Youkai Dreams by Phoenix

Chapter One

Kagome raised her bow and prepared to shoot, only to have the arrow knocked from her hand by Sango.

"Careful. You nearly hit Inuyasha." Kagome blushed, knowing the older girl was right. She hadn't meant to be aiming at the hanyou, and she was relieved that Sango had stopped her both before it was too late and before anyone else had noticed.

She gazed at the two brothers, deep in combat. Sesshoumaru seemed to have gained the upper hand but Inuyasha's wounds did not look serious. Inuyasha raised his hand to the cut on his shoulder and sent his blades of blood attack at the older demon, who easily dodged.

Sesshoumaru turned and stalked away, as pristine as he ever was despite the fight. Inuyasha stared at the disappearing figure, shouting every insult and curse he could think of at his brother's retreating back, but there was no response. Even Inuyasha hadn't expected one.

They turned away from the scene and Kagome ran over to check Inuyasha's wounds. He 'feh'ed and shooed her away, saying that he could look after himself. Slightly disappointed Kagome walked back to the demon slayer's side, stepping in just before she hit Miroku over the head with her boomerang.

The monk grabbed Kagome's hand and kissed it in a show of gratitude before looking at Inuyasha with a furrowed brow.

"That was unusual..."

"What now?" Inuyasha snapped back, baring his fangs at Miroku.

"He never normally seeks us out to fight." Inuyasha shrugged then walked off away from the rest of the group and back to the village where Miroku had got rooms for the night.

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Kagome lay back in the water, allowing the warm liquid to wash away the dust and dirt of a day hunting for the shards. Sango quickly searched for any demon aura in the area, and finding none other than that of the kit and the hanyou (both busy distracting Miroku so the women could bathe in peace) she splashed her friend with a laugh.

Kagome sat up suddenly, blinking in surprise before seeing a laughing Sango and soaking her in return. Sango swam away from her and started to bathe, checking over her skin for any wounds inflicted during the day and was pleasantly surprised to find that none were there.

She smiled at the younger girl.

"What happened in the fight? You looked distracted." Kagome flushed a light pink and Sango laughed and punched the air in delight. "I knew it! You like Sesshoumaru!"

Kagome's skin took on a darker tint and she shook her head from side to side rapidly. Sango raised an eyebrow at this.

"You never seem able to focus when he's there, and you keep asking questions about him."

"I am only asking in order to... um...try and find...more information out about our enemy. Why would I like him? He tried to melt me remember?!" Kagome yelled, her voice having risen in both pitch and loudness throughout her sentence. Sango nodded, content to have confirmation of her suspicions, and turned back to bathing, leaving her friend even more confused than before about her feelings towards the demon lord.

A few feet away the very demon they were talking about leant back against a tree, out of site of the pool, smirking at his luck. He had thought the miko was as intrigued by him as he was by her, and he had just heard confirmation. He knew the monk would kill to be this close to the bathing women, but he refused to lower himself to the level of a common human by taking a look. He stood and walked away to where he would wait for the coming night.

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Kagome pulled her pyjama top on over her head and pulled her school books out of her bag, before lying back on her bed and starting to do her algebra homework by the light of the candle.

"Stupid school...Grandpa told them I am off with glandular fever and they still give me homework". She muttered under her breath before starting her work. She stared at the first problem: x3+2x = 135. She nibbled on the end of her pencil before working out the answer.

Sango ran into the room and jumped on the other bed, before sending a pillow flying at Kagome, and starting to get changed into her nightdress. Kagome pencilled in the answer to the first sum of her homework before grabbing her pillow and throwing it back at the demon slayer. Sango ran at her and started to tickle her, causing her to giggle.

Then, with his usual impeccable timing, Miroku walked in. His jaw dropped at the site of the two girls, and his mind started to go along a route very different from what was actually occurring. Sango stood up and adjusted her nightdress before walking over to her friend.

"What do you want monk?" His eyes looked up and down her body and he raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Hentai." She murmured, before hitting him over the head with the closest thing to hand, which much to the young man's relief was the pillow Kagome had thrown at her a minute before.

"I just wanted to check that the lovely Kagome and my dear beautiful Sango were pleased with the room they had got." He said, holding her gaze.

"More likely you were trying to walk in while we were getting changed." Sango murmured with a sigh. Miroku nodded, and a second later the door slammed shut and he was left standing outside with a stinging red handprint on his face. Shippo bounded up to him, laughing so much he nearly fell over mid-bound, and pulled him back to the room the three boys were sharing.

