Blanket Scenario

Kagome and Inuyasha

‘Gods I hate winter!’ Kagome decided to herself as she carefully stepped through the now, more than a foot deep snow. At least back home in modern Japan when it snowed the paths and roads were swept of snow, and you didn’t have to trudge through eight-foot high snowdrifts. And she realised as she tried her best to look through the blizzard, you always knew if you were still on a path which was rather difficult to tell right now. It wasn’t as if you could see anything, which would in assist in directing them to anything of use either. Everything was pure white, just endless white.

Kagome sighed. The air froze as she exhaled it. If she were back home she wouldn’t be stupid enough to get caught out in a blizzard such as this. No… she’d be at home wrapped up in her nice warm clothes, enjoying the pleasures of central heating, hot running water, and warm soft bedding… Agh! What the hell were they doing out in such damned awful weather? !

Kagome knew the answer before even finishing the question. They were doing the same as they always did… looking for Shikon shards. Inuyasha had refused to let her take any time out from hunting for the shards. He’d been the one who had insisted on continuing the search today even though the weather had looked bleak this morning, and there had not been so much as the slightest hint of a sliver in the area. ‘Sigh‘ stubborn as always. At least she’d been home long enough to get some warmer clothes and shoes, although right now after being soaked with the cold snow melting on her, their effectiveness was rather futile.

She looked up ahead to where Inuyasha was trudging slowly through the snowdrifts, leaving a path for her to follow in his wake. He must be soaked too she realised. Also his clothes were so much thinner than hers were; and he had less layers of clothing on. Kagome watched his ebony hair thrash about behind him as the wind swept it up with the snow and ice. Why doesn’t the big idiot ever think ahead? He should have known not to come out on the night of the new moon. No matter how they avoided it, trouble always came his way that night, and this time it was a blizzard, which was trying to freeze them to death.

Kagome could barley feel her feet. The only reason she knew they were still there was because of the sting of frostbite, which was originating from where her feet should be. That was another thing how could he bear walking bear foot in now two-foot deep snow. She could maybe understand it if he was still his usual half-youkai form; but he must be feeling the cold now, he was only human!

The aforementioned human stopped suddenly up-front. Kagome continued to push forward through the snowflakes to where Inuyasha now stood. "Inuyasha what’s wrong?" When she received no answer Kagome frowned at his ignorance. Then reminded her whom she was trying to talk to. Tentatively she reached up her hand to his shoulder at the same time as speaking his name.

At her touch Inuyasha jerked, suddenly seeming to remember where he was. (Still in the middle of a blizzard.) He turned to look at Kagome’s concerned expression through the gaps between his wet bangs.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome repeated his name again this time the concern penetrated her voice enough for him to hear it. She studied his face through squinted eyes to prevent the snow from getting in them. Although normally when he was human his skin took on more pigment, right now it looked about as pale as the snow covered landscape around them. His lips looked frozen and pale; and as for his eyes, they lacked all his usual energy and colour. Instead they just seemed to stare a blank, seeing yet not seeing. He didn’t even carry his usual scowl. In fact Kagome thought in a sudden panic, he looks like he can barely stay awake. The realisation dawned on her; he couldn’t be ill could he? !

Kagome stepped closer almost so they were touching, so she could take a better look at him. Inuyasha’s face suddenly took on the panicky look he got just before she always said; "sit", and he took a step backwards.

At least he would have done so if it were not at that moment his legs choose to give out from the combination of the cold, exhaustion and sickness. He didn’t realise he was falling until he heard Kagome’s yelp of shock and felt her small gloved hands attempt to grasp a hold of his arms; only to grasp instead his large kimono sleeves. If that wasn’t enough the fact that he was larger and therefore heavier than she was meant that she could not only not prevent him from falling into the snow drift and soaking and freezing himself more; but she was unfortunately pulled in with him. Resulting in them both receiving a dunking in the snow; and being far worse off than they had originally been.

Kagome quickly climbed out of the snow bank and tried to dust off the excess snow from her person. Unfortunately much of it had soaked through her already damp clothes. Adding to the problem was icy wind, which was still whipping around her and making her wet clothes feel like a suit of ice. ‘I…if I don’t find somewhere warm and dry s…soon I’m going to f…freeze to d…death.’

