead she wore denim jeans, a beige sweater, dark green flannel jacket and good hiking boots. She had splurged on the boots.  With the amount of hiking she had and would be doing in the Feudal Era in attempt to find the rest of the jewel shards, the battling random demons and oni (not to mention the males of the era), a girl in her position needed practical shoes.

Naraku was long gone, but there were still a few elusive shards to be found before she could complete and wish the damned Shikon-no-Tama out of existence. Oh yes, she was determined to make that piece of jewelry disappear from reality. It had been a plague on the world, not to mention her sanity.

oOo

A lot had changed since the spider had been squashed, thanks to the combined efforts of Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and Kagome. The combined strength of their powers aimed at the kumo hanyou had been too much for him and the portion of the jewel he carried. The attack had disintegrated the nuisance known as Naraku into ash leaving only the purple-colored fragment of the Shikon behind.

Kagome still spent time in the Feudal Era since the remaining shards still needed to be found. Even without the threat of Naraku, Inuyasha was still a harsh taskmaster, pushing the humans of his group to great lengths to find the remaining pieces. Kagome finally had to sit her hanyou friend down and lay down the law. She was not going to spend every day in the past to be his shard detector, even though he was no longer intent on making a wish on the jewel to become a full demon, nor was he asking Kagome to wish Kikyo back to life.

Like Kagome, he just wanted the Shikon no Tama gone and the quest to be over with. Inuyasha, too, felt that too much had been lost and too many lives destroyed due to that accursed gem. He also wanted to move on with his life, having been given a second chance since meeting the younger Kagome.

Their feelings for one another had changed and morphed into more of a brotherly/sisterly relationship over the last few years, disappointing Kagome's mother and Souta for differing reasons. Her mother was hoping for puppy-eared grandbabies to spoil, and Souta just wanted Inuyasha around. He had found an elder brother-figure in the gruff hanyou and was dreading the day that the magical properties of the well would disappear and the means for Inuyasha to come visit with it.

Kagome had insisted on the time and space to continue with her education. Her duty to the inu tachi aside, she wanted to do well in high school and then go on to college. When she had begun college she found that she had larger blocks of time in between classes, homework and study groups to go back in time and continue with the search. Inuyasha wasn't thrilled with this arrangement, but the kotodama around his neck was a constant reminder that he could be eating dirt on a regular basis if he didn't let Kagome do what she wanted.

Inuyasha was growing up and beginning to mature a little more as time passed. It didn't mean he wasn't subject to fits of immaturity from time-to-time, but they were fewer and further between.

A prime example of the old Inuyasha was the day that Kagome told him that she would be going to Jinenji's farm to get the hanyou's advice and hopefully a cure for the increasingly hard to combat illness that had overset the village.

"I'm coming with you," was his gruff retort.  In his mind she was still the skinny, unskilled little waif from the future with no knowledge of what was out there.  How wrong he was.

"Inuyasha, you need to stay and watch over the village," she supplied. "Besides, with Rin in the village training with Kaede, you'll need to keep an eye not only on the demon attacks but the aggressive male attention she's been getting lately."

Inuyasha blanched at that. Oh yes, Sesshomaru would have his hide if the demon knew his 15-year old ward was attracting males at every turn. Inuyasha had his work cut out for him in that regard. The day a human male approached Sesshomaru for Rin's hand in marriage would be a day to remember.  The hanyou held back a snort at the thought.

"Sango and Miroku can keep an eye on the wench, as well as the village," he countered.

Kagome sighed. "You know that Miroku is ill and Sango is pregnant and in no condition to be fighting. What are you thinking, Inuyasha?"

Yes, the demon slayer and her perverted monk had finally tied the knot after Naraku had been dealt with. It had taken a few years before they began to work on starting a family. Their original plan to rebuild the slayer's village had been put on the back burner until the jewel shards had all been found, opting to stay in Edo close to their friends and extended family.

"I'm coming with you and that's that!" he said adamantly as he crossed his arms in finality.

"Fine!" Kagome grumbled and Inuyasha smirked at having won the battle. However, he was not aware that Kagome had an ace up her sleeve.

There had been enough occasions that Inuyasha's stubbornness got in the way of practicality. He'd get it in his head that it was his way or no way and Kagome would have to use other means to turn the tides in her favor.

This was one of those times.

That evening in Kaede's hut, Kagome prepared a cup of Ramen for her dog-eared friend, as a peace offering of sorts. She handed the cup to Inuyasha whose eyes gleamed at the sight of his favorite food in the whole world, and swallowed its contents in one gulp.

'Checkmate.' Kagome smiled quietly to herself.

Rin and Kaede watched the interaction between Kagome and Inuyasha with interest. There had to be more to the situation than what they were seeing and yet they kept quiet. Kagome only pulled out the cup noodles for certain occasions since she usually only prepared the square packets of ramen for meals. When the cup of noodles came out, it usually ended up with Inuyasha sleeping for a while. You would think he'd put two and two together.

