InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beast ❯ First Day ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha or any of his compadres, I'd be very rich and sleep all the time instead of writing fanfiction....No, actually, I'd draw manga all the time instead of writing fanfiction. So maybe the fact that Rumiko Takahashi owns these characters has an upside after all... :')

A/N: More rambling: been busy this weekend w/ dressing people in kimonos for prom and playing DDR, but now that finals are over and I have nothing to do till next month, on with the show! Wheeee.

Beast

Chapter 3

Kagome awoke with a start as paws thudded gently into the small of her back and shifted, churning her skin slightly for balance; she scrunched her head deeper under one warm arm and waved the other feebly at her backside. "Go 'way, Buyo."

Instead of the usual loud meow and sensation of a blob of warmth curling up, she heard nothing and felt the paws migrate cautiously up her back, stopping to balance on her shoulders. "Mmmmmph..." she mumbled, shrugging to ease him off. The points of weight stuck on, though, and she had to wonder where Buyo had learned how to support 25-ish pounds of fat on two scrawny legs. "Go 'way."

"Can I see what you look like?"

Eyes still shut and burrowed into the blankets, Kagome scowled. "You see me every day. Now lemme sleep."

"But it's light outside."

"I don' care, just five mo-" Wait. Buyo never asked her to get up...did he?

With a long yawn and a reluctant stretch, Kagome slowly turned onto her side, and the weight on her shoulder blades nimbly scrambled for balance and rested a bit painfully on her ribs. "You're diggin' in. Cut it AAAAAAA!" Kagome bolted upright, dislodging him with a light thud.

She had cracked her eyes open enough to ascertain that the paws belonged to something with bright green eyes, fur, and a tail, but definitely not Buyo. Crap, I knew this wasn't all a dream!

The interloper sat up, rubbed his head and frowned. "You didn't have to scare me like that, y'know. I have sensitive ears."

"Sorry...but did you have to walk on me?" Kagome was rubbing her eyes, blearily trying to confirm that her visitor was indeed a small boy with a bushy fawn-colored tail, a pair of fangs (like Inuyasha's but vastly undersized), and feet shaped like canine paws. His ears were sharply pointed, too, and he stuck one finger in each and wiggled it around to clear them. As the shock wore off, she also noted that he had reddish-brown hair tied in a high ponytail with a blue-green bow, and looked barely older than a toddler. Quite cute, really, even with the baby fangs. Must...not...grab...and...squeeze to death...!

"I guess that's only fair," the little boy said after a moment's consideration. He brushed his dark blue hakama off, then straightened his lighter blue-green shirt, embroidered with white leaves, and smoothed out the furry brown vest over it. "But it's way past dawn. I had every right to wake you up."

"I guess you did," Kagome agreed. He blinked at her again, looking wary till she smiled at him-then he beamed and she had to resist harder than ever. "What's your name?"

"I'm Shippou." The boy hopped into her lap and sat down, tucking his tiny hands into his sleeves. He frowned up at her, clearly trying very hard to be serious, and Kagome had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep from grinning. "I only just woke up this morning, too, and I heard some of the laundry ladies talking about you. One of them said you told Inuyasha to go to hell."

Kagome put one hand to her face. "Lord. I knew I shouldn't have told Miroku what I said...so everyone knows now?"

"Everyone who's awake does. The others should probably hear about it when it's their turn," Shippou answered, wiggling his feet absently and watching the toes move. "They didn't say you were so pretty, though."

Kagome carefully placed one elbow on her right knee and rested her cheek on her hand, smiling at the compliment. "What do you mean, 'everyone's who's awake'?"

"We've all been sleeping for..." Shippou frowned. "Geez, I dunno how many years. Inuyasha would know. I'll ask him later. But anyway, we only get to come back to the living world every hundred years, and this time Inuyasha woke up early, so he woke up Miroku, he woke up Sango, and they started waking all the other people here. There's a lot of people, so they're still finding where everyone is."

"I see," Kagome said thoughtfully. "Some kind of spell?" Shippou nodded, and she gave in to her urges long enough to adjust his bow for him. "So you're not really ghosts after all, eh?"