The thought of freezing to death quickly brought her attention back to an ill Inuyasha. Kagome turned around rapidly to where Inuyasha had fallen and pulled both of them into the snowdrift. (‘Well that was not completely true he didn’t purposely pull us in. After all I was the one who grabbed hold of him’. ) Only to find him trying and failing to get up, out of the snow. Every time he managed to get any further than off his knees his legs would give out under him and he would fall back down again. It seemed to be just an effort for him to get to his knees in the first place. He really did look quite a pitiful sight right now, all wet and ice cold from his dunking in the snow drift; all bedraggled and unable to even get to his feet.

Kagome came to his side and knelt down in the snow beside him. He looked at her with a look that rarely crossed his face and which he had never until this moment shown to her. There was shame in his eyes, he was ashamed of his weakness, of his human body, and the fact that he was ill; but it was the other part of the look that surprised Kagome the most. It was a look that asked to be helped. That was why it had taken her so long to recognise it. Inuyasha was asking for her help. His pride forbid him from asking her verbally, but the look in his eyes right now was almost enough to make Kagome cry; in both happiness and sadness. Happiness because he was willing to admit to her that he needed her help and sadness because he must be really desperate. He never asked for anybody’s help even when he was at his weakest he would never give in, and yet…

Kagome nodded to him. A silent agreement to his silent request. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to be able to help him, as she had been unable to prevent him from falling into the snow in the first place. Never the less she grasped his frozen hand both blushing at the fact she’d had to do so; and blushed some more as she placed his right arm around her slender shoulders, she then her arm around his waist. On the count of three Kagome pulled her self to her feet, hauling Inuyasha to his at the same time.

The effort of doing this alone was enough to leave her panting, little clouds of warm air appeared in front of her. What the hell made him so heavy? Kagome exasperated to her self. It wasn’t as if there was that to him to provide such a weight. ‘ It’s probably all that hair of his…’ she thought as she tried to walk them a couple of steps.

The snow was beginning to lighten enough to see what was up ahead of them. They had now been walking through the deep snow for another twenty minutes since Inuyasha had collapsed. Kagome still held on to him to provide some sort of support, and to prevent him from further falls.

Trouble was Kagome was now struggling to continue. Inuyasha was becoming too heavy for her. Her own legs were becoming very tired and were on the verge of giving out too. In fact she could no longer feel her legs at all.

She stopped for a moment to try and catch her breath. Looking at Inuyasha she realised why it was becoming increasingly difficult to ‘carry’ him; poor Inuyasha was barely conscious. His head was hung as if he didn’t have the strength to keep it up and his dark hair hung over his face partly obscuring it. His expression was a blank and nothing seemed to be registering a reaction. Kagome knew that if she were to let go of his arm he’d drop into the snow once again and possibly also fall unconscious never to awake again. They had to find something of help now or it would be to late for both of them.

The snow had finally stopped although it was still bitterly cold, so Kagome took the opportunity of a clear horizon to look for some sort of shelter. Anything would do as long as it kept the snow out. A cave, a shack, anywhere we could get a chance to dry out and warm up.

As she thought about it her eyes came to rest on an unnatural object in the distance. Kagome’s heart leaped at the possibilities. Could it be something that could offer them shelter for the night…? She hoped so.

Gently shifting Inuyasha’s weight on her shoulders she tried to move forward but found Inuyasha was no longer moving with her. Kagome looked at his face to see what the problem was, but apparently he didn’t seem to realise that he needed to move his legs again. "Inuyasha…" Kagome enquired quietly. "Inuyasha come on wake up. I think I can see some shelter." She still got no response. "Inuyasha please we have to get some shelter quickly or we are going to freeze to death! It’s only a little further."

This time something had managed to get through to him as he started to move again in the direction of the shelter, with the aid of Kagome.

