Kagome's Power

By Tiki Rane Gobell

A/N: This in my first Inuyasha fanfic. I like the Sesskag pairing, so that's what I'm going for in this story. It might seem a bit like leftover refried beans: every other person has already tried this and there are only so many ways to get the pair together. It might be a little cliché. but then, I might succeed in trying to make it original. In essence, keep an open mind when reading this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha,... or Kagome,... or anyone,... or anything else, 'cept this keyboard.

Chapter 1

"Inuyasha! Either claim me as yours or send me away! Don't keep me hanging here. Can't you see it's tearing me to pieces?"

Inuyasha just crossed his arms and looked away from the yelling Kagome. He grunted, "Hmpff..."

"Argh!" exclaimed Kagome at the top of her lungs, grabbing her bow and arrows and storming out of the group's camp. Shippo, Sango, and Miroku just watched as Kagome practically ran into the nearby trees.

Kagome kept going deeper into the woods, tears streaming down her face. "Stupid Inuyasha!" she muttered to herself, "Why can't you just get over Kikyo? She died 50 years ago and that corpse walking around isn't really her! Why must you always put me second to that thing?"

The hairs on Kagome's neck bristled as she sensed something up in the trees behind her. She whipped around, notching an arrow to her bow as she did so. "Show yourself! I know you're up there!" she called into the peaceful night, now silently cursing herself for getting so far away from camp.

A figure jumped down from a high tree branch and landed lightly in front of Kagome. Kagome took an unconscious step backward away from the frightening figure. "Sesshomaru..." she gasped. She had every reason to fear for her life- Inuyasha's half-brother had already tried to take her life before.

'You do not need to fear. I will not hurt you," said Sesshomaru, but his promise did not make Kagome feel any more comfortable, as Sesshomaru had spoken in his usual emotionless, cold, and frightening voice.

"Who says I'm scared? asked Kagome, her boldness coming back in an instant.

"I can smell fear, disgusting and reeking off of every human," answered the dog demon. He sounded bored.

"Why are you here?" demanded Kagome forcibly, ignoring the fact that Sesshomaru had just implied that she reeked.

Avoiding the question, Sesshomaru asked one of his own, "Why are you crying, woman?"

Kagome blushed as she lowered her bow and tried to wipe the tears on her sleeve. "It's nothing really," she said, "Inuyasha is just...difficult sometimes."

A silence passed between the two and Kagome took it as a sin for her to continue, "Sometimes Inuyasha acts like he wants me, other times he can't even look me in the eyes. He won't claim me and yet he won't let me go on with my life and move on to other people. It's just...difficult," Kagome repeated, still blushing from the fact that she had just told one of her inner secrets to this cold individual. She had never actually talked to him before, usually just running for her life or trying to save Inuyasha from him had been their relationship.

"Indeed," responded Sesshomaru, turning to leave.

"Wait!" called Kagome, "You never answered me! Why are you here?"

Sesshomaru paused, barely turning his head to glance at her, "That is only my business." He then disappeared into the night's darkness.

"Oh great!" thought Kagome, "he left even before I could ask him which way camp was, because, admit it Kagome, you're, girl." All she said aloud was, "Damn!" She turned around until she found a direction that seemed right.

After walking along for about 10 minutes, she came to a slow moving stream. Kagome ran her fingers through her hair in frustration as she realized that she had not passed this stream on her way into the forest and, therefore, she was heading in the wrong direction. She weightily sat down on a nearby boulder, deciding to just wait for Inuyasha to find her. She hoped he would come after her...and soon. the night was starting to get a little cold and creepy. After what she had said to him, she realized she would be waiting a long time for him to come. Her eyes watched the water dancing in the moon light. A light steam was coming off it meaning that the water was warmer than the night air. "Might as well a bath while I wait," she murmured.

