A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to my second Sesshomaru/Lillia-installment, which will contain the one-shots Blackout and Alone Together. Timeline-wise, we are sometime after Rin's second death, which means that Sesshomaru knows about Tenseiga's limitations. While most of the characters from The Flower of the West will re-appear in this story, and are the same people (just with a slightly different backstory), any events taking place in that story do not affect this story at all. They never happened. As Lillia already knows a great deal more than at the beginning of The Flower, there will be less exposition here - any laws and rules concerning youkai etc. established in The Flower apply to this story as well.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. The cover image was created using the Erté Elegance-maker (I hope I spelled it right) on Doll Divine, it can be found on both my Doll Divine and DeviantArt-accounts. The title was derived from the song "Somewhere Close To You" by Sonata Arctica. Other than that, neither the song nor the band influenced the creation of this story in any way.

Chosen

It had been a perfectly ordinary morning, and nothing at all had hinted at the fact that a life-changing meeting was going to take place that day. Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, had spent his day just as he had spent the days preceding it – with walking at a slow, measured pace. He was in no hurry to get anywhere, he had all the time in the world, after all.

Behind him trailed his companions, his loyal – but often annoying – retainer Jaken, a kappa that had decided one day to follow him, Rin, a human pup who had decided to follow him, and Ah-Un, a two-headed dragon. That had not decided to follow him, at least not on his own.

Things had been quiet as of late, there had been no run-ins with either his annoying half-breed half-brother, or with any of Naraku's incarnations – or the vile creature himself. Sesshomaru was thoroughly sick of them all, and didn't want them anywhere near him, or his pack. Naraku had targeted Rin several times, as she was the only weakness Sesshomaru apparently had, and the small creature had already died twice – and if she were to die again, it would be for good. Therefore, he was unwilling to take any risks concerning her safety.

Sesshomaru knew that most people – be they human or demon – thought him to be a merciless killer, a creature that possessed no heart (figuratively) and that was incapable of feeling anything. Well, that was most certainly not true – Sesshomaru just never let his feelings show, as he perceived that to be a weakness. While it was true that he had no patience for weaklings or fools, he did value loyalty and bravery, which was part of the reason he had allowed Rin to follow him. At first, he had merely been curious to see what she would do now that he was no longer weak and helpless, and even one as young as her must realise he needed no assistance. But somehow, she had managed to worm her way into his cold heart, and he had been unable (and slightly unwilling) to try and remove her. She was his now, his pup. And as such, he would care for her.

Jaken was a different matter altogether. When not busy performing tasks appointed by his lord, he was loud and annoying, and Sesshomaru occasionally lost his patience with him. Unlike Rin, Jaken was fully grown and therefore not entitled the same liberties Rin was – though the human girl was very well-behaved. Reprimanding her wasn't really necessary – reprimanding Jaken was.

As the shadows grew longer, Sesshomaru had started to look for an adequate place to spend the night. He left Rin in Jaken's care and then wandered off into the woods to explore their surroundings. Also, Rin couldn't just live off fish and berries, she needed meat once in a while, and, while she had gotten pretty good at catching fish, catching game was totally out of the question.

So, he went out to hunt.

Sesshomaru had just come across a rather promising trail when the wind suddenly shifted – carrying with it a scent so alluring it instantly shut down Sesshomaru's brain. Unable to think as his instincts kicked in, he veered from his path and took off at a run, determined to find the source of this heavenly fragrance a soon as possible.

As he got closer to his destination, he detected the peculiar scent of steam and hot water, and realised he was approaching a hot spring. The scent was growing stronger by the minute, he had to be close.

He burst into a small clearing and came to an abrupt stop right in front of a human woman who was apparently in the process of getting dressed after taking a bath – her black hakama and haori lay spread out on a rock, and she was currently fumbling with the ties of her gi – but froze on the spot as soon as she became aware of him.

