Sick as a Dog by Mary

February 14

Title: Sick as a Dog

Rating: G ( K ) – Nuthin' scary here, folks.

Disclaimer: In 1997 (the year InuYasha was first serialized), I was still in elementary school.

Summary: TwoShot. “Happy Valentine's Day, Sesshoumaru...,” Kagome muttered, allowing herself an ironic smile. SessKag (sort of).

No, I'm not jumping back into the InuYasha fandom. This is just a contest entry.

--- --- ---

“Ugh!” Kagome grunted, grasping at the splintered mouth of the Bone-Eater's Well with her gloved fingertips. Beneath the threadbare fabric, her dull nails did their best to dig into the wood, but they failed to get proper purchase on the textured surface.

“InuYasha!” the time jumping miko shouted, her words floating out of her mouth on visible puffs of air. She struggled to get a proper foothold against the earthen walls, but her school shoes were impractical for the task.

Oddly, the half-demon didn't respond to her summoning the way he normally would. He didn't respond at all, as a matter of fact.

Huffing in frustration, Kagome lamented, “This is what I get for coming back a day early. Humph!”

Well, she didn't need InuYasha's help, anyway, she sullenly decided as she dug the toe of her left loafer deeper into into the hard clay. She was an independent woman from the twenty-first century, after all! She didn't need a man for anyth –

“Eep!” squeaked Kagome as the dry earth crumbled beneath her feet and caused her to slip. She clung fast to to the wooden construction above her, just barely saving herself from what promised to be an unpleasant fall.

Okay, maybe she didn't need a man, per se, but a high-flying demon savior would sure be nice about now...

“Crap...,” she muttered as her fingers began to slip from their holding places. “Help...!” she whispered, whimpering pitifully in the back of her throat as her cotton gloves shredded against the rough wood...

“Aiee!” she screamed as her weight finally pulled her down. Her treacherous backpack – which had opened when she pitched backwards, sending all of InuYasha's ramen, some of her clothing and a roll of medical gauze plummeting into the darkness – preceded her in the fall, promising an uncomfortable (perhaps even deadly) landing on her spine.

Kagome's lost battle with gravity ended within the span of one panicked heartbeat. She was suddenly (and painfully) suspended by her wrist from the lip of the well, a clawed hand wrapped firmly around the base of her palm. InuYasha, her hero, must have heard her calling and rushed to her aid! Though a little slow on the uptake, the hanyou was so –

“Sesshoumaru!”

The previously grateful miko felt a new surge of panic well in the roiling pit of her stomach. Sesshoumaru – the dour Lord of the Western Lands and her true knight-in-shining-fire-rat's half-brother – hung over the side of the well, his one and only arm reached out to her. The clawed hand she had recognized from before turned out to be his; the pointed nails were tinted in a sickly, poisonous green and poised right over her radial artery. She was sure that those sharp-looking fingertips could feel her pulse quicken beneath them.

“That's Sesshoumaru-sama to you, human,” the demon lord corrected, placing light emphasis on his chosen honorific. The silvery veil of his hair fell down around his face, making Kagome suddenly wonder if it was snowing...

Perhaps out of his usual disgust for conversation with “mere humans,” Sesshoumaru wasted no more time in pulling her out of the well one-handed (if Kagome were being completely honest, she would have to admit that she was grudgingly impressed by that. Even InuYasha couldn't lift her without the use of both hands!).

If Kagome had expected him to put her down immediately, she was mistaken. Instead, he allowed her to dangle before him by her wrist, observing her almost curiously with his golden eyes.

After a moment of awkward staring, Sesshoumaru leaned in close to her, his nose twitching mere centimeters from her face. 'He's sniffing me,' Kagome realized in horror as the demon lord began to nuzzle her cheek openly, clearly unperturbed by her discomfort.

“Um...,” the young miko began as the initial shock had subsided. She paused to gulp before continuing, “Wh-What are you doing?”

“Smelling.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Kagome said, feeling a blush erupt in her cheeks. Against her will, it crept down her neck, her chest and legs, making her entire body radiate heat beneath her winter clothes. “But why?”

“You have...something,” he replied, shifting his trail to the sensitive area behind her right ear.