As they finally arrived at the shelter Kagome noticed it was nothing more than a small shack, but it was sturdy enough to stay vertical in the now increasing winds; and had a strong enough roof to keep the snow out. For a brief moment as she pushed the heavy door open while trying to stop Inuyasha from slipping to the ground, she wondered if this was someone else’s and what she was going to do if she found that it was already occupied. Luckily it was empty of any occupants and so she shuffled herself and Inuyasha in, quickly shutting the door behind them.

She stood for a moment to survey the insides of what now appeared to be a storage shed of hay for cattle or something. The ceiling was made of strong wooden beams whereas the walls and also the floor were made of stone. It’s contents were scare’s as all that there was left of the of the hay was a small pile one side of the shed and some sort of woven fabric at the other end. However it was better that staying out in the snow all-night and freezing to death.

Kagome moved Inuyasha over to the pile of hay then proceeded to drop him as gently as possible onto it in the hope that it would be a little warmer than sitting on a cold stone floor. He seemed to be having a hard time trying to sit up straight so Kagome helped him to lean back against the wall.

Standing up again, with much protest from her frost bitten feet and legs Kagome decided to inspect the fabric in hope that it may be of use to them. As she bent down and picked it up it came to her attention that it was rather heavier than she’d expected it to be. So unfolding it she found that this was due to its sheer size and the fact it was actually a thickly woven blanket. A very dry, warm, woollen blanket. It would be big enough for more than one person to fit under and still have plenty to be able to wrap it around them at least two times over again.

Kagome turned around intending to show Inuyasha her prize, only to find that he had apparently fallen asleep as his head was gently resting o his chest. She walked over to him with the blanket tucked under her arm and a concerned expression on her face. Inuyasha never slept when he was human. She blushed slightly. Well there was that time they were trapped by the spider-heads and she’d let him rest his head in her lap. He’d fallen asleep then.

Kagome knelt before him. Attentively she brought her hand to his face lifting it up so she could look into it. His eyes were closed lightly and his skin was clammy to her touch. She put the blanket down temporally and placed her hand to his forehead. Kagome flinched a little in shock at how high his temperature was it almost felt as if he was on fire. It was then that she also noticed that he was shivering.

Kagome bit her lip. She knew he was very ill and she knew what she had to do to stop him from freezing to death: get him warm and dry, but that would involve getting him out of his wet, ice cold clothes. She gulped. The prospect of seeing Inuyasha naked being completely not thought of until now.

Kagome sighed. ‘ He’s going to kill me in the morning; he’s going to kill me in the morning…’ a little voice in her head sang to her.

‘ Humph…’ she sighed again, leaning forward with her hands trembling slightly as she reached for his kimono jacket. ‘ It’s not like I want to see him naked!’ She grasped the front of the jacket. ‘ And if I don’t do this he might die from the cold; I can’t let that happen!’ She gingerly tugged the jacket from his shoulders, carefully pulling his arms out of it for him.

Jacket removed Kagome began removing his white undershirt. She hoped that this might be a little drier but found it was just as damp as the rest of him, and clung to his ice cold skin as she tried to free him of it.

With his upper body now bare Inuyasha was shivering rather violently; and was causing great concern to Kagome. Unfortunately she found her hands were reluctant to reach for the sash which held up his pants.

She gulped.

His skin was already taking on a frightfully blue tone. ‘ Get a grip of yourself Kagome.’ She scolded her self. ‘He’s going to die if I don’t do something fast!’ She forced her hands to untie the bow in the sash then pull it out from around his waist. That done she began to peel off his pants with shaking hands and much trepidation. Her face was burning; but that was nothing compared it the colour she turned when she found he didn’t seem to have any undergarments on.

She froze for a moment just staring at him, or more pacifically at the juncture at the top of his legs. ‘ Stop it!’ She scolded herself again and turned her face away from him. This is no time to be looking at him like that. ‘ Not that I would want to look at him like that anyway.’ she reminded herself.

Now that he was completely naked Kagome worked fast to cover him up again but this time with the over sized blanket. She wrapped it right around him, having to pull him forward and lean his body against hers so she could tuck the blanket under him as well to prevent the cold from seeping through to his backside. This done she laid him down in the straw. She heaped some of the straw into a small pile and laid his head on it.