They were standing so close they were almost touching, she had to crane her neck in order to be able to see his face, as she was about a head shorter than him. A pair of blue eyes were staring up at him with a startled expression, and Sesshomaru was momentarily confused – humans had, to his certain knowledge, brown eyes and dark hair – and yet, hers were blue, and her hair had two different colours, as if she'd dyed part of it.

It was only now that he had taken note of those peculiarities that his brain managed to catch up, and he realised that the source of the tantalising smell had been a human. And Sesshomaru despised any human that didn't go by the name of Rin and happened to be his ward.

Therefore, he was quite disturbed that part of him wanted to be close to her, to touch her – drawing onto his iron control, he squashed those urges. The human still appeared to be too stunned to do anything, anyway, so that gave him the time to come up with a plan. And that plan was to get the hell out of here.

Sesshomaru spun on the spot and made a mad dash for the trees – telling himself that he was not, in fact, running away, but retreating in order to ponder the mystery of that strange human woman. And to forget her and those piercing eyes as soon as possible.

The last thing of her to linger was the sound of a small gasp, as her brain finally caught up with what had happened.

Not in the best of moods, Lillia stared darkly at her bowl of food, as if it had personally offended her. She stirred the contents a little with her spoon, but that didn't really improve anything, least of all her mood. She listlessly poked a bit of meat before deciding that she was done eating.

"Lillia-chan? Are you all right?"

Lillia looked up as Kagome plopped down next to her. The young miko – she was seventeen, the same age as Lillia's youngest brother – was the one she could most easily interact with, partly because they were both from the same time. Kagome was very wise and perceptive for her age, and Lillia had found that she actually liked her company. They practised archery together, Lillia would also help her study, it gave her something to do.

She wasn't as close with the others of the small group – she didn't really have anything in common with Sango, the other human woman, who had been raised a warrior, and the hanyou InuYasha was far too brash and unrefined for her taste – though she had gathered that this wasn't his own fault, and that he could have turned out much, much worse. She sometimes conversed with the monk, Miroku, mostly about spirituality and mystical powers, but only when there was no chance he could get within reaching distance.

The first time he had felt her up, she had kicked him in the groin. Hard. It had left a rather strong impression.

She didn't really know how to deal with Shippo, either – she knew next to nothing about youkai, and unlike InuYasha, who was half human and had spent more of his life interacting with her kind than with the other, he was a full demon – albeit a little one. Lillia wasn't a very patient person, and it had very often been hard enough for her to stomach the antics of a brother seven years younger than her – hell, the one that was only two years younger had certainly known how to rile her up with his silly behaviour. And Shippo was extremely good at getting into fights with InuYasha, which only further ground on Lillia's nerves.

Then again, she had been lucky that this ragtag band of fighters had found her – after having been transported to the past by means and for reasons unknown to her, she had found herself in a forest with not a single human being in sight. Not knowing where she was or how she was to get back to Tokyo had been terribly unsettling, and she had been lucky to run into a person who happened to be a time-traveller. Kagome had explained to her everything worth knowing about Feudal Japan, youkai and magic, and that had been nearly impossible to believe. At first, Lillia had attempted to convince herself that this was all just a bad dream, but the more time passed, the clearer it became that this wasn't the case.

And worst of all, she was stuck here. Kagome had explained that the portal she used for time travel only allowed her and InuYasha through, so they had to find another way for her to get home. However, their quest to collect all the shards of the Shikon no Tama had priority over everything else, so they could only look for clues along the road.

Since Lillia had never heard of anyone doing any time-travelling before, she had accepted the fact that she would spend the rest of her life here. Trying to make the best of it, she had asked Kagome to fetch some things for her: her bow and arrows as well as the clothes she wore during kyudo-practice – black hakama, a white gi and a black haori. That way, she didn't stand out more than she already did with her light hair and blue eyes.

Actually, most of the people she'd met had thought her to be a youkai, something Lillia had found amusing at first. By now, it was just annoying.

Lillia had also given Kagome access to her credit card and bank account – she wasn't going to need her money anyway, and, since she could not contribute anything to the group's fighting strength, she decided to serve as a source of information, and money.

