Once upon a thunderstorm by anonymousfangirl

Chapter One

Title: Once upon a thunder storm

Author: Anonymous Fangirl

Spoilers: Abound

Rating: Mature. After all, only mature people could grasp the fact that Sesshomaru. Kissed. Kagome's. Hand. And called her and angel. All in one chapter! Tweak, tweak.

Disclaimers: I bought a new hairbrush today. It has pictures of food on it. It really is the cutest thing you ever saw. I added more scunchi's to my scunchi collection, too. That's about it.

Etc: DON'T HATE ME! I felt like writing this, so I am. And if I feel like not writing it, then I won't. However, it's only fair that since I did get this far, if you read it, you should review. After all, didn't they say in field of dreams, if you write it, they will review? No? Well, it should have.

Summary: Sometimes it feels as if god wants Naraku to win. Like he's always pulling for him. Like we couldn't even hold a candle to his greatness. Like he can have everything- and we're left holding nothing.

Chapter One

It was just another rainy day... Kagome sighed heavily as she watched the heavy drops of water fall nearly soundlessly to the ground. One alone couldn't make much of a splash, but when you had as many as there were... well, you get a decent sized thunder storm like the one reeking havoc on Japan today.

"Damn this rain." Inuyasha complained as he scratched his ear. "We can't get anywhere! We were so close to Naraku, and then the rain comes. I may never catch his scent again!"

Kagome smiled out to the rain. That's right. They had been following Naraku's scent... somehow Inuyasha had managed to catch it. Not long after, the found evidence of his camps. And now the rain came.

"Sometimes it feels like god wants Naraku to win..." Kagome commented absent mindedly. Everybody looked up in shock.

"Kagome! How could you say such a thing!" Sango exclaimed. Sure, she had been thinking it herself, and a quick look around the room insured her that everybody else had as well, but she never expected Kagome to think- much less say out loud- such a horrific thing.

Kagome shrugged. "It's true. What do you suppose his reasoning is?"

Inuyasha let out a low growl from his corner, and Miroku looked a bit like a lost dog. Kagome sighed and shook her head.

"I'm going for a walk everyone. I'll be back shortly." Kagome stood from the damp dirt floor of the shack in which they were seeking shelter and brushed off her skirt.

"Kagome, you can't go out there! You'll catch a chill!" Sango pointed out and tried to lure her back in to the safety of the relatively dry hut.

Kagome didn't even bother to look back.

Sango sat down, face screwed up in obvious torture. "She's right, isn't she?"

Miroku nodded. "Always seems to be."

Inuyasha growled louder and ran a single clawed hand through his hair. "Dammit. You guys are so pessimistic. How are we supposed to beat Naraku with that type of attitude?"

Sango and Miroku didn't answer. But the words hung in the air as clearly as if they had been spoken aloud, rather than just thought by everyone.

We aren't.

Kagome knew it was wrong to be happy right now. Now that they had lost their only lead. Now that certain death was upon them. Now that she had taken the hope away from her companions. And now that she was drenched to the bone while wearing a white tee shirt over a black bra.

But she was happy. Explicitly happy.

Kagome giggled and took off in a dead run in to the night.

She stumbled a bit at first, over the rocks and the creeks and the upturned roots of trees. But after an hour or so of running, she didn't have to look to know when something was blocking her path. She simply trusted her instincts.

She knew she had strayed to far from the shelter, to far from the safety of her companions. But right now, it didn't matter if she lived or if she died. All that mattered was that she ran until her body sprouted wings and picked her off of the ground.

Suddenly, in the middle of a vast empty meadow, she stopped dead in her tracks without any warning. Animals that had been frightened by her quickened breath and pounding feet looked at her curiously before returning to their activities. She had no idea how far she ran, or for how long. It was near morning, she knew, and very, very cold, And she didn't know how she knew, but she was where she was supposed to be right now.

And looking up, she saw why.

In the darkness, the dragon wakes. To a cold heart, the dragon takes. With you at my side, the dragon sleeps. On dragon wings, wishes leap.

Kagome had no idea where the ballad had come from, no idea what language it was in. But as she looked up at the single break in the black clouded sky, she saw the moon in all it's glory shining down on her, as if it were a gift only for her.