Kagome bit her lip hard to keep herself from giggling as his feathery breaths circled her earlobe. He was snorting softly, eliciting unbidden laughter for another reason entirely.

A squeak eventually escaped the dangling miko, causing Sesshoumaru to abandon his search momentarily. He leaned far enough back to allow her a clear view of his arched eyebrow. 'What?' the expression seemed to imply.

Inferring correctly, Kagome explained, “That...um...tickled.”

“I do not partake of your scent for your amusement, human,” he said plainly. “You have something of an...appetizing nature to this Sesshoumaru.”

Though her offended sensibilities, at first, tried to convince her that he meant something inappropriate by his proclamation, her logic quickly reminded her that she was carrying edible products on her person. “You mean like...food?”

“Hn.”

“It's all in my pack,” Kagome said, the heat in her face slowly dissipating into hot patches of color. “If you put me down, I can get it out for you.”

“Hn,” Sesshoumaru grunted again before lowering the girl onto her feet.

“Oww...,” she complained, hissing as she rubbed at her sore wrist tenderly. It was already purpling where Sesshoumaru had held her and the bruising flesh bore an imprint of his fingers. She'd have to wrap that up before InuYasha saw...

“Human,” Sesshoumaru intoned dully, bringing Kagome's attention back to the present (well, past, actually. Her present in the past. However that went).

Blinking up at him, Kagome replied dumbly, “Huh?”

“The victuals.”

“Oh! Yeah...hang on a sec,” the girl said, dropping down to her knees on the frosty grass so that she could relieve herself of the pack more easily. Kagome dropped it onto the ground behind her and swiveled to face it, diving straight into the already open satchel.

The young miko shoved piles of underwear and socks out of her way, dismissed her medical supplies as potential “victuals,” and soon found herself at the bottom of her bag with nothing at hand that Sesshoumaru would consider edible. InuYasha's ramen was currently laying in a heaping pile at the bottomm of the well, so she rather doubted that that was what the demon lord was after. So what...

“Where are the edibles, human?” same-said demon lord demanded, staring blandly at Kagome from several feet away. Had he the ability, the miko was certain he'd have his arms folded in impatience while she searched, just like his half-brother.

“I can't find you're asking for, Sesshoumaru-sama,” Kagome grumbled, fixing him with an annoyed look of her own. A vein in the taiyoukai's temple throbbed once or twice, but he otherwise kept his irritation to himself. “Maybe if you could tell me what it smelled like, I'd have an easier time locating it.”

“Sweet,” he replied immediately. “Heavy,” he added.

It was Kagome's turn to respond with a raised eyebrow. “'Heavy'?” she replied incredulously.

“Indeed.”

“Well, I don't have anything like...,” she trailed off as it hit her. “Wait!”

Flipping her backpack onto its side, she immediately attacked the clasp that held the front pouch closed. She could practically feel Sesshoumaru's wonder at her actions, but she didn't care. She was finally onto something!

“Ah-ha!” she proclaimed, pulling the sought item out and holding it up victoriously. “Is this it, Sesshoumaru?”

“Sesshoumaru-sama, girl.”

“Whatever,” Kagome replied testily, rolling her eyes at the taiyoukai. She waved the pink, heart-shaped item at him and asked again, “Is this what you wanted?”

Sesshoumaru sniffed at the package warily before agreeing silently that, yes, this was perhaps the sustenance he'd detected. Taking it from Kagome with his only hand, he held it up to his nose and took a better whiff.

“Yes,” the demon lord agreed verbally. “What is...this?” he queried, almost as an afterthought.

“Chocolate!” Kagome answered, beaming at him from her place on the snow-covered ground. “It's Valentine's Day in my ti – erm, where I come from, that is.”

“Val – eein – time's Day?” Sesshoumaru repeated curiously.

Kagome giggled at his mispronunciation, but carried on with her explanation. “Yeah, something like that. It's a holiday where girls are supposed to give chocolate – sweets, candy, that is – to the...um, people that they like. I've got enough in here for InuYasha, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, Kouga...just about everybody, really.”

“And so this was intended for that halfling?” Sesshoumaru demanded, holding the chocolate away from his nose for the first time since receiving it. His lip was curled slightly over one fang and his fingertips began to glow acid green.