Back in the present, she focused her attention on Kagome.

"Why do you ask?"

"You've seen somewhat out of it for the last couple of days", the miko replied. "And you haven't finished your meal. Again."

Lillia sighed quietly.

"I'm fine. Something is bothering me, but that doesn't concern you, so don't worry about it. And I'm simply not hungry. I seem to have lost much of my appetite – it got nothing to do with the food, or your skills as a cook. I just don't feel like eating right now."

"I see. Well, if you should ever feel like talking about it... I'll give your leftovers to InuYasha, he's always hungry anyway."

"Thanks, Kagome."

Lillia got to her feet and made her way over to the tree where she'd stored her stuff, sitting down between the roots to do some brooding in peace. Lillia knew exactly what Kagome had been referring to – while she had definitely preferred some privacy at the beginning of their journey together, for the last few days, she'd always stuck close to Kagome and Sango – the reason being that unsettling incident at the hot spring a few days back.

Lillia had always assumed that it would be safe for her to take a bath on her own, as InuYasha and Shippo had excellent noses and could smell anything approaching, and Miroku and Kagome could sense a youkai's aura. She had therefore believed that someone would come and get her should anything dangerous come their way – but the wind had been blowing in the wrong direction, and neither Miroku nor Kagome had sensed anything – or they would have brought it up.

So, Lillia had suffered the shock of her life when that man/youkai had just appeared out of thin air. She was lucky, really, that he had done nothing more than stare at her, but the whole experience had shaken her to the core. As a result, she had started to bathe together with the other two, and make sure that any of the grown-ups was always near her.

Apparently, they hadn't missed this change of behaviour. Still, Lillia didn't want to talk about it – partly because she had no idea what she should say. It had been simply too bizarre.

Feeling the sudden need to occupy her mind somehow, Lillia grabbed her yumi and unwrapped it, before carefully tracing her fingers over the polished and lacquered bamboo bow. It was one of her most valuable possessions – hand-crafted at the workshop the sensei of her school owned, and customised for her needs and preferences.

It had cost a nice sum, too, and Lillia had only acquired her own bow once she had significantly improved her strength – otherwise, she would have outgrown it eventually.

Lillia didn't just admire the yumi, though – she also checked it for damaged parts on a regular base. Even though she didn't use it in battle – she usually stayed behind with Shippo – a damaged bow was dangerous, and she wasn't going to risk injury during practice, either.

She was roused from her thoughts when InuYasha jumped to his feet, dropping his bowl and letting out a feral snarl as he drew his sword, Tetsuaiga. The others instantly responded to that, Sango reached for her enormous boomerang and Kagome scrambled for her bow and arrows.

"What is it, InuYasha?", Miroku asked, concern in his voice.

"It's the bastard", InuYasha growled. "He's headed this way."

"Lillia, get over here!", Kagome called frantically. "Stay close to me! Shippo, stay with her."

Lillia jumped to her feet and strung her bow in record-time. Shouldering her quiver, she dashed over to where Kagome was standing, readying her own bow. Lillia had no intentions of using hers – she would never be able to hit anything that was moving, and she didn't have the time to put on her gloves, either. Shippo jumped onto her left shoulder to get a better vantage point as InuYasha, Sango and Miroku formed a loose line in front of them, ready to intercept "the bastard" – whoever that was. Lillia had no idea, but now didn't seen like the perfect time to ask.

Tension was thick in the air, and it was different from the few times they had come under attack by Naraku's underlings, too – Lillia suddenly got the feeling that whatever was coming for them now was much, much worse.

InuYasha suddenly shifted into a fighting stance, and Lillia spotted a figure emerging from the trees – a tall man with long, silvery-white hair dressed mainly in white and wearing armour. He was moving at a slow, leisurely pace, as if the fact that they were waiting for him, armed to the teeth, didn't faze him in the slightest.

