Favors

Disclaimer: I don't owe anything of Inu-Yasha. And if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfictions.

Hi everyone!! Here I am again. I'm sorry I didn't update soon, like I promised but I was very occupied. First, I'm passing my summer vacation in Colombia and it's hard to find somewhere to write. Second, it's not a happy vacation because my dad's very sick and is having the necessary treatment here. And it's hard to think of anything in such sphere. But I finally managed to think of something and update it. OK, but anyway, I'd like to thank all those who reviewed (Veoki, I owe you a BIG THANKS for those advises and remarks; they were so useful!!) and like always, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 5

Kagura woke up by the sound of the chattering birds and the pain of her injured arm.

"Good morning, Kagura-sama!" a voice suddenly said. Rin had woken up.

"Since when are you awake?" Kagura asked in reply.

"A long time ago, but Rin didn't want to wake Kagura-sama."

Kagura couldn't help letting out a small smile. "Come on, we're going" she said walking out of the cave followed by Rin. She took a feather out of her hear, which immediately transformed.

Not later they were flying over the woods. Suddenly Kagura noticed a moving green shape followed by a bigger apparently two-headed youkai. Rin seemed to notice it too.

"Kagura-sama, there are Jaken-sama and Ah-Un!!

They landed in front of them. That took Jaken by such surprise he almost fell backwards.

"W-what are you doing here?!" he stammered to Kagura.

"I'll take that as a 'thank you' for bringing the kid." She said ironically.

Then Jaken noticed Rin. "Rin, what are you doing there? Wait, I get it!!" he shrieked pointing at Kagura. "You...why did you happened to bring her here? Was it just a lucky found or a kidnapper's guilty conscience?"

"And what the hell do you mean by that?" Kagura snapped.

"Just the way it sounds; you kidnapped her!!" Jaken yelled

"And why would I do that?" Kagura yelled back.

"Maybe to get Sesshoumaru-sama to do something for you!"

"That doesn't make any sense, you baka!" Kagura snapped. "It does for me! You—"

"What's happening here?" a monotone voice said, interrupting Jaken.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, she—" Jaken tried to say.

"Jaken shut up." Sesshoumaru said turning to Kagura.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

But before Kagura could answer Rin said: "Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagura-sama saved Rin's life when she was attacked by a mean youkai and she took care of Rin and she brought Rin back here!!

Sesshoumaru was looking now at Kagura's arm, which had a large red spot, but decided not to say anything to that matter.

"I...I'll be going then." Kagura said, putting a hand on one of the feathers in her hear. She had to admit she might miss the little human a bit.

"Wait, Kagura-sama, you promised Rin you'll stay with her!" Rin suddenly said.

"That I did what?! I never said that!" Kagura said surprised.

"You promised Rin before she fall asleep again" Rin said, putting a sad face.

The Kagura remembered. But back then, she was half-asleep and had answered with a "whatever" just to make her go to sleep.

"I wasn't conscious what I was saying on that moment." she explained.

"But you did promised her that. It's not good to break promises with a child." Sesshoumaru suddenly said. "However it's up to you whether you keep that promise."

Kagura looked at him in amaze. Was he suggesting her to stay? Or was it just her impression?

"So, it's OK with you if I ever decided to stay?" she asked him. Jaken's mouth opened widely and looked from Kagura to Sesshoumaru in horror.

"I didn't say that." he said. "But it won't matter to me whether you stay or not."

Kagura hesitated. What was she going to do?

"Let's go." Sesshoumaru suddenly said. He started walking away. Jaken followed, and then slowly Rin, with Ah-Un giving Kagura a sad look over her shoulder. "You don't have to stay with Rin if you don't want to." she said.

Kagura sighted. Why was she holding back? The only people who ever took the bother to care about her well being were there so what was she waiting for?

"Allright! I'll stay." she said.

Rin face brightened as she ran to Kagura and hugged her. Sesshoumaru turned around to look and Kagura didn't know what to do.

"She seems to be fond of you." he stated. "If you're planning to stay, you'll have to take care of her. It seems Jaken isn't capable of such simple job."

"I can handle it." Kagura said giving Jaken a mocking look. Jaken glared back furiously.

"Let's go, then." Sesshoumaru said walking further.

——

Kagura, Jaken and Rin were sitting by the campfire. It was allready getting dark. They weren't far from a hot spring and Sesshoumaru had gone off somewhere without mentioning where. Suddenly Kagura stood up.

"I'm tired of waiting here for Sesshoumaru to come. Tell him I went to take a bath. Rin, can you take care of yourself while I'm taking a bath?"

"Hai!!!" Rin said, eager to show Kagura she was a big girl.

"Good." Kagura said satisfied. "I'll be going then.

"Wait, woman!!" Jaken said. "You can't —"

"I can't what?" Kagura snapped.

"You can't go yet! You have to wait until Sesshoumaru-sama returns! We don't know where he is right now!"

"So? That has nothing to do with the fact I'll take a bath."

She turned around and walked towards the hot spring. When she arrived she noticed a thick mist covering the whole hot spring.

"This is perfect. This way I can take a bath safely without the risk of perverted youkai daring to take a peep." she thought.