Kagome looked down at her handy work but realised Inuyasha’s skin still contained too much blue tone. Panicking Kagome began to rub his arms and when they seemed to be a little warmer she moved her attentions to his legs rubbing first his calves then above his knees to his thighs. "I am so going to kill you if you are really awake Inuyasha and letting me do this to you." Kagome muttered. But Inuyasha showed no signs of waking any time soon, however the healthier pinkish tone was returning to his skin which gave much relief to Kagome.

Relived that he should be all right now Kagome sat back on a patch of straw that managed to escape being laid on. It was only now that she had the time to take any notice, that she realised how bitterly cold she was herself. She touched her coat and jeans with frozen hands and found she was just as ice cold and wet as Inuyasha had been before she’d striped him. Why hadn’t she noticed before she wondered.

Inuyasha groaned in his slumber frowning deeply at something in his dreams. Kagome looked over at him with slight concern but was relived at the same time at the sign of life he had just given. She crawled over to him with protest from her knees at the coldness of the floor. She then repositioned herself so she could look into his sleeping face and also removed her wet gloves. Bringing a hand to his face she felt his forehead for signs of a fever and once again sighed, this time in relief to find his temperature had cooled down. It was still slightly higher than a normal human's should be but at least he now looked like he’d make it through the night.

That was why she hadn’t noticed before now that she was cold, she’d been too busy and concerned over Inuyasha’s health that she hadn’t even considered her own needs. Now however she could feel both the cold and dampness of her clothes. She could feel how numb her body was becoming and how tired she really felt. She looked down at her hands and in horrified realisation saw they had taken on the self-same blue tones that Inuyasha’s skin showed earlier. Kagome could hear her teeth chattering and it was then that she came to the conclusion that she was turning into a giant icicle.

She gazed down at Inuyasha all wrapped up in the blanket she’d found and tried to think of another way around her problem, but her mind was beginning to numb over from the cold so thinking of a better solution to her predicament was difficult if not impossible. She had to get warm and dry somehow and the only way she was going to do that lay in front of her.

Kagome begun to remove her coat shivering all the time. ‘ I’m sorry Inuyasha I know your going to kill me for doing this in the morning, but I just can’t think of any other way around it. And I’m not ready to die by freezing to death just for the sake of modesty.’ She was down to her bra and panties and was surprised that even they had managed to get soaked. She reluctantly removed her bra and begged to the Gods not to let Inuyasha wake up, at least not until she was already tucked in under the blanket with him and had warmed up.

Finally with her panties off she reached out to grasp the edge of the blanket and lifted it open enough to crawl in but hopefully not let too much warm air out. She was so incredibly tired now that her eyes would barely stay open. She was originally going to keep some distance between their bodies but the warmth that was coming from Inuyasha’s body was too tempting and she found she had unintentionally rolled against his body in an attempt to gain some warmth from him. "He’s so going to kill me in the morning." She muttered again for the umpteenth time as her eyes finally gave in to the sleep, which was wishing to claim her.

On the edge of consciousness Kagome felt the warmth wrap further around her, if she didn’t know better she would have said she was being embraced by it. ‘ Inuyasha…’ was her last thought as she welcomed the warm darkness.

Morning came as it always did, hopefully bringing the morning sun with it to warm the ice and snow covered landscape. In a small shack out in the middle of nowhere a dog demon began to stir.

Inuyasha’s demon senses awoke first to greet the new morning, telling him he’d managed to survive another new moon. His canine nose began working immediately trying to tell him where he was and if there was any danger present while his wolf like ears pivoted listening to the sounds around him. Although his nose and ear’s failed to alert him to any immediate danger they didn’t explain to him why he could smell the scents of old straw, stone and dampness, or why he could hear the sounds of breathing and a heart beat that did not belong to him. On top of that what was that intoxicating scent that seemed to be coming from all around him, so sweet, fragrant and strangely familiar to him and yet he couldn’t he couldn’t seem to place it.

Inuyasha forced his eyes to open and focus on his surroundings, which seemed to be so few. He laid still while he tried to get his brain to work again, and figure out what he was actually staring at. It was still incredibly dark inside the shack that realised he was staying in, but what he just couldn’t figure out was what he lay on. At first going from what his senses had told him he had thought he was laid on the straw he’d smelt, but whatever he was actually laid on neither smelt or felt like straw. Whatever it was, was very soft and warm and smelt wonderful if some-what familiar.