He finally came to a halt a short distance away from their "vanguard" and Lillia sucked in a startled breath when she realised this was the same youkai whom she had met at the hot spring.

His eyes flickered to hers briefly before focusing on InuYasha.

"Sesshomaru, teme! What the hell do you want this time?", the hanyou all but growled.

"The human", the youkai replied evenly.

That brought InuYasha up short, but Lillia felt dread overcoming her at that remark.

"Which one?", InuYasha asked warily. "Ever since when were you interested in humans anyway?"

Sesshomaru blinked languidly.

"My motives are none of your business, half-breed. You will hand her over, now."

"Hell no! Like I'd ever leave one of my friends at your mercy, you bastard!"

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed minutely before he fixed those cold, penetrating eyes on Lillia again.

"You will come with me", he said in a quiet voice. "If you do not, I will slaughter all of your comrades."

Lillia felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. She staggered backwards, one hand coming up instinctively to secure Shippo's position on her shoulder.

If anyone had been confused about who Sesshomaru was talking about, well, they no longer were. With a feral cry, InuYasha lunged at the demon.

"You can't have Lillia, you won't take any of my friends away!"

Sango and Miroku quickly jumped backwards as Sesshomaru unsheathed his own sword to parry InuYasha's attack, but stayed between them and the others. Lillia grabbed her yumi so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Lillia?", Kagome asked. "Why on earth is Sesshomaru after you?"

"I – I don't know", she whispered. "But I've met him before – four, five days ago, at a hot spring. He just showed up, scared me almost to death, then stared at me and left. But – I don't know why he's back..."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No. He didn't even say anything... just stared at me all creepy-like. Who is he, anyway?"

"Sesshomaru is InuYasha's older half-brother, and he's full youkai – and also the Lord of the Western Lands. He's extremely powerful, cold, cruel, and a merciless killer."

"Sounds lovely", Lillia commented dryly. "Can InuYasha take him?"

Kagome hesitated before answering.

"To be honest, no, I don't think he can. Not only is Sesshomaru much, much older and more experienced than him, but he's also received proper training. I believe that we only survived our encounters with him so far because he was careless, made a mistake, or something unforeseen happened. We just got lucky every time. But I have a feeling luck won't be on our side today... Sesshomaru seems pretty determined."

"Can we outrun him?"

"No. And even if we could, he would simply follow us. Our options are awfully limited, I'm afraid..."

As Lillia watched the brothers fight, she found that she had to agree with Kagome – InuYasha was attacking using brute strength, aiming wide swipes at Sesshomaru and using his Kaze no Kizu-attack – which only served to tear up the ground and turn trees into tinder. Sesshomaru was never in any danger of getting hit.

He, on the other hand, was using his sword more like, well, a sword, and not a club. He was moving awfully fast and had already landed several hits. That didn't slow InuYasha down, but Lillia still didn't like where this was going.

Fights wit Naraku's underlings usually played out in a very different manner – everyone would try to beat them up until InuYasha, Kagome or Miroku got a chance to finish them off. However, Lillia got the distinctive feeling that InuYasha was the only one who could take on Sesshomaru, and, since they were moving too fast, Kagome couldn't get a clear shot, either.

Kagome gasped in shock when Sesshomaru landed a blow that sent InuYasha flying into a tree, which stunned him momentarily. The dai-youkai wasted no time and was on top of him in an instant, InuYasha just managed to deflect the blow that would have taken his life.

Without knowing what she was doing, Lillia started forwards, dislodging Shippo in the process, but Kagome grabbed her arm.

"Stop it!"

"Lillia!", Kagome whispered frantically. "Please don't do anything stupid!"

Lillia ignored her, her attention fixed on the inu, who had, in fact, paused.

"I'm going with you! Just – stop it!"

"Lillia! Don't do this!"

Sesshomaru grabbed InuYasha by the front of his robes and carelessly tossed him into the trees before turning to face her.

"Come, then."

"Can I pack my stuff?"

He wordlessly inclined his head.