“Actually,” Kagome replied quickly as the melting chocolate began to drip off of his fingers. “I was saving that one for myself. But you can have it, if you want. As a thank you.”

Sesshoumaru lifted his eyebrow again and Kagome felt the blush return again, this time burning a couple of degrees hotter.

“For saving me, I mean,” she elaborated.

“Very well,” replied the taiyoukai. “I shall accept.”

Without pausing for any further conversation, Sesshoumaru backed away from her into the surrounding trees, his white clothing somehow melting perfectly into the shadows. Perhaps the light blanket of of snow aided his silent escape...

“Hmph...,” Kagome huffed, beginning the task of shoving everything back into her bag. “You're welcome, then.”

A few minutes later, Kagome was ready to head into the village. She left the ramen and other fallen items where they were, deciding that she'd just get them on her return trip home late that week.

“I guess I'll just have a bite of Sango's chocolate,” she said to herself, sighing.

---

“Fine!” Kagome shouted, marching quickly away from the imprint of InuYasha's body that she'd left in the wooden planks. Kaede wouldn't be happy about the alteration to her floor when she returned from the neighboring hut, but the hanyou had deserved what he got. “I'll go get it right now, you...you...AUGH!”

Some hero! She came back a whole day earlier than expected – a day that could have been spent with her family, or studying for all those exams that she wasn't prepared for – just to bring him a valentine! Then, he complains that she didn't bring ramen, too, even though she'd already explained (in part; the bits involving Sesshoumaru had been conveniently left out) about her near-death experience with the well. That self-absorbed...immature...ungrateful little – !

“What the hell was that for?” the disgruntled voice of InuYasha shouted from within the newly-minted crevice. “You didn't have to you-know-what me! All I asked was where my freaking ram – ”

“SIT!”

An “oomph” accompanied the heavy thud at the bottom of the crater as Kagome invoked her subjugation spell. “Stupid wench...ow...”

Grabbing her now empty pack from its corner, the miffed miko ignored InuYasha and lifted the flap above the hut door, fully prepared to throw herself out into the raging blizzard swirling through the village. She needed to cool down, anyway.

The warmly dressed demon slayer seated by the fire looked up and asked, “Do you need some company, Kagome-chan?” Kirara mewled at her from Sango's lap, seeming to offer her attendance, as well.

“No thanks, Sango-chan,” Kagome replied, flashing a strained smile at her friend. “I'll be right back.”

Miroku, who had been banished to the opposite side of the room an hour ago with a palm-blemished face, chimed in, “I would be most happy to escort you through this tiresome weather, Kagome-sama. It would be my duty and honor as a man of the – ”

The overly friendly monk was felled by Sango's gigantic boomerang as he crossed the short distance between himself and Kagome, his uncovered hand reaching out for her. He crumpled to the floor next to InuYasha's gouged silhouette, moaning quietly.

“Nice try, pervert,” the demon slayer mumbled, leaning her weapon against the wall behind her from whence it came.

“Are you going to bring back more chocolate, Kagome?” Shippo asked, apparently unperturbed by the violence displayed by his female companions. “If so, I want to come, too!”

Kagome shook her head, her bad mood completely faded now. The familiar antics of her friends made her early arrival seem worth it after all. “No, I'm just going to the well to get the ramen I left there. I'll be back in fifteen minutes, tops.”

“Are you sure you don't – ?”

“Really, Sango-chan,” Kagome interrupted, shouldering her pack. “I'll be right back. Then we'll have dinner, okay?”

Smiling in a resigned way, Sango nodded and settled more comfortably into her spot. “Be careful, then.”

“I will.”

---

Shivering against the onslaught of snow, Kagome decided that “fifteen minutes, tops” had been a little too optimistic. The snow, which had been coming down hard since she'd first arrived that morning, was now thick on the ground and piled high above her ankles. She'd barely made it out of the village yet and already she'd been gone for half an hour...

A visible cloud of breath rose from Kagome's mouth as she sighed heavily. Her anger at InuYasha had dissipated into the air in a similar way, leaving the young miko nothing but cold out in the winter landscape.

Sometimes, she really wished that he'd be more like –

“Waugh!” Kagome cried as the tip of her loafer caught on something and she fell face first into the snow.