Kagome held out her palms, cupped together and gathering rain, and offered herself to whatever deity would have her in that moment.

And that's how he came upon her.

He had no idea what had drawn him so far away from his home. He had other things to be doing. He could be reading, planning the day ahead, taking inventory, finances, practicing his swordsmanship. But for some reason that escaped him, he felt the need to leave the warm comfort of his inner solace and seek out the rainy night instead.

Had she called to him? Doubtful. She seemed to be an angel that he had just happened to come across. But what was she doing on earth?

Sesshomaru didn't really care.

Kagome quietly began to sing the words that had formed in her mind.

In the darkness, the dragon wakes.

Sesshomaru knew the ballad. His mother had sung it to him some time ago. It had always been strange, he thought, that he could remember her voice only when she sung this song, but couldn't remember it in any other thing. He couldn't even seem to recall her face most of the time.

Sesshomaru stood, a single figure o white against the blackened landscape. Had she seen him? He thought when she spun, facing him for only a moment. No. If she had, the tennyo would have disappeared like the cool morning mist on a hot summer's day.

Fa la la la la la la lala. Fa la la la la. Fa la la la la la la lala

He watched her dance, mezmerised. He supposed he could have worked up the strength to be angry with the angel for drawing his attention, but h just couldn't seem to find the energy to want to. As he watched her skin shimmer, threatening to disappear, he felt all at once as if he wanted to cry. He was tired. Tired of ruling, tired having to keep up the charade.

He didn't hate humans. No, rather, he envied them. Humans often assumed that demons were blessed with longevity. No, Sesshomaru had always felt they were cursed. If there was nothing to look forward to, no reason to want to get up every day, Sesshomaru didn't know why he went on.

No, that wasn't true. He did know why he went on. He went on for their sake. For the people he ruled. If he wasn't there to protect them, they would slowly die out, like an ant hill with no queen.

To a cold heart, the dragon takes.

She seemed to glow from within. As he watched her spin in circles, he wanted to fall to his knees before her. Demons had descended from the heavens, he had known since he was young, in order to find a way to win more power. In heaven, they were always tied for power in every way with the angels. Beautiful creatures, for the most part. But the stronger they were, the greater there beauty. And only the weakest of them could descend to earth and return home.

If this was a weak angel, Sesshomaru decided, he had no idea why the demons would have sacrificed such beautiful creatures for something as momentary as power.

And if she was a strong angel, on who had left heaven for good, well, he wasn't all that sure of what he was going to do. Marry her? The thought was laughable. He had heard the legends. A mortal man falls in love with an angel, steals her robes, and forces her to marry him. As it was, Sesshomaru did see rather strange looking garments. But she was adorned in them.

Still, they looked rather familiar...

With you at my side, the dragon sleeps.

Capture her? Yeah, that would bring bad luck with him for the rest of his life. Which was a very long time.

No, he could be happy to just sit here, invisible, and watch her dance.

On dragon wings, wishes-

The spell on Sesshomaru was broken when he felt electricity raise the hairs on the back of his neck, pointing them all in the direction his "angel" was dancing. He saw now what he didn't see before, tears streaming down her face, pale and cold sking, and red rimmed eyes. Still, he waste dno time in racing for her, desperate to beat the lightening that he knew was running as well.

Lightening struck out at Kagome, exploding all around her. She cried out in pain as her feet were singed, and then in shock when she felt a single strong arm lift her from the ground.

"EEK!" She screamed, and thrashed against her rescuer. But the arm, like a band of steel, held tight, much too tight, as he took off towards the shelter of the forest.

"Are you stupid! What were you thinking, dancing in a thunder storm?" Sesshomaru shook her hard not a moment after her feet had touched the ground.

Kagome was in shock and couldn't see straight. Not after being whizzed through the air at inhuman speeds, and not after being shook. But what she did make out was white. Lots and lots of white against black.

"Sorry." She said in a slightly timid voice, and realization dawned on Sesshomaru. He pulled his hands back suddenly as if he had been burned and stepped away.