Lillia turned on her heels and made her way back over to the tree she had been resting against earlier. The sound of twigs being crushed told her that Kagome was following her.

"Lillia, please, think this through!", the miko begged. "Sesshomaru hates humans, so no matter what he has planned, it can't be good. Don't go with him, it's simply too dangerous!"

"Sorry, Kagome, but I'm not going to sit here and watch my friends getting beaten to death. Besides, with me gone, you'll have one mouth less to feed – I never was very useful to you guys, after all."

"That's not true! You've helped tons! Don't go selling yourself short!"

"I'm not. I'm just being realistic. I'm not saying I don't have special talents, but my talents are of no use here. I'm even more useless than Shippo, and he's just a kid."

"I'm not exactly a good fighter, either", Kagome replied quietly.

"But you got powers, powers which I wish I possessed. Don't you dare selling yourself short."

"You're not gonna reconsider?"

"No. Keep using my money, as I won't be needing it again – at least not in this life. Stay strong, look after the others. Don't let anything get you down. Study hard. Oh, and stop Naraku, too."

Kagome managed a weak smile.

"Take care, Lillia. I'm going to miss you..."

Lillia was totally taken aback when Kagome suddenly launched herself forward and enveloped her in a hug. After recovering from the surprise, she carefully wrapped her arms around the girl.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Kagome. It was nice being around you."

Lillia was almost done packing by now. Miroku and Sango had, in the meantime, retrieved a very unconscious and somewhat bruised InuYasha – Sesshomaru hadn't cared in the slightest, he seemed convinced that no-one would actually interfere with Lillia's decision. Kagome upended her yellow rucksack and started searching through the pile. She sorted out several items that Lillia could use and dispose off without harming the environment, such as organic soap, dried meat and other things. Lillia had actually suggested the use of organic products – the world would get polluted soon enough, there was really no need to start now, even if it was "just" soap or shampoo.

Miroku gave Lillia a thick blanket as a parting gift, it was large enough for her to wrap it around her body several times. Lillia accepted everything without complaining, knowing that they would be able to replace those things – whereas she had no idea if Sesshomaru would care if she was uncomfortable, hungry or cold. Probably not.

"Tell InuYasha why I did what I did – and don't come after me. I don't think the outcome would be any different, and I really don't want to cause you any more trouble than I already have. Take care, everyone."

Lillia fastened her bow to the quiver and slung it over her right shoulder, her pack she threw over her left. After that, she made her way over to the demon lord, who was still watching them with the same empty look on his face.

"I'm done", she told him.

He wordlessly turned and headed into the forest. Rolling her eyes, Lillia followed.

They had been walking for a while now, and either of them had yet to say a word. Lillia had a policy of not talking unless she had something to talk about, and she had absolutely no idea what someone like him would be interested in. Besides, Sesshomaru struck her as the quiet type, and she wasn't going to risk angering him and maybe shortening her life drastically by asking questions – even though she still had no idea why he had just abducted her, she figured that she would find out soon enough.

For now, she just trailed after him – staying behind him at a safe distance, but not too far he might think she was trying to inch away. She kept staring ahead, at the dai-youkai's back – or what she could see of it, as his long, shiny, pretty, stupid hair blocked most of her sight.

Lillia had already realised he was extremely handsome, but had decided to ignore that – he was her kidnapper, and it wouldn't do her any good to become obsessed with or even fall for him. That would just be stupid, and Lillia liked to think of herself as an intelligent creature.

Sesshomaru was walking at a very leisurely pace, about half the speed Lillia would walk if she was on her own. However, she wasn't going to complain – after all, she had no idea how long they were going to be on the road today. If you could call it "road", as they were currently cutting right through a forest that looked as if humans only seldom got lost in it.

She was abruptly roused from her thoughts when Sesshomaru stopped, and addressed her at last.

"Are you not curious?"

Lillia blinked.

"Curious?" It took her a while to understand what he was asking about. "Not really, no."

He turned half-way around to look at her over his shoulder.

"Do not lie."