He ducked out of her grip, pretending to scowl at her. "Of course not. Someone just cursed Inuyasha and we all got stuck with it."

"Ahhh." Kagome frowned as a bell rang dimly. "But I thought the servants couldn't talk about Inuyasha without his permission."

"I'm not a servant," Shippou huffed, rolling off her lap. "But that's pretty much all I know anyway."

"I see. Well, thanks for telling me." Kagome smiled again and stretched fully, lacing her fingers together over her head and pulling this way and that. "Could you do me a favor and ask Sango to come here for a minute?"

"No need, Kagome-san," Sango said from behind the nearest shoji, sliding it open and carrying a small tray. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning. I slept like a dead rock, thanks." Kagome knelt and picked up her chopsticks, then raised her arms out of the way so Shippou could finish climbing into her lap.

"Shippou," Sango scolded, smiling but slightly irritated.

"Oh, it's all right," Kagome assured them both, as Shippou turned soulful green puppy eyes on her. "This is for me, though, got it?"

Shippou nodded rapidly and snuggled closer, nonetheless watching her like a hawk as she began to eat.

"Does your family live in the castle, Shippou?" Kagome asked around a mouthful.

"Shippou is an orphan," Sango answered sadly for him. "He was permitted to live here when Inuyasha found out he had nowhere else to go."

Huh. But pity for the little boy eroded her mild curiosity about Inuyasha. "I'm sorry, Shippou-chan," Kagome told the boy, handing him her rice bowl and chopsticks. He instantly brightened, taking his eyes off the floor and shoveling food at an impressive speed. "Don't pack it all in or you'll choke," she warned.

"Inuyaffa filled the gaf oo illed 'y pawens," he responded, slowing down marginally but never pausing.

Kagome grabbed the sticks out of his hands and reclaimed the bowl. "What was that?"

Shippou pouted as she set about finishing the half-bowl or so remaining. "I said, Inuyasha killed the guys who killed my parents. So I gotta stay here till I can figure out how to repay him."

"I see," Kagome said quietly, curiosity resurfacing with a vengeance. How long ago was this? How'd he kill them? Were they human? What is Shippou, anyway, not to mention Inuyasha?

"I see you're awake, Kagome-sama." A strange woman in a simple blue kimono and hair wrap appeared, bowing politely to Kagome and giving Sango a look of utmost dislike. "I do apologize most profusely for not attending you earlier."

"That's all right," Kagome answered, uneasy at the room's sudden coldness. Sango stared ahead and pointedly ignored the woman, who set about folding up the futon. Silence descended, broken only by the scrape of chopsticks as Kagome ate, finished the rice and glanced curiously at Sango.

"Can I have some more, Kagome?" Shippou pleaded, and Kagome obligingly handed him the chopsticks once more. She could have sworn she heard the faintest sniff of disapproval from the servant.

"I should be leaving now, Kagome-san," Sango said suddenly and stood up, earning another sniff from the woman for her informality. "Lord Inuyasha will want to know you're awake. He has something for you."

"Really?" Kagome half-rose, barely catching Shippou as he continued to eat in midair, unperturbed. "No, no, please stay. There are more things I wanted to ask you-"

"Please excuse my rudeness, Kagome-sama," the servant cut in smoothly. "But for your own peace of mind, may I suggest that Sango-san be permitted to see our exalted Lord as she pleases? We wouldn't want to keep Lord Inuyasha waiting."

"Ah..." Kagome was about to agree out of sheer confusion, but one look at Sango's face changed her mind. "Please go and tell him that I require Sango's presence here for a while longer and I will be out shortly."

"Yes, my Lady." The servant bowed deeply and glided out, not bothering to conceal a faint smirk.

The shoji slid shut, and they listened to her footsteps fade. "All right, what was she talking about?" Kagome asked quietly.

Sango's hands were clenching and unclenching the front of her kimono. "Nothing that needs concern you, Kagome-san."

"The other women are jealous and say she's pillowing with Inuyasha, whatever that means," Shippou piped up, and Sango's face flushed angrily.