"You are my brother's woman. The one who drew the Tetsuiga." Sesshomaru said, disbelief heavy in his voice. That was easy enough for Kagome to make out. But under the disbelief was a thin layer of disappointment. Something else Kagome didn't miss.

The world began to come back in to focus, and Kagome turned even whiter when she pieced together the information.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, taking a step back herself. "What are you doing out here?"

Sesshomaru sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in a very royal gesture. "Rescuing half wit angels who disguise themselves as humans and dance in thunderstorms." He felt suddenly alive now as he had felt tired only moments before.

"Half wits?!" Kagome demanded, pushing herself up on the balls of her feet so that she could look him in the eyes with out having to arch her neck. Why are demons so tall? She wondered momentarily before she drilled a finger in to his chest. "I will thank you for saving my life, Sesshomaru-sama, but I will not excuse the half wit remark!"

"Well only a half wit would dare to threaten the lord of the western lands. Or did you forget that too?"

Kagome scoffed, and started to turn away. But something stopped her dead in her tracks. It was a sound as foreign to her ears as the song she had sung not moments before.

Sesshomaru seemed to be laughing.

"Forgive me, Tennyo, for calling you a half wit. It was most unchivorlous of me!" Sesshomaru snickered as if it were a joke.

Kagome turned around and sent him one, cool glare. "You think apologises are jokes then?" Kagome asked, fear creeping it's way in to te back of her mind.

Sesshomaru bowed low, low enough to show respect, before speaking again. "I, Sesshomaru Nishi, son of Inutaisho Nishi, Lord of the western lands, do humbly implore your forgiveness, Miss Tennyo."

"Tennyo? DO you have a screw loose in there?" Kagome said as she pointed to her head.

"Please, Tennyo, allow me to escort you back to your traveling companions. You must have traveled some distance." Sesshomaru said as he nimbly picked her up with out waiting for her answer.

"Put me down, you big oaf!" Kagome wailed. But her words were lost in the wind and rain behind them.

"Relax, tennyo. I shall return you to my brother in a matter of minutes."

Kagome nodded and buried her head against his shoulder, the only place the it seemed she could seek protecting from the offending rain without being impaled by some hidden weapon.

Sesshomaru didn't know why, but he was happy right now. Happy for the first time in years, simply at teasing this little onna. But he also recognized the warm feeling hat swamped over him when she sought shelter in him- protectiveness.

Why he would feel the urge to protect his brother's charge, he had no idea. However, he was not the type of man who would ignore his baser instincts. If they said to protect her, then he would do so with his life. At least until she stopped amusing him.

"Don't call me that again." Came her muffled voice from his armor.

"What was that?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Don't call me that again. Tennyo. I have a name, you know."

Yes, but I can't seem to recall it... "What was it my brother called you? Kaguya?"

Kagome shook her head against his chest. "No. Higurashi Kagome. Ka Go Me."

Sesshomaru laughed slightly, and looking down, saw evidence of his brother's camp. "Well Ka Go Me, welcome back home."

Kagome resisted the urge to leap form his arms and kiss the ground. But she couldn't resist the sigh of relief that escaped her lips.

"What? Afraid of heights?" Sesshomaru asked, then shook his head. "What a strange tennyo. No wonder you came to earth. You were afraid you would fall from your cloud!"

Kagome scoffed. "You would do well not to tease me, Sesshomaru. It would look bad on your heroing records."

Sesshomaru mocked appall. "Well, then, since have seen you home, little tennyo, I shall take my leave of you."

Kagome held out her arm to stop him when he turned away. "Umm... while I am pretty sure that I am dreaming, mother always told me to thank anyone who helped me, so..." Kagome bowed her head. "Thank you very much, lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru's eyes never left hers as he picked up her hand and held it to his lips. He paused when her hand was a mere hair's width from his mouth, and skimmed his lips purposefully over it when he spoke. "Might as well do it right. You know, for the record." He placed a single kiss on the top of her hand before he bowed and took off in to the night, leaving Kagome shaking her head in pure shock.

Yes, she decided later as she lay down on top of her sleeping blanket as to not get it too wet. This had to have been some sort of fever induced dream.