"I – what?"

"I can tell when someone is lying, so do not even attempt to deceive this Sesshomaru."

Lillia stared at him for a heartbeat. Had he just referred to himself in the third person? What an ass!

"I suppose I am curious, but I figured I would get answers eventually." She shrugged. "It didn't seem worth bringing up."

"Hn. This one had been under the impression that humans could never keep quiet."

"Depends on the human. I prefer staying silent to inane babble, especially if it is me doing the babbling."

"Hn. That is commendable. I do not care for that, so you had better keep that in mind."

"Sure."

They lapsed into silence again after that, but Sesshomaru had yet to resume walking. Instead, he was staring off into the trees as if he was lost in his thoughts.

"So – was there a specific reason you brought this up?", she asked after a while. "Are you going to tell me why I am here, why you saw the need to completely uproot my life?"

Even though she tried to remain calm, not wishing to anger the inu, she couldn't quite keep the accusing tone out of her voice.

He turned around to face her fully, his golden eyes boring into hers. It was only now that she got a good chance to study his face – it seemed more elegant and refined than InuYasha's, he actually reminded her of an elven lord – except for the markings on his face. Granted, Lillia hadn't met many humanoid youkai before, but none of them had had those markings. A dark blue crescent moon, partly hidden by his bangs, adorned his forehead, and he had magenta-coloured twin-stripes on his cheeks.

"What do you know about inu-youkai?", he asked at length.

"Nothing, really. I don't know all that much about youkai, to begin with, and the closest thing to an inu that I've met would be InuYasha. If there's anything important that I need to know, I would appreciate it if you could tell me."

Since I don't want to end up dead for making a mistake out of sheer ignorance.

"There is not much that you need to know", he replied. "However, you wish to know why you are here, and in order for you to be able to understand the reason, this one will have to explain some things. First of all, I did not take you away from your friends for any malicious reasons, as the miko would have you believe. I do not care for humans, and usually don't bother with them as long as they stay out of my way."

It was sort of a relief to know that – assuming he was telling the truth. Then again, there was no reason why he should lie to her – it wouldn't make attacking or killing her any easier, as she was already virtually helpless.

"Yours is a completely different matter altogether – for the last couple of days, I have been trying to stay away from you. Unsuccessfully, I might add. My beast would not leave me with any other choice, and I do not intend to get anywhere near my little brother if I can help it."

"Your beast? What is that?"

"The reason for this mess", he replied, flashing his fangs as he spoke. "It is a manifestation of my instincts, the basest part of my existence. Its main task is to ascertain survival – which includes procreation. The beast looks for the perfect mate. It chose you."

"M-me? You mean to say I'm your perfect mate?"

"Trust me, it was hard to believe for me as well", he sneered. "As I said earlier, I do not care for humans. They are weak, pathetic and useless. And I am not going to mate with one."

That was enough to make Lillia's blood boil as she glared at the demon. However, she was clever enough to keep herself in check, realising he was already in a bad mood and that, no matter what she said, it wouldn't change his opinion on the matter.

"Then – why am I here, if you do not want me?", she asked as soon as she had calmed down somewhat.

"I believe I told you that I tried to stay away from you", he replied in a tone that made it perfectly clear he thought her to be stupid. "My beast wouldn't let me. Ever since it became aware of your existence, it has been urging me to find you. It has been battling me for control those last few days, and nearly managed to overwhelm me on several occasions. And believe me when I tell you that you would have been far less pleased had it been my beast to come fetch you. It would not have cared for your pleas, either – it would have removed anything it considered a rival. This was the best solution I could come up with."

"So let me get this straight: your beast wants to be near me, but you don't?"

"My beast wants me to mate with you", he growled. "'Being near you' is just the start. This one believes it will be easier to keep the beast in check if it can have at least a small part of what it wants. Keeping you around is necessary."

"Lovely. But shouldn't you and your beast agree on what you want?"

"Ideally, yes. But I cannot make it change its mind."