"I get it," Kagome said slowly, waving at Shippou to finish eating when he looked at her questioningly. "So they're gossiping about you and want me to think-"

"That I'm no better than some kind of courtesan, yes," Sango said stiffly, though she relaxed a bit. "You know it's a lie, all of it."

"People really don't ever change," Kagome mumbled to herself. By what Shippou had told her, she guessed the castle population had been cursed for hundreds of years, but otherwise, they seemed to be pretty normal people. It was oddly comforting, in a way. Not that Sango needed to hear that... "I believe you. They're probably all mad that you got assigned to help me and not one of them or something."

Sango raised her eyebrows. "I think you have a point. I've never, well, fit in with the other women here, but they turned even worse when Inuyasha told Miroku to tell me to attend you."

"The stupid jerk probably did that on purpose," Kagome said firmly, rapping the floor with her knuckles.

"Nuh uh." Shippou swallowed his last bite and looked up at Kagome, wiping his mouth off on his sleeve. "They're all scared stiff of him, but Sango isn't. I bet he didn't want you talking to someone who'd tell you how scary he is all the time. I still don't see what that has to do with pillows, th-"

"You could be right, Shippou-chan, though why he'd care what I think of him is beyond me." Kagome playfully tweaked his hair and he grinned up at her. "C'mon, let's go see what dog-boy's got for me." Shippou giggled and hopped onto her shoulder as she stood up. Sango smiled gratefully at her as she passed, and Kagome mouthed a 'No problem.' Besides, she was more curious about what Inuyasha had for her now.

It turned out she wasn't the only one: Sango led her out into the courtyard, which was covered with a light blanket of snow and thronged with servants. Sango had only to clear her throat loudly, and the crowd melted away before them to reveal none other than the battered Higurashi family Bug and a large pile of familiar-looking things heaped on...

"My bed?!" Kagome trotted forward, not caring that she was still dressed in an underkimono-at least she could move with some freedom. Shippou hopped down and ran up to the stairs' railing to watch.

Sango kicked herself for forgetting to change Kagome's kimono before they left the room. She was never going to hear the end of this. "That is where you sleep, correct? Kirara picked up your scent on it and we couldn't find any futons, so..."

"Yeah, it is my bed...and my stuff!" Kagome rifled through piles of clothes, books, her battered Discman and CDs... "This is great! How'd you get it all?"

"We have our ways," Sango replied evasively, and Kagome filed that with everything else she had to grill her and Shippou about later: for now, she had just remembered that the souvenirs were still in the car.

To the amazement of all watching, Kagome put her things down, went to the Bug and opened one door, almost immediately straining to hold the gargantuan TV box upright as it tumbled out. "Little help?" she wheezed, and three of the braver men jumped forward to grab it and wrestle it to the ground before ascertaining that it would not attack further. Well, that explains dog-breath's orders to get my dad's stuff, too.

"This..." Kagome addressed the crowd and thumped the hood. "...is an automobile. A car. It's a kind of carriage that works by Western magic, if you wanna put it like that. It won't hurt you as long as you don't try to move it or touch anything but the doors and seats."

Everyone backed away even further. Kagome sighed. "Fine. I've got it." Only when she started unloading it herself did Sango and two others come forward to insist upon letting them do it; Kagome directed them to stack the DVD player, PlayStation bundles, laptop, and then the dresses in their plastic bags all atop the TV box.

Now what? Kagome wondered, watching the women edge closer to feel the bags' material and marvel at the strange markings. "Er...I know the car was probably hard to get over here..." Kirara leapt to Sango's shoulder and mewed. "Thanks," Kagome called to her, noticing claw marks around the doorframes where the cat must've gripped it. "Well, I know it was hard to move, so maybe we can keep it here and just take these back to the shrine? They belong to my family, not me." She indicated the pile atop the TV.

"You four."

Inuyasha's authoritative bark from the top of the stairs brought everyone's heads around. He pierced the four men closest to the car with a glare each. "Gather all those...things...and bring them to the Lady's room."

Kagome was too upset to laugh at his phrasing. "These aren't mine! I have no right to keep them!" she yelled up at him, moving aside as the men carefully lifted the box and began crab-walking towards the steps.

"If your precious family was willing to let you die in exchange for their own peace, they should be willing to spare you some of their own junk," he snapped.