O0o.o0O

Sesshomaru had smelled his half-brother and his friends in the air and had gone to do some reconnaissance when he had spotted his half-brother's woman running through the forest in tears. Naturally, he was curios and so followed her in the trees. This being had aroused his curiosity even at their first meeting- though he had tried to kill her then. Her scent was so strange. It was unlike everything else in this era, as was her clothing, speech, and supplies. Whenever he sensed his brother around, Sesshomaru always felt the need to search out the group and watch this girl-no! Listen for clues about the location of Naraku, he corrected himself. But the girl did fascinate him. Several times he had seen the girl vanish down the bone-eaters well in Inuyasha Forest. When Sesshomaru tried to follow, he always just ended up landing in the bottom of the well.

Sesshomaru was now once again watching the girl. After he had walked away from her in the forest, he noticed that she was lost. "What a bothersome, clumsy human,' he thought, yet was still drawn to follow her. She came to a stream where she sat for a few minutes, obviously aware that she wasn't going in the right direction. Then, she started undressing. Something inside the demon lord clenched. He forced himself to look away from the woman, an unfamiliar heat of a blush coming to his cheeks. He put his clawed hand up to his face, noting the heat and blaming it on the night air, though he knew the night was chilly.

O0o.o0O

Back at camp, Inuyasha was silently fuming. "What is Kagome's problem? He protected her, didn't he? What else could she want from him?" he thought to himself. His other half answered, "She wants you to take her as your woman. She wants you to forget about Kikyo." But his other side argued back, "But I can't. I know Kikyo's dead, but as long as her spirit walks this Earth, I still filled tied to it. I fear to choose one in fear of losing the other."

On the other side of camp, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo sat whispering to each other. "Do you think Kagome will come back?" asked Shippo sadly. Kagome was like an adopted mother to him.

Sango said, "Of course she will. She always does. Though, I've never seen her so mad before. She didn't even yell 'sit.' Why does Inuyasha always sneak off the visit Kikyo?'

"I wonder if Inuyasha is going to follow her?" added Miroku to the discussion. "Inuyasha needs to be careful. I understand that he loves Kikyo, but I also believe he desires Kagome. If he doesn't make a choice soon, he could end up losing both of them."

"Yeah, you're right Miroku," agreed Sango, "I doubt Kikyo likes Inuyasha traveling and protecting Kagome all the time. She's probably jealous."

All three nodded as Shippo said in his regular voice so that Inuyasha could hear, "I hope Kagome's all right. It's awfully late and she's still not back. You don't think a demon got her, do you Miroku?'

The three laughed silently as Inuyasha got up and walked off into the forest, following Kagome's scent. Kagome had already bathed and had fallen asleep when Inuyasha found her. "Hey wench! What are you doing sleeping out here?" he asked her roughly, waking her out of her peaceful slumber.

Sesshomaru had been watching her sleep from a tree branch and felt his fist clench when Inuyasha spoke to her in this demeaning way. Sesshomaru couldn't understand why he was feeling like this- protective.

Kagome looked around confused, "Oh...it's you, Inuyasha. I got lost."

"Stupid wench. You seemed surprised to see me. Who else do you think would follow you?"

Kagome shrugged, "Strangely enough, I kind of thought Sesshomaru was around. I don't know, maybe that's just because I ran into him earlier in the forest."

Sesshomaru sank deeper into the forest. "Interesting," he thought, "that girl is unconsciously sensing my demonic aura. That must mean that she has great priestess powers, but she hasn't trained them yet. Hmm..." With that Sesshomaru slipped back through the forest, heading back towards Rin and Jaken at his camp. Both of them were asleep so he sat down against a tree to keep watch-as a demon, he didn't need much sleep. Though of a certain human kept going through his mind.

Inuyasha had crossed his arms behind his head and was walking back towards camp saying, "I thought I smelled that jerk in the air. I wonder what he wanted."

Kagome followed and said, "He wouldn't tell me, so I left it at that. You know, he didn't seem to much like a jerk to me."

Inuyasha sniffed, "hmpff...just try being related to him."

They walked the rest of the way to camp in silence.

A/N: Yeah...that's the best I could come up with. Drop me a line in the review box on your way out to tell me what you think and what could be improved on.