The rest of his body was awake now and he could feel where all his limbs were. He felt his pillow and comforter move beneath him and his mind suddenly came to the realisation of what he was actually sleeping on.

"Kagome…" he breathed.

"Hmmm…?" Kagome intelligently answered. Her eyes opened slowly to stare in to his. ‘ Oh gods he’s awake!’ Kagome inwardly groaned ‘ how the hell am I going to explain this? !’

"I…Inuyasha…um…" Kagome body was fully awake and instantly aware of where her limbs where in relation to his. ‘ How the hell did he end up on top of me! ?’ She thought in a slight panic.

"Kagome how…why are we…? What happened?" He asked as he stared down at his and then her body. Allowing his gaze to rest on her chest that his head had only minutes ago occupied, only to remember that it would almost certainly result in him being "sat" and tried to avert his gaze to something a little less obvious.

Kagome was blushed a lovely shade of red as she tried over and over again to think up a suitable excuse as for why they were lying stark naked together. "Um…" she started then stopped again when Inuyasha’s eyes returned to her face. Her face reddened some more. "It…it was cold last night…" she lamely started again. "And ...um you were human again…"

Inuyasha lifted an eyebrow "So how doe’s that get to us being naked?"

Kagome turned her face away from his at his sceptical look. She knew this was going to be difficult to explain this morning. "Don’t you remember anything from last night?" she asked in a small voice. "Don’t you even remember collapsing in the snow and me carrying you to here?"

His sceptical look remained on his face and he was going to make some smart arse comment about how stupid a thought it was that she would be able to carry him to this place or that he should collapse from a little cold. Then he saw her tears and choked on it. "Ka…Kagome what the hell are you crying for now?!"

"Y…you don’t remember what I…I did for you. You don’t remember th…that I had to almost drag you here. That I…I undressed you so I…I could get you warm and dry. So you wouldn’t freeze to death in the night and so y…you would survive until morning to become half youkai again."

"I…I almost froze to death myself because I was more concerned about making sure you’d be alright." She finished with anger edging her voice.

"Sooo… we didn’t do anything like, like… you know…" he wavered around looking for the best way to phase it that wouldn’t get him ‘sat’ so hard that his face would go flat. He looked into Kagome’s confused tear soaked face.

"Like what?" She asked. Then she realised what he was trying to say. Her look was at first shocked and then became angry. "No! We didn’t do anything like that! Do you really think that I’m the kind of girl who would try to take advantage of a guy who was unconscious Inuyasha? !"

Inuyasha cringed at the venomous look she was giving him and gulped.

"Well do you?!"

He shrugged then looked back at her eyes. They held something he was more afraid of than dying. They held absolute hatred for him all because he’d been stupid enough to suggest that she would have considered doing that with him.

"How dare you think that I would do something like that!" she cried at him. "And after I looked after you and worried about you…"

"Kagome…" Inuyasha said in a quiet dejected voice.

"Shut up Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed at him. Her hand came out with out her needing to ask it to. It smacked hard across his face, so much so that his head whipped around from the force of it. "I would never do that with you!" she continued screaming. "I know how much y…you hate me!" her voice faltered. "I would never force you to do some thing like that with me." She added in little more than a whisper.

Inuyasha felt the bottom fall out of his heart. His hopes and dreams shattered by her words. He hadn’t truly thought that she would do something like that he knew her better than that. ‘Shit! Why did I have to go and suggest that to her? She hates me now at least before she cared about me. And now thanks to my stupidity she’ll never care about me again!’ He felt the sting in his cheek where she’d hit him and felt for once that he actually deserved it. Then the rest of her words came back to him ‘ I know how much you hate me!’ ‘I would never force you to do something like that with me.’ She’d sounded as utterly dejected as he now felt when she’d said those words. Did she really think he hated her? Why? He thought back to the way he’d treated her when he’d first woken up on top of her then felt immediately guilty at his over the top reactions. But I always act like that he argued with himself and there he realised was the problem.