Inuyasha looked up when the kit and the monk walked in, catching sight of the handprint on Miroku's face.

"He asked again?" Inuyasha asked while sweat dropping. Shippo shook his head

"No, he just tried to walk in when they were changing."

"It was worth it." Miroku replied, ignoring the sweat drops of the other two.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, then curled up on the bed and closed his eyes, refusing to respond to any questions Shippo asked about what they would be doing the next day.

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"Will you be ok by yourself Kagome?" Sango asked, quickly changing back to her slayers outfit. Kagome nodded

"Don't worry, I will just do the rest of my algebra homework and then I will go to sleep." Sango smiled gratefully then ran back to the scene of the earlier fight in an attempt to find the bag of sweets she had dropped. Shippo had given them to her to protect, but being more concerned about protecting the kitsune cub than his sweets she had left them behind. Shippo had said he didn't mind but Sango still felt guilty, so she had decided to find them, knowing Shippo would be overjoyed at their return.

Sango slipped silently from the hut and ran back to the clearing where the fight had occurred and started looking for the boy's sweets, but she couldn't find them. She didn't even hear the demon's approach until he coughed loudly causing her to spin around, with her elbow blades raised.

There stood Sesshoumaru, the sweets hanging from his hand.

"Looking for these, slayer?" Sango nodded in surprise. He threw the sweets at her and she grabbed them midair on reflex before settling into battle stance, her eyes locked on his.

"Why are you here Sesshoumaru?" Sango questioned, her curiosity rising due to the strangeness of the situation. For a fraction of a second she thought his eyes flickered from her towards the ground nervously but she knew she must be mistaken. Nothing would make him nervous.

"Slayer, do not worry, This Sesshoumaru will not attack you, you can put your blades away." Sesshoumaru said, his voice as calm and cold as ever. "I wish to make a deal with you." Sango's eyes widened in surprise but she nodded, willing to hear him out. "You are sharing a room with the miko am I correct?" She nodded "and you are the only two in the room?" another nod. "Tonight, I wish to take the miko to my camp so I can talk with her." Sango was in shock, whatever she had expected, it wasn't that!

"Why?" she murmured.

"She intrigues me." Sango's jaw dropped. Surely he couldn't be serious!

"No way am I leaving Kagome alone with a demon." He nodded, he knew that was what she would say. The slayer treated the priestess like a sister, and he knew she would not risk putting the younger girl in any danger.

"You should hear me out slayer. I give my word I will not lay a hand on her, and I will guard her with as much care as I do my ward." He could still see the doubt in the young woman's eyes. "If you wish, you can hide nearby to ensure no harm comes to her." Sango opened her mouth to protest but his next words stopped her dead.

"If you agree I give my word not to kill your brother. I will ensure I do not injure him seriously should I end up fighting him, and I will look after him as much as I can. For just this one night I offer your brother's protection for as long as he exists." Sango lent back against a nearby tree for support.

"So do we have a deal slayer?" Sesshoumaru had again captured her gaze, his voice still retaining its permanent ice.

"If I am nearby and you do not harm her then yes." Sango replied, her heart racing as she hoped she had made the right decision.

He nodded and held out a clawed hand towards her, which she held, and they rose together to where Sango would observe the events of the coming night.

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"Should I go and tell the others..." Kagome wondered to herself when Sango still hadn't returned by the time she was ready for sleep, but she knew what the slayer was like. She would be embarrassed if she knew Kagome thought she couldn't look after herself, and it wasn't as though Sango didn't sometimes disappear for the night with Kiara to visit the graves of her family. She didn't always tell the others where she went so it was likely that tonight would be one of those times.

She lay back on the bed, closed her eyes and went to sleep, slowly drifting off into her dreams. She didn't notice the intruder in her room, or the arms that clasped around her. She didn't feel herself being carried, her head rested against a warm furry shoulder, or the breeze that brushed against her exposed hands, feet and face as she sped above the ground.

In her dream she was flying above the ground in Sesshoumaru's arms, so when she was set down upon the soft grass and slowly opened her eyes she still felt she was asleep. She looked at her surroundings and gasped at their beauty.

The mountains in the distance where dark against the sky above which was lit by the light of a full moon and a myriad of stars. The glade in which they were sat was illuminated by the glow of fireflies and a nearby waterfall splashed down on the rocks below, providing music to the human's ears. The trees around the edges stood as black sillohettes to the scene, the light barely glinting off them, but she was not afraid as she knew that this would be a good dream. She caught sight of the imp and the young girl lying calmly by the side of a fire in the far corner of the glade, their sleep peaceful. As she watched the girl rolled over to her side towards the imp, and he pushed her away, murmuring "baka ningen(stupid human)" as he did so, but both remaining as asleep as they were before.