Inuyasha just wasn’t that bright at times.

"Make some more, wench! You know this tiny cup isn't enough!"

"Inuyasha…" her blue eyes sparked with the promise of a dirt-filled mouth and extreme pain and he backed off, his eyes wide at the aura his best friend was giving off.

"Fine," he grumbled and went for the stew that was currently being eaten by Kaede and Rin. Five minutes later Inuyasha was sound asleep, sprawled out on his back with one leg kicking in the air like a dog and snoring loudly.

Kagome got up from her position near the fire and grabbed his bowl from him to be washed. She placed a light blanket over her sleeping friend and smiled gently.

"You drugged him?" Rin asked quietly.

"I had to." Kagome shrugged like it was nothing new.

"Ye did not have to Lady Kagome," Kaede admonished gently.  Kagome could hear the disappointment in the woman’s voice.

Kagome sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. "He needs to stay in the village to keep an eye on things."

"He cannot do that if he's sleeping so soundly," was the elderly Miko's reply.

"You know it's only temporary. He'll be awake in less than a few hours anyway," Kagome explained knowing the demon blood within him would break down the tranquilizer fairly quickly.

"Besides, the area is currently devoid of any demon activity and the current guard we have set up on the village perimeter should be able to hold off any bandits that try to cause trouble."

Kagome, Inuyasha and Sango had taken it upon themselves to train many of the men of the village to become protectors themselves. They knew that there would be times that the three of them, along with Miroku, would not be able to be there at all times to protect the village. Dependency on them would be the village's downfall if they didn't learn to take care of themselves. The village headman had been very accepting of the idea and had supported the trio's idea wholeheartedly.

Kagome washed out the dinner bowls and utensils in the cleaning bucket before she turned and stood to grab her backpack and bow and arrows. She then looked at the two women in the hut.

"Do what you have to in order to keep him here, please. I don't need him causing me trouble on the way to Jinenji's and back."

Kaede nodded and left the hut walking out into the rapidly darkening evening.

oOo

The half-frozen Miko took to making her way through the forest in a slow jog in an attempt to keep her blood flowing and body warm. She didn't want to run and risk sweating too much and making things worse for her, so she kept a steady pace. At the rate she was going, she should be back in the village in time for Christmas morning, provided an impatient inu hanyou didn't come after her and carry her back.

But as cold as she was right now, she wouldn't have minded a lift back to the village, even if it was on Inuyasha's back. She'd even put up with his ranting about how she put herself in danger, how she could be found by one of Kouga's pack, yadda, yadda, yadda… She could just hear it now.

No, wait…

Off in the distance was the sound of what could only be described as a battle. The sound of trees cracking and roars of unknown beings echoed in the direction she was going.

Should she go around the area the battle was being fought? Or should she check and see if someone might need her help? Decisions, decisions, but Kagome's curiosity and warm heart soon won out and she made for the direction she was originally heading.

She knew she was going to regret it either way.

As she got closer to the fray, the sounds got louder and more intense and the feel of powerful youki surrounded the area, flaring and pressing against her body causing her reiki to react to possible attack. Kagome struggled to keep control of her power for fear of attracting attention to herself, and the possibility of finding herself in the middle of the current battle weighed heavily on her mind.

Then it seemed that the battle came to a head with a great howl and burst of conflicting youki and a great screeching wail and a loud, thundering <>

And then there was silence. Eerie, still silence.

Not a sound was heard throughout the forest, not even the movement or calls from the forest inhabitants.  The temperature had seemed to drop significantly as if to reflect the void of life in the area.

Steeling herself, Kagome crept towards the area that she last felt the clash of auras, trying to be as silent as possible in case there were any demons, or whatever had been making the ruckus, left alive. As she forged on the brush and trees had increased in thickness, making it more difficult for her to get through or to see anything in front of her. After what she had felt she would be surprised if anything survived, but she continued to stealthily make her way through the dense foliage.

She then came to a break in the practically impenetrable forest and into a clearing. Well, it was a clearing now for before her was a scene of what she could only describe as massive carnage. Trees had been uprooted, some of them torn in half, branches burned and shattered, and great scorch marks littered the ground. Amongst the ground littered in debris from the innocent plant life, Kagome saw what could only be termed as bits and pieces of remains of… something that had once been living.

'It doesn't matter how many times I've seen blown up demon bits, it still grosses me out,' she thought to herself as she wrapped her arms around her upper body tightly and shivered in horror and revolt.

Then white flakes began to drop from the sky, floating gently to the forest floor.

Kagome trembled as another particularly glacial breeze broke through her clothing. 'Fantastic, now it's beginning to snow.' 

She looked to the ominously darkened sky, glaring at it as if to ask, 'What next?'

She tore her eyes from the sky and walked through the clearing, carefully watching where she stepped not wanting to have to throw away her favorite hiking boots quite yet. She flared her reiki in an attempt to ward off any scavengers for one, but also in search of any possible life within what she could only call the remains of a bloodbath. She felt a small amount of youki respond but it was very faint, so she continued to search through the carnage. There were entrails scattered to everywhere but nothing that was distinguishable, giving her a clue as to who or what had battled there.