He looked at her with sad eyes. She was now sobbing quietly to herself with her eyes tightly closed so she wouldn’t have to look at him he supposed. "I’m such a jerk." He muttered out loud. She sniffled in apparent agreement that or it was just his imagination working over-time.

Kagome refused to open her eyes to look at him even when he muttered that he was a jerk. She totally agreed with him on that one. Neither of them moved for a while. All was quiet apart from Kagome’s occasional sniffle and Inuyasha’s shallow breathing.

Kagome felt something brush past her cheek but still refused to open her eyes. Then she felt Inuyasha’s hard warm body press against hers as his hands buried themselves in her hair. She debated opening her eyes now to see what the hell he was doing. But he moved first and her eyes came flying open all on there own, as his dry soft lips pressed against her chaste damp ones. She gasped through the unexpected kiss arguing with herself to reject it but her need of his warmth and affection was too much for her to refuse it.

He lifted up slightly but his lips were still no more than a centimetre from hers. "I…I could never hate you Kagome." He whispered his breath brushing past her lips. Kagome breathed it in. "Even if you hate me I could never hate you no matter how hard my words seem to be." His hands pushed under her holding her body close to his. "I’m sorry…"

Kagome was on the verge of crying again at his words "Inuyasha I…I don’t really hate you either but I can’t take this much longer…"

"What do mean?" he mumbled almost to quiet to hear.

"You…you keep pushing me away and then you do something like this. I don’t know what I should think. Do you love me or do you hate me? It’s so difficult to tell sometimes." She looked away unable to keep eye contact any longer and not cry. "I …I know I can never replace Kikyo in your heart, that I’ll never be as good as priestess as she or as pretty or as talented, but I just want to know…" She once again faulted.

Inuyasha gently turned her face back to his so he could look into her eyes and see what was wrong. "Go on…" he urged.

"I…I just want to know I…if I’ll ever have a place in there" she placed her hand on his chest about where his heart should be "too." She finished. She gazed hopefully into his eyes.

Inuyasha’s face screwed up in anger. "You…you baka!" he screamed. "What the hell makes you think that you don’t have a place in there" he placed his hand over the one she placed on his chest squeezing it gently " already?"

She looked shocked as he tightly clasped her hand to his chest.

"I know your not Kikyo and you never will be." He said evident to the pain that crossed her face as he said it. "But I don’t want you to be a replacement for a love I can never have." He added as she opened her mouth to say something. "And…" he continued " your not as beautiful as she is…your beautiful in your own ways which are very different to Kikyo. You have talents of your own that make you just as strong if not more so as Kikyo but also make you different and special in ways that Kikyo could not be."

He lowered his voice and added gazing deeply into her eyes in hope of getting his point across more. "I’ve never known someone like you before. Someone who is able to stand up to me. Who is able to tolerate me at my worst and at my best times. Who is willing to stay by my side no matter the danger of doing so, who will cry for me, care for me and be there for me even when I try to push you away. Who managed to make my heart live again, to love again." He trailed off in a quiet whisper.

He kept his eyes stubbornly closed fearing they would see rejection in hers. So he didn’t see the look of pleased shock that now decorated Kagome’s face. Neither did he notice her hand when it came to claim his face. Not until it cupped his cheek the very same cheek it had slapped earlier.

Inuyasha’s eyes flew open to find Kagome smiling up at him and a look in her eyes that was the opposite to what they had displayed before. He was surprised to find his heart pounding fast and hard just at this simple look.

Kagome’s hand guided his face down to hers bringing his lips in line to her lips. She stopped him just within range of her tender lips, so that they brushed his as she spoke. As she spoke the words that he never thought he’d hear from her lips. "I love you." Then his lips crashed down on hers taking her breath away he could hold back no longer, he saw no need to any more.

His arms wrapped around her embracing her holding the warmth of her body against the warmth of his. Her arms grasped at his back pulling him deeper in to her kiss deeper in to her love. And for the first time in his life Inuyasha was happy. He felt a calm rush through his soul and finally found the peace and acceptance he been searching for here in the arms of Kagome. His very special Kagome.