"And who was it that made them make that decision in the first place?" But he was already gone, back into the castle. "Lazy-ass jerk," she muttered, ignoring the servants nearest her. No doubt they all thought she was a bona fide weirdo now anyway.

But Sango appeared at her elbow and politely hustled her back into the castle, listening in sympathy - if not in total understanding - as Kagome fumed about Inuyasha's order. "What does he think I can do with all those electronics and no electricity? Honestly, they were all looking forward to getting these, too. Even if we did have some kind of power source, I couldn't surf the 'Net or watch DVDs in here! He's such an idiot!"

"I think he was just trying to make it up to you, Kagome-san," Sango began. "He-"

"Just call me Kagome, okay, Sango?"

Sango sighed. "All right, Kagome," she tried again, ushering Kagome into another room while the men puffed towards hers with all the boxes precariously balanced atop the heavy TV. "I know he created a poor impression last night, but he really isn't such a terrible person as he looks...or sounds."

"Or acts, or smells, or says, or-"

"Right." Sango shook her head. "No! All I mean is..." She trailed off, trying to think of something, anything to convey her point, and failing miserably.

"Could you run and grab some of my clothes, please?" Kagome asked, fingering her sleeve. "That way you won't have to help me with this nice stuff."

"Inuyasha ordered us to supply you everything you needed," Sango said dubiously, opening a shoji and pulling out a lovely orange kimono.

"And I need some comfy clothes. Please?"

Sango sighed and gave up. "Fine. One minute, please."

The second the shoji slid shut behind her, it popped back open and Miroku bowed deeply. "Good morning, Kagome-sama. I trust all is well with you?"

She frowned at him curiously. "How did you do that?"

"Never mind that." Miroku glanced behind him and dropped his voice. "How has Sango been?"

"Fine, I think," Kagome replied, even more curious now. "Why?"

"You know that Sango is not an ordinary servant, correct?" At her nod, Miroku edged closer to her and spoke even more quietly. "Good. Without meaning to presume, I must ask that you be kind to her, even more so than you undoubtedly are to those of us who are not Inuyasha."

"What do you mean?" she asked, more interested by his tone and the nervous glances he sent over his shoulder than what he was saying.

"I mean..." Miroku inhaled deeply, then let it out short. "If she starts complaining to Inuyasha or if she simply decides to quit - which I doubt, but one never knows - then my head will be stuck on a post near the gate faster than one can blink. Inuyasha made it very clear that keeping both you ladies happy is my very personal responsibility."

Kagome snorted. "If you want to keep Sango happy, just shut the women servants up." Miroku's eyebrows lifted in curious interest, but she went on. "And if he wants to try to make me 'happy' for some hidden, sadistic reason, he can just stay away from me as much as possible. Tell him that for me, would ya?"

The sound of Sango's footsteps drew Miroku away from Kagome and slightly back. Kagome turned to face Sango, accepting a set of folded jeans, sweater, underwear and a few shirts, along with apologies on the ignorance of her selection...and didn't notice how close Miroku had gotten to Sango till she saw his face go innocently blank and heard the other woman shriek.

BAM went Sango's fist on the monk's cheek, and Kagome dealt him a kick to the ankle for good measure. "You pervert!"

Miroku backed away a safe distance, holding both hands up. "Now, now, ladies, I was only trying to express my support of your-"

"Get OUT!" Sango grabbed his staff, used his automatically renewed grip to swing him around, and gave a mighty shove that sent him flying out of the room. "And don't come back! FOREVER!" she bellowed after him, slamming the shoji closed.

"Wow," Kagome said slowly, taking the chance to change into fresh clothes from the skin out while Sango glared after him. "That was pretty impressive. Where'd you learn to do that?"

"My father," she snarled, punching her left fist into her open right palm. "I could knock a grown human out when I was seven years old."

"Wow," Kagome repeated, buttoning up her sweater and pulling on her jeans. Sango turned to watch as she tugged them all the way on and zipped up. "You don't usually wear a kimono for that, do you?"

Sango laughed, a short but easy sound that Kagome was glad to hear. "Good gods, no. I have battle gear that looks a bit like your clothing."