That is until she came across a figure in white and red. She knelt next to the figure recognizing the being almost instantly and gasped at the damage done to him.

Sesshomaru's haori and hakama were barely white, more like dark red from blood loss; his clothing torn and left in tatters by what looked like some thing that had large claws. Those claws had also shredded a good portion of his upper body and left arm, leaving behind torn and bloodied skin and things that Kagome did not want to even think of.

"Oh Sesshomaru…" she murmured without thought.  Kagome stared at the seemingly lifeless demon and felt a sense of loss as he lay in a pool of his life force, his pale skin looking even more so with the fallen flakes of snow gathering upon his rapidly cooling body. Sesshomaru’s face looked peaceful in his forever sleep, his beautiful amber eyes hidden behind his magenta-striped eyelids. There was no hesitation as Kagome reached to trace the markings on his cheeks noting that his skin was still slightly warm to the touch.  She then proceeded to touch the crescent moon that marked his forehead recalling that it was a mark that carried over from his mother along with his eerily feminine looks.

"What a waste," she whispered as she stood and glanced around to look for a good place to bury his body not even thinking about how she was going to break into the hard earth. Before she had a chance to step away a large hand grasped her ankle causing the girl to gasp in shock. She looked to see that it was Sesshomaru that had her shackled by his grip and that he was indeed alive as apparent by the red demon eyes that glared at her from his position on the cold, hard ground.

"Sesshomaru! Oh my God you're still alive!" she exclaimed earning a low gurgling growl from the prone form. Kagome was shocked but not at all surprised that he still lived, even with the amount of blood loss that was visible. Yet she was still terrified that he had his claw around her leg and was fearful that she might lose that appendage and anything that was attached to it for having momentarily touched his person.

She was so gonna be toast.

By this time the snowfall had increased exponentially as did the chilling winds and Kagome knew she needed to get out of the weather before she froze to death. Looking down at the red-eyed feral demon that had a dangerous hand clamped around her, she felt that he needed to get under cover as well to heal properly.

Collecting as much inner strength and courage that she could Kagome spoke. "Sesshomaru? Look, I'm not going to hurt you, but we need to get you under cover and out of the snow so you can heal properly," she posed. "Will you allow me to help you to shelter?"

Then thinking it through and looking around her shoulders slumped from defeat. "Great, you wouldn't happen to know if there's a cave nearby, would you?" she rhetorically asked the damaged demon lord.

A bloodied, weakened arm slowly lifted from the rubble beside Sesshomaru as his finger pointed in a Westerly direction with some difficulty.

"Hunh." Her eyes followed the direction he was pointing. "It's a little out of my way, but I guess beggars can't be choosers." She then looked down at Sesshomaru noting that the bleeding seemed to have slowed down either due to his own healing abilities, or because of the rapidly cooling weather, which just seemed to get colder and colder. His pelt was shredded, torn into large pieces and she wondered just what it was and if leaving it behind would be a bad thing or not. There was no sign of the armor he usually wore.

Yes, she was going to find some way to get him out of swiftly declining weather. And if she died in the process? Well, she at least attempted to do her good deed for the day.

"Look Sesshomaru." She stared down into his reddened eyes, hands on her hips looking like her mother when she was going to lecture Souta for having done something wrong. "It's getting colder and I think we're in for a snowstorm of epic proportions," she informed him. "Either you help me help you and make our way to the shelter, or we both die here and now. What will it be?" she asked, a blue fire lighting her eyes in challenge.

"Hnngrl..," he gurgled and then grunted as the silver-haired demon let go of Kagome's ankle and attempted to sit up from being flat on his back. He didn't get very far and found himself on his back once again with a grimace of pain. Kagome knelt down slowly and approached him as she would an unfamiliar dog allowing him to get used to her presence. She held out her hand allowing him to grasp at her forearm and she grabbed his in turn for a secure hold.

"Jeeze Sesshomaru, what happened to you?" she asked as she tried to steady herself before assisting him.

Gradually she rose up and pulled the extremely heavy male up with her from the ground using her legs as a means to brace and support the extra weight and pulled him up on his feet. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. In Sesshomaru's weakened condition he was unable to continue to hold himself up and passed out from over-exertion causing Kagome to lose her grip on what ended up being extremely heavy dead weight.

"Ugh!" she grunted as the demon tumbled to the ground. She knew that if he had any sense or was conscious at this moment he'd probably kill her for having seen him in such a state.

"Well great," she mumbled as she knelt back down to check on the condition of the male. "You've opened the wounds again and they're bleeding even more. Now what am I going to do!" she yelled up at the sky as if to ask a higher power for guidance. Getting nothing in response, the dark-haired Miko sighed loudly, got up and was determined to get Sesshomaru to shelter.

And soon, because the snow was coming down even harder now.