Lillia made a frustrated sound.

"And I'm supposed to be happy about this, yes?"

"I do not expect you to be happy", he replied coolly. "But, at the very least, you should not blame me for this mess. I did not wish for this to happen any more than you did."

Sesshomaru's revelation had done little to improve her mood – if there was something Lillia absolutely detested, it was any form of racism or prejudice against anyone, no matter if it concerned religion, colour or nationality. So, being told that she wasn't an eligible choice because she was human – something she just couldn't help – was just too much to bear. She could have lived with it if Sesshomaru had a problem with her character, or the way she acted – she was, in fact, used to people not liking her for those very reasons, though she cared little for their opinion.

Lillia didn't like this turn of events in the least. Being stuck 500 years in the past was bad enough in itself, but until this day she had had friends and companions she knew she could rely on, and who would provide her with anything she needed. Kagome especially had been very helpful in this aspect.

But now that she was stuck with Sesshomaru, things were very different – all she knew was that he intended to keep her close, but she didn't know what that entailed. Would he protect her against danger? Would he provide her with food, once he realised she could not procure it herself? Would he provide her with anything else she might need, or would he just keep her alive for his convenience? There were just too many questions Lillia didn't have the answers too, and, from where she stood now, her future looked rather bleak.

As a result, Lillia hadn't eaten all day – deciding to ration the food Kagome had given her. They hadn't made a stop, either. Luckily enough, she hadn't really been hungry, and her stomach had refrained from making any noises – as he would have been able to hear them.

As dusk approached, Sesshomaru stopped in a clearing and announced that they would spend the night here. Lillia – who was feeling slightly worn-out – decided to skip practice tonight and started unpacking her stuff right away. She spread out the blanket and sat down cross-legged before pulling off her zori. After that, she had a look at her meager food supplies and decided on what she would have for dinner.

Sesshomaru had settled down against the trunk of a tree on the other side of the clearing and was watching her with an unreadable look on his face. Lillia decided to ignore him.

"Do you not have shoes other than zori?", he asked after a while.

Lillia spared him a brief glance.

"No."

"You will acquire some boots at the earliest opportunity."

She looked up again.

"I can't. I don't have any money."

He arched a brow.

"You will not be needing any money."

She shrugged.

"Whatever."

Lillia didn't know if that meant he would pay for the boots – or if he would just scare the merchant into giving them away for free. That seemed like something he would do.

The demon lord remained silent and motionless on his side of the clearing until Lillia was done eating. He then approached her, holding out rocks she figured were flint-stones.

"You should get a fire started. The nights can be cool in these parts."

Lillia, who didn't really like the fact that he was ordering her around like his personal servant, glared up at him.

"I don't know how to start a fire", she informed him coolly.

"You do not?"

"No. Kagome's in charge of that, and she has special tools that make it easier. If I had any of these, I could do it myself. But I don't know how to use flint-stones. So, if you want a fire, you'll have to start it yourself."

Sesshomaru's face seemed to darken.

"I am not the one who requires a fire to keep warm", he replied haughtily. "Besides, this one is unable to start a fire."

Lillia's eyebrow shot up as she stared at the dai-youkai in disbelief.

"Unable? Pray tell me, how comes a youkai such as you is unable to start a fire?"

The look on his face was positively murderous, but for some crazy reason, Lillia refused to feel afraid, or back down. Instead, she just kept staring at him challengingly.

Sesshomaru didn't grace her with a reply, instead, he snatched his left sleeve and pulled it back so she could see what was underneath – or rather wasn't. His left arm ended in a stump just above the elbow.

Lillia deflated, feeling really stupid right now. She had honestly not noticed that he was lacking a limb – partly because she had been occupied with other things.

"That's a valid excuse, I guess", she said quietly, looking away. "But I still don't know how to do it."

"This one will explain", was all he said to that. "Do you know how to select wood for a fire?"

"Yeah, I know that much."

Getting the hint, she slipped her zori back on and made her way off into the forest – glad to be able to get away from him for a moment, especially after just having made a complete fool of herself...