Spitting out a mouthful of packed ice, the time jumping miko raised herself up onto her elbows. “Ow...,” she complained to the frostbitten trees around her as she rolled over onto her backside. She perched in a lounging position and looked around for the source of her descent.

When she made her discovery, Kagome's eyes widened to twice their normal size. “Sesshoumaru!” she cried, making an effort to get onto her feet and approach his prone body. It lay before her, blanketed in soft white powder, and didn't move. His silvery hair blended almost perfectly with his surroundings, making him difficult to spot, even up close.

Though her ankle protested to the ascent, Kagome forced herself upright and flung herself upon the fallen taiyoukai. “Sesshoumaru! Speak to me!” Either by stubborn willfulness or a complete inability to speak, Sesshoumaru remained silent with his face in the snow.

“Sesshoumaru...,” Kagome repeated, softly this time, as she rolled him onto his back.

When the demon lord's face became fully visible to the miko, she gasped audibly. As if startled by the sound, she clapped her hand to her mouth to muffle her surprise. Sesshoumaru's face...his lovely, deceptively angelic face...what had happened to it?

The delicate features of the taiyoukai's face were swollen nearly beyond recognition, making Sesshoumaru look like a living caricature of himself. His golden eyes – the only portion of his visage that ever exhibited any measure of warmth, usually in the heat of battle – were squeezed shut under the overwhelming pressure of the inflammation. The magenta stripes that normally adorned his sharply defined cheekbones were stretched to twice their usual length across his face, the crescent moon on his forehead disfigured similarly so. The worst part, however, was the red blotches that bloomed across every bit of skin visible to Kagome's eyes...they looked like angry chrysanthemums that had taken root under his skin.

Feeling suddenly unconcerned for her own personal safety, Kagome leaned toward Sesshoumaru and placed her ear near his mouth. 'Still breathing!' she discovered, surprisingly relieved at the implications. “He's alive!”

Almost as if confirming her diagnosis, Sesshoumaru moaned pitifully at that instant, causing Kagome to jump back. “Wench...cho...co...ungh...”

“Huh?” the miko queried, tilting her head curiously at the ailing demon lord.

“Choco...late...”

As if struck physically with a bolt of lightning, Kagome sat up straight, suddenly horrified. “The chocolate!” she exclaimed, slapping a gloved palm to her forehead. “I forgot...dogs are allergic to it...Crap!”

Kagome was sure that if he were conscious (and could open his eyes), Sesshoumaru would be glaring at her accusingly with that heated gaze of his. This was, technically speaking, her fault, after all...

Glancing at the empty yellow backpack she'd brought with her, Kagome sighed, her breath blossoming in the cold air. She'd left her antihistamine back at the hut...

“Well, Sesshoumaru,” the miko intoned dully, returning her gaze to the ailing taiyoukai. “I guess you're coming with me. Just know that I'm not looking forward to this any more than you are...”

With the necessary amount of struggle, Kagome lifted Sesshoumaru into a lax standing position and flung his only arm across her shoulders. Her ankle didn't appreciate the extra weight added to it, but she ignored its protests as she began her arduous trek back to the village, unconscious demon lord in tow.

“Happy Valentine's Day, Sesshoumaru...,” Kagome muttered, allowing herself an ironic smile.

--- --- ---

Author's Notes: Weeeeeeeell...that about wraps it up, I think. At least for this chapter. Chapter two will be entitled "March 14"; think about that.

Btw, Valentine's Day in Japan is a little different than the usual western tradition. Instead of the men showering affection and gifts on the women in their lives, it's the girls who do the giving. They use V-Day as an opportunity to confess their love to the boys they like and give chocolate (sometimes homemade, sometimes not) to their chosen beau. There are different types of chocolate – some intended for friends/family, others for lovers – , but they're always given by girls. On White Day (March 14th), the boys reciprocate with little gifts.

Oh, and in case anybody wants to complain “Kagome could have just dropped back down into the well and gone back to her time” at the beginning of the story, please don't. We're going to assume that there was going to be a hard impact in one time or the other and leave it at that. It's just a plot device, anyway.

Un-beta'd.

Megami <3