Battle of wills.

Kagome woke early that morning. 'The sun isn't even up yet.' she noted internally. She had been having trouble sleeping all night. At first she blamed the dreams she had dreamt the night before, but then decided having the “real thing” pressed against her body didn't help matters., 'I'm being tested,' she grimace, ' and someone somewhere finds all of this very amuzing.' She sighed heavily as she took in her surroundings. The skies were tinted with a faint blue, whispering just a hint of the morning. 'It'll probably be another hour before the sun is up.' She sighed again. Slowly she uncoiled her now sweaty legs with Sesshomaru's and repositioned herself away from the youkai.

She gasped silently as he groaned displeasure in his sleep and pulled her body against his by the waist. Kagome's body tensed as she felt the brush of teeth against the back of her neck. She could hear and feel a low growl rumble in his stomach. 'Oh god! He's going to kill me!' she paniced, freezing like a captured creature, her heart beating so loudly that she could feel it pulse in her ears. She bit her lip, as she tried to think of the best way to wake him, without having him detach her head from her shoulders. Suddenly, she was aware of something proding against her thigh. She quickly took a mental note of the location of his hands and feet on her body. 'Oh no no no no. This is not happening. This is not happening. Wake up Kagome! Damn you! Wake up!' She closed her eyes hoping to find herself sleeping in the cave once more, but as she opened them found the same blue tinted skies. Her mind was racing as her body screamed at her to take some sort of action. She felt Sesshomaru release her neck, groaning as he did before, rolling over onto his back.

Kagome gave a heavy sigh as her body slowly untensed. She looked over at the slumbering demon her heart returning to its restful rhythm. Silently, she took in Sesshomaru's sleeping face. 'He isn't as scarey as I remember,' she thought, ' he looks almost peaceful.' She quietly examined the fur of his tail while he slept, careful not to wake the sleeping youkai. 'It's so soft and clean.' she thought, ' I wonder how he can keep it that way? I've gone without a bath for..' she counted the days, ' 3 days now, and even I can't stand to smell me.' She suddenly began to feel self concious, 'Gods, with his senses I'm surprised he didn't say anything.' She turned her head and let her eyes fall on the very frozen clothes laying next to her and then to the sleeping demon. 'Eventually one of us is going to have to start a fire to dry out our clothes, and he should be asleep for at least an another hour.'

She slowly pulled her body out of the sleeping bag, the cold violently biting at her body, causing her to tremble. She stepped lightly not wanting to wake Sesshomaru before she had a chance to dry her clothes and put them on. She very quietly built a small fire out of scraps of paper she kept with her in her bag, and starting it with the lighter she had used earlier. As soon as she felt the fire was big enough to consume the log she placed in on the fire and waited for the flames to engulf it. She could no longer feel her fingers or toes. 'Hurry up!' She whined to herself. 'Gods, this is taking forever.' She could all ready feel her body shake as it reacted to the cold. She looked back at the sleeping bag and then to the fire as she tried to decide what she dreaded worse. Freezing to death waiting for the fire to grow or crawling into the sleeping bag, waking Sesshomaru with her cold body pressing against his. Unfortunately for Kagome she did not get a chance to decide.

“What are you doing?” Sesshomaru moaned in a sy moy mog vog voice.

Kagome squeaked, pressing the frozen clothes against her all ready frozen skin, attempting to cover her naked body. “S-s-s-star-t-ting a f-f-fire.” She stuttered as she felt her body tremble.

“Your body will give out long before your clothes are dry.” he stated arching an eyebrow.

“I t-thought you were a-asleep.” She stuttered as she tried to change the subject.

Sesshomaru stared at the shaking girl with a blank express “I “I can hear your t cha chattering, it woke me.”

Kagome glared at him, attempting to stop her body from trembling, but could not. “I'm sorry,” She began as she redirected her gaze towards the fire. “I didn't mean to wake you.”

“Human,” he commanded, “Why are you acting so strangely?”

Kagome continued to stare into the fire. “Strange how?”

“Are you trying to injure yourself? Your body cannot take much more of the cold.” He stated coldly as he continued to stare at her.

Kagome bit her lip attempting to think of a logical answer for her odd behavior.

“Put the clothes down and get back into bed.” he commanded as he sat up in the sleeping bag giving Kagome a very confused look. “Why do you hesitate?”

“I'm n-n-n-not.” she stuttered her hands giving into the cold causing her to drop her clothing. Her body shaking so violently now that she could barely stand.

“Come here now.” he demanded in an annoyed and hurt tone.

Kagome lowered her eyes and walked over to him. She was too cold to worry about her lack of clothing any longer. Sesshomaru laid back down, eying her with worry. 'Why had she hesitated? What has changed?' Slowly he helped guide Kagome to lay beside him wrapping his arms around her rubbing them against her back and sides, mumbling in her ear. “Sometimes I do not understand you woman. You lecture me on pushing myself against the cold and then nearly kill YOURSELF.”

He let his hands move slower over her body as he felt the warmth again beging to spread to her extremities. 'Why had she acted this way?' He knew that she feared him, but this was something else. Not long ago she had done the same for him with greater fear then he could detect now. He inhaled her scent; the same fear and excitement as before. “Mysterious.” he mumbled letting his hand rest on her hip. Kagome's body tensed against his. He needed answers and he decided he could wait no longer.

“Why do you react in such a way?” He asked her in a cold tone.

“What do you mean?” She whisperedtly tly keeping her back towards him.

“Why do you tense when I touch you? Are you afraid I might injure you?”

“No, not exactly,” she answered in a soft tone. “It's just..last night I realized that we are completely and utterly alone out here, and should you decide to,” she picked her words carefully, “attack me. There would be nothing I could do.”

Sesshomaru frowned slightly at her words, “If I had planned on doing so, it would have been done the moment we arrived.” He reached out grabbing her chin in his hand forcing her to look him in the face. “I, Sesshomaru, give you my word that I will not harm you in any way Kagome.”

Kagome smiled weekly and nodded, “Thank you Lord Sesshomaru.”

He released her chin and brought his body up against hers again running his hands along her sides in the same fashion he had before to keep her warm. “You need not fear me.....Kagome.”