Sesshomaru watched the human, who had wrapped herself into her blanket, and was already sleeping peacefully. It had taken her several attempts, but she had managed to start a fire using the instructions he gave her.

Sesshomaru had actually been surprised when she had told him that she didn't know how to start a fire – it seemed like something everyone needed to know in order to stay alive – unless you employed servants to do those things for you. Sesshomaru wondered if, perhaps, she was a noble and simply not used to doing those kind of things – he didn't know how she had came to travel with his brother, after all – she might be a hime who had run away from home for all he knew. Actually, her pale complexion and smooth hands made that theory rather plausible – at the very least, she had not spent her life doing hard labour or being exposed to the sun much. She had probably been a sheltered girl, and those ended up running away from home quite often.

Or so he'd heard.

Her little show of defiance earlier had angered him, especially the part where she had actually dared to challenge him. It had been rather humiliating for him to shove his crippled arm in her face (figuratively speaking, of course), though her reaction had calmed him somewhat – she hadn't pitied him, or thought any less of him because he was crippled – something he had actually feared, though he would never admit that to anyone. Instead, she had seemed horrified – and rather subdued, probably cursing herself for not noticing earlier.

Though Sesshomaru had to admit that the wide sleeves of his haori hid his crippled arm rather well.

Once she had left camp to collect firewood, Sesshomaru had managed to calm himself and think a bit more clearly. Judging from her reaction, she had apparently believed him not only to possess the knowledge on how to start a fire, but also capable of doing it. Her angry reaction had probably been caused by the belief that he simply didn't want to do this himself. As Sesshomaru had contributed to this misunderstanding by withholding information, he couldn't totally blame her, either.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at her sleeping form. She hadn't really lived up to his expectations, either – he had expected her to be irrational, to yell or scream at him for taking her away from her friends, or to start crying (something he really hated), but he had not expected her to accept her lot in the calm manner she had. Luckily, she was not attracted to him, or things would probably be a lot worse. Sesshomaru had met many females who had been drawn to him simply because of his looks (or his title and wealth), but he had gotten rather good at getting rid of them, fast. The fact that this one wasn't interested in him at all, but rather felt annoyed because he had messed up her life was something entirely new to him.

As he continued to watch her, something else occurred to him. From his experiences with Rin, he knew that humans required food more often than youkai did – though they preferred to eat in regular intervals when at home, they would often skip meals on the road, as it allowed them to focus on other things that might be more important at the moment. Rin would get hungry roughly three times a day – sometimes more often – and Sesshomaru would then see to it she got her sustenance – either with his help, or Jaken's. This human, however, hadn't expressed any need for food at all throughout the day and, even though her clothes hid most of her form, he didn't think that she could afford to skip a meal or two. Also, she had eaten next to nothing for dinner, either – and the fact that she had closely inspected her supplies before eating made him believe that she was, maybe, rationing her food.

It was possible that she didn't expect him to provide her with food and was therefore trying to make hers last as long as possible. Sesshomaru almost scoffed at that – just because he didn't want to mate her didn't mean he was going to ignore his duties as her alpha – while he wouldn't go as far as to call her pack, he had been the one to remove her from a pack that had been both able and willing to provide for her. Because of that, he was now responsible for her, and ignoring that responsibility would tarnish his honour – something Sesshomaru wouldn't allow.

He decided to make a short break at noon tomorrow, and observe how much she would eat. It was, after all, possible that she just hadn't had any appetite today. If she stuck to the pattern he had seen today, he would have to do something – for it wouldn't help him at all if she starved herself to death because she was too proud to ask for food.

That decided, Sesshomaru leaded back against the tree and drifted off into a state of semi-consciousness, one that allowed him to get some rest while still being able to sense his surroundings.

A/N: So, this is the first chapter. I would also like to use this opportunity to wish all my readers who do celebrate it a (belated) Merry Christmas, and those who don't I wish all the best regardles.