She quickly removed her clothing and entered the hot spring. It was so relaxing she didn't notice the mist had started to clear. She was standing in the middle of the hot spring when she noticed a misty figure slowly forming because of the lack of mist. When she recognized the figure the temperature of her cheeks raised steadily and she screamed and ducked so only her face was out of the water.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" she spat.

It appeared she wasn't the only one who planned to take a nice hot bath. The reason of Sesshoumaru's absence was quite simple; he was standing next to Kagura. Because of the thick mist she hadn't noticed him before.

"Taking a bath." he said in an expressionless tone.

"Well get the fuck out of here or I'll make you!!"

"I believe you're the intruder here, not me." he stated.

"How could I know you were taking a bath in that thick mist!" she snapped.

"Why are you blaming me, then?"

"I...I...Oh, shut up! One of us has to get out of here. And you are supposed to finished."

"I believe it's too cold for any of us to get out." he said.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard!" Kagura snapped.

"You try, then, if you don't believe me." he answered.

"Close your eyes and turn around." Kagura commanded.

Sesshoumaru turned his back to her and closed his eyes. He heard her stand up, curse heavily, and go back in the water.

"I was right wasn't I?" he said in a tone of light amusement.

"Oh, fuck you!" was her reply to that.

It was quiet for a moment, both of them with their backs turned to each other. Kagura advanced a bit forwards in direction of the shore.

Suddenly she heard a noise and out of the bushes jumped an ugly looking youkai directly to Kagura, in attack form.It happened so fast she hadn't got time to react. But then, out of nowhere Sesshoumaru embraced her, shielding her and receiving the youkai's attack on his back. By a tiny second Kagura noticed they were so close, she could feel his body against hers. But Sesshoumaru let her go quickly and turned to the youkai and attacked it with his poisonous claws, disintegrating it completely.

The she noticed the water had adopted a reddish color. It was coming from Sesshoumaru's injury on his back.

"Why...why did you do that?" she asked rather confused.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer directly but remained quiet for a few seconds.

"I owed you a favor." he said simply.

"What favor?" she asked even more confused.

"You saved Rin's life. That was my responsability."

Kagura couldn't think of a reply for that so she said instead: "Err...you're injured, you need some help?" "I can handle it. I believe it's time we get out of the hot spring." "I guess so. Turn around." Kagura said. "I'll get dressed first. Sesshoumaru did what she told him to do. After she got dressed (it wasn't cold anymore), Kagura walked away but stopped in hesitation.

"You'll need bandage for that injury." she said. "I...I'll get some."

Before Sesshoumaru could answer, she walked away. He decided to start getting out of the lake and to put on his pants.

Kagura had found the bandages quicker than she had thought. They were next to Jaken.

"Why had you screamed?" he asked as she bent to pick up the bandages. "Did you found out the reasons why Sesshoumaru-sama went away?"

"Shut up! It's non of your business!" Kagura snapped.

"Dammit! He could probably assume what has happened. If he says something else to that matter, I swear I'll kill him!"

But luckily he decided to shut up and Kagura returned to the hot spring, returning sooner than Sesshoumaru expected. When she removed the bushes towards the hot spring, where Sesshoumaru was, she got a full view of him naked. She screamed, and blushing furiously she turned around.

"What the hell were you doing?!" she screamed.

"Getting dressed." he said simply. "It was suppose to prevent this."

"Well dress quickly." Kagura snapped.

Not much later he had put his pants on and Kagura started bandaging his back.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked as she was on the verge of finishing bandaging him.

"I owed you a favor, remember? You saved my life." she answered tying the bandage in a tight knot. After that she used the remaining bandages to bandage her own injury on her arm, which came out to be a difficult thing to do with only one hand. Without saying anything Sesshoumaru slowly grabbed her hand which caused Kagura's cheeks to get a reddish shade.

"What do you think you're..." she started, when Sesshoumaru simply put her hand on the ground and started bandaging her arm.

"I believe it's difficult to bandage yourself with only one arm." he said simply.

"Why...?"

"I owed you a favor. You bandaged me." She sighted and allowed him to bandage her in silent.

——

It was night. After Kagura made sure Rin was fast asleep she walked away. She had a lot to think about. First, the reason why Sesshoumaru had helped her. And why, on the moment her had embraced her protectively she had felt her heart beating so loud it was almost audible? And why had she blushed when he got her hand?

"What the hell is happening to me? I'm not falling in love aren't I? No, no, no and NO! I'm definitely not falling for him. Or am I?"

She felt slightly confused.

"When I thought I wanted to see him one last time, it was to sort out my weird feelings! Not to get them even stronger and more confusing!"

Suddenly she felt she was being watched. When she turned around, her eyes met Sesshoumaru's, who was watching her silently from a distance. As soon as their eyes met both of them turned away quickly from each other. Immediately she felt her heart beating faster than ever. She sighted and decided to let the thinking for the next day.

Sesshoumaru stared in front of him. It had been a very eventful day. And somehow he felt a tiny attraction towards the wind socceres, although he had a great difficulty to admit it to himself or to admit that deep inside he found her interesting. He wondered what was going to happen the next day.

End chapter 5

Ok, another chapter done! I don't know when I can update chapter 6 but I'll try to make it soon. I hope you enjoyed it and PLEASE review! It really helps! C'ya!!

From: Fiery Koneko