Four Seasons (Sesshomaru Fanfiction)

Winter: Chpt 17

17. Fever

There were no cool winter winds anymore, or at least he could no longer feel them.

He was burning up.

He found himself standing in a strange, desolate place, surrounded by nothing but an eerie white fog. It covered the ground and surrounded his ankles.

Sesshomaru glanced down at his right hand and a momentary relief washed over him. His hand looked like his own again. His long white hair had returned as well.

But the relief was short-lived.

He looked around him. There was nothing familiar to be found – only the endless white fog that hung low on the ground. As his eyes kept searching for something he recognized, his ears picked up the sound of laughter. It was a laugh that he could never forget. He searched through the darkness for the face that always followed that jovial laughter. And out of nowhere, she appeared.

Rin appeared, like a ghost amidst the fog, and ran past him, her giggles filling the empty air. He heard her distant voice call out, "Lord Sesshomaru!"

He turned to watch her as she ran off past him and off into the distance. Suddenly, Jaken appeared as well - the staff of two heads held firmly in his hand as he too ran away, chasing after Rin.

"Come back here Rin!" Jaken shouted, his voice just as distant.

"Where have you been?" Sesshomaru wished to chastise the imp, but all he could do was think the words. All he could do was look on, and look around as the two of them vanished.

He turned back around, the mist at his feet stirring and moving away as he did so. He froze.

"You," he thought.

Her back was turned towards him but her form had become unmistakable. He surprised even himself with how easily he recognized her now. Her hair had grown back a great deal. It was braided and fell just below the nape of her neck, right above a fresh scar. Somehow he had unconsciously grown accustomed to the dip in her waist and the curve in her hips that followed right after. He realized what he was doing and tore his gaze away from the red headed demon. But then he noticed that she hadn't moved.

She wasn't running and playing like the others. She merely stood there, her eyes fixed on something ahead. He moved closer towards her.

Even as he stood there behind her, she did not move. He followed her gaze to the thing that she was staring at.

The fog had formed itself into the likeness of three persons, only one of which he recognized. That one had a vague resemblance to the old woman from her village. The other two stood closer together, apparently a couple. As they watched, all three of the figures split in half, as if someone had cut through them with a blade. They then slowly faded away, and for some strange reason his chest tightened at the sight.

Sesshomaru was so focused on what lay before him that, at first, he didn't notice her turn around. He looked down at her, but she kept her eyes straight ahead. She seemed to be holding back tears.

For a while, he stood there, unsure of what to do. He felt pity for the demoness, but more than that he found it strange to see her so beaten down.

What should one do in such a situation?

He hesitated.

"Sesshomaru," he heard a faint and distant voice calling.

She was always laughing, and talking and annoyingly teasing.

"Sesshomaru."

It was a bother.

"Sesshomaru."

But it was a pleasant thing compared to seeing her like this. What if she were to laugh and be happy, like Rin or like Jaken?

He brought his hands up to her face just as a tear fell from her eye.

"Hey!"

Sesshomaru slowly opened his eyes.

It was all a blur at first, and then he found her there. She knelt at his side, peering down at him

Was this another dream?

He brought his hand up to touch her cheek and was met with the gentle warmth of her flesh.

If so then...

His eyes began to close again. His head spun. Where was he? He could not recall. Had he been injured in a fight with some insolent demon? Was that why Akiko looked so worried? He felt himself drifting off again.

She should have known by now that he would never see himself defeated by the likes of a lowly demon.

***

It felt as if her heart had somehow both fallen into the pits of her stomach and risen up to the back of her throat at the same time.

Even as Sesshomaru slowly opened his eyes, still incoherent, and relief washed over her, the feeling did not go away. She hadn't realized it at first, but tears had begun to well up in her eyes.

She didn't question the sadness and the worry that she felt simultaneously for him as she tore her gaze away from his somehow worsening wound and looked him in the eye.

"Hey," she breathed. "You're burning up. I think you have-," before she could finish, Sesshomaru raised his good hand and brought it up to her face, caressing her cheek. She flinched at first, confused by his gentle touch. Her eyes widened and for a moment it was as if her heart had stopped. She held her breath.

"Akiko," he muttered, before pulling his hand away and closing his eyes again. She sat there, baffled. Soon enough her sense of urgency returned, intensified. She definitely needed to do something, and quickly too. But what?

Sesshomaru had taken her by the hand and pulled – or maybe pushed was more fitting – her to her feet when she was at her lowest, whether he acknowledged the fact or not. She couldn't give up on him. Deep down, though, she knew she merely couldn't give up on him because she felt something for the ruthless, cold bastard. She looked at Sesshomaru as he lay there, his breathing rapid, his face still as calm as ever. The word bastard no longer seemed fitting.

In normal situations she would have felt compelled to give some snide remark about the irony of it all, but as she looked down at him, the tightening of her chest was her only response.

"Sesshomaru," his name involuntarily slipped past her lips. "If you lose this battle, I'll make fun of you, I swear it. And I will never forgive you."

No, she'd never forgive him for storming into her life – a formidable and enchanting force that drew her in without her even realizing it – and then leaving her all alone.

"I'll tell your brother and all of the West that you were defeated by an arrow wound of all things."

She blinked away the tears from her eyes, reprimanding herself for being so emotional. She could practically hear Kayo's voice in the back of her mind,

"Since when do you cry?"

It was not the time for being emotional. Akiko knew she needed to act.