She turned to look at the demon who had brought her here and was surprised to see him looking towards the child with a true fatherly smile on his face. She had never seen him look anything other than cold to everyone, but by the strange light of the fireflies and the moon he looked, if not human, then at least like a person, not a statue carved of ice. He sat down on the grass and signalled for her to join him.

She sat down, entirely unafraid, though surprised that this dream about Sesshoumaru was so different from those she had had before. She felt herself blush as she thought about those, and the way Inuyasha always looked at her strangely the next day. Noticing that the lord was looking at her with an eyebrow raised she blushed more.

"Can youkai read thoughts?" she thought to herself, then blushed an even deeper red when he inclined his head slightly, as though answering her question.

"Are you trying to look like a tomato?" he asked her, his voice as cool as ever. She shook her head, before asking why she was there. "This Sesshoumaru wanted to talk to you miko."

"Kagome"

"Miko, this Sesshoumaru..."

"Kagome" Sesshoumaru sighed then continued again, realising that she would not reply if he continued to talk to her like that.

"Kagome, this Sesshoumaru wanted to speak with you. I wanted to understand why you have this effect on this Sesshoumaru, why you intrigued me so."

"I...i...intrigued?" Kagome asked.

"I cannot stop thinking of you. I find myself seeking your group, only so I can close with you, try and see you and aim to understand you and yet the more I know of you the less I can understand. You disappear for weeks on end to a different world and my brother seems to pine for you, yet when you return he ignores you and acts as though you are not there." His voice was still cold, but it seemed softer than before.

"Earlier, was that why you attacked us?" He gracefully nodded.

"I wanted to see how you reacted to being near me. The results were, to say the least, surprising."

Kagome's mind was spinning. She herself had experienced the longing to be close to him, and couldn't stop thinking of him. She had used to feel like that about Inuyasha but it had gone now. She knew the symptoms from the books she had read, but what it meant was impossible.

"What are you thinking of m...Kagome?" She didn't answer so he rolled his eyes and asked again.

"It it sounds as though youlovemebutiknowyoucantbecauseyouranevilyoukaiandimahumanandyouhatehumansandnowyourgoingtomeltme and..." Sesshoumaru placed his hand over her mouth until she shut up.

"Human females have a remarkable ability to talk without breathing." He said to himself, before turning his attention to the priestess who was now sitting on his lap, as he had pulled her then when he had covered her mouth.

"I am not going to melt you, but I do not love you. You are human. It is unsuitable."

Kagome turned to look him in the eye, and saw her dark brown pools reflected in his amber suns. He thought her unsuitable. Her anger began to grow. She would show him. She leant forwards so she was close to him and then claimed his lips with hers.

Sesshoumaru was shocked. In the whole of his unnaturally long life nothing like this had ever happened. He was about to push her off when he felt her tongue caressing his fangs. Losing himself he kissed her back, their tongues twirling together as the enemies kissed under the light of the full moon.

When they broke apart both were panting for breath.

"That...was...amazing" Kagome murmured. Sesshoumaru smiled and held her closer to him before pushing her hair to the side and licking her neck. She shivered against him and the movement made him go back to thinking clearly and he moved away, shaking his head.

"Not yet" he murmured to himself before smiling at Kagome and kissing her again.

When they pulled apart for the second time they started talking, the ice gone from his countenance. He even smiled at her, and ran his hands through her soft hair. As the sun started to lighten the horizon he sighed.

"I had better take you home Kagome." She nestled against his chest, enjoying the way his kimono felt against her face.

"I want to stay" she murmured, and he chuckled to himself, then picked her up and floated with her back to the room where she was meant to have been all along.

He lay her down on the bed and pulled the blanket over her before kissing her again. He leant to her ear.

"I will return." Then he left.

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The next morning Kagome was woken by Sango throwing a pillow at her. She smiled.

"Sango, I had an amazing dream last night." Sango smiled, then laughed when Kagome sat up.

"Kagome, you have grass in your hair!"

"But how?" Kagome asked. Sango shrugged and tidied her hair before they walked out to find the others already waiting.

Inuyasha sniffed as she came near, before marching over and starting to sniff her neck.

"You smell of my brother." He growled, then walked off ahead. She started to protest when movement at the edge of the clearing caught her eye. She turned to look and saw the Lord leaning back against the tree. He nodded to her before disappearing. In her head she heard his voice.

"I will return soon Kagome."