Kagome yawned and scratched her stomach through the sweater. "I'd love to hear about it."

"Really?" Sango looked bewildered and a little pleased. "Why?"

"Well, there are no 'demon slayers' in this era," Kagome replied. "Probably because there are no demons." She beckoned Sango to follow her. "Come with me and show me the castle. We can walk and talk."

Thus Kagome spent the bulk of her first evening at the castle: she wandered around and gaped at the various displays - jewelry, paintings, armor, weapons, kimonos, and more - while Sango filled her in on certain key points that the curse did not prohibit her from explaining. "I came here about five months...before..." Kagome nodded her understanding: five months before the curse. "Well, I came in search of a demon called Naraku who had taken something valuable from our village. When my brother and I arrived here, we had heard from a reliable source that Naraku had allied himself with the young lord of this castle, and..." Sango paused, drawing Kagome's attention away from a jeweled katana sheath. The slayer looked distinctly embarrassed. "I confronted Inuyasha, and he admitted that the object Naraku stole was here, so I attacked him."

Kagome gaped at her. "And you're still alive?"

"He wasn't"

Kagome's jaw dropped: Sango was speaking, but after the second word, no sound was coming out.

Sango realized it a moment later and stopped. After about fifteen long seconds, she spoke again. "That was something I wasn't allowed to tell. And that, by the way, is what happens when we try. And that's what will happen if you ask me anything too direct. It's very annoying after a while; we discovered it the last time we awoke and we were discussing...what happened. So please save your questions for Inuyasha."

"That's one helluva curse," Kagome said with awe, unaware how much like Akemi she sounded till she caught Sango looking at her oddly and laughed. "Sorry. That's where most of my speech to Inuyasha last night came from: my older sisters. Anything weird I say comes from my brothers. It balances out...somehow."

"That's right, you have a large family?" Kagome nodded. "I'd love to hear about them."

It was Kagome's turn to be surprised. "Why? Don't you have a brother?"

Sango slapped her forehead. "Of course. I forgot to finish the story. Yes, I do, and when I challenged Inuyasha, we both fought and...lost." She grimaced. "Suffice to say that was bad enough, but then we discovered that the object was here fairly."

"Really? What kind of object was it?" Kagome wanted to know.

Sango shook her head. "That's about as forbidden as I could get. Same thing with how it got here. Naraku didn't give it up, though. And the bastard was destroyed, too. Good riddance to him."

"You said Naraku was a demon...is Inu-no, wait, you can't tell me."

"Correct, I cannot."

"Dammit. Well, is Shippou one?"

"Yes, he's a kitsune. Kirara's a fire-cat, and there are a few more demons hanging around this place." Sango vaguely indicated the rest of the castle with the wave of a hand. "To finish my story, we lost, heard the truth, accepted it and then received word from our father to remain here and assist Inuyasha. You see, the object retrieved from Naraku had...a tendency to attract demons, and though the houshi-sama was here to use his powers, muscle and skill were sufficient to take care of most of the demons that attacked. It was not long after that that, well..."

"So you were here to help Inuyasha out, then. Well, where's your brother?"

"He's not awake yet," Sango said ruefully. "I tried last night, and he's just not ready to wake up. It takes longer for the spell to wear off for different people."

Now Kagome was dying of curiosity. "What if I write a bunch of questions down and then you answer them on paper?"

"We've tried that," Sango admitted. "Our hands, arms, or whatever else we hold the brush with seize up and won't move for an hour or so after we try so much as writing a name."

"Geez. Whoever put down the curse must've been a monster." Kagome made a face. "Not even outside the castle?"

"We can only stay within a certain distance of it at all, and the curse is maintained fully within that area," Sango answered wearily. "Inuyasha can manipulate...things, I can't specify...very, very slightly within that range; I think he sent your father back to your shrine instantly yesterday doing something similar. It's almost like a kind of magic the curse-wielder left him to keep us from being disturbed."

Good God, was it just yesterday morning? "And you used that weird power to get my bed and stuff out of the shrine?"

"A bit of it, yes. He can lend it out in small doses, carried in certain objects. It ran out before we could get that metal creature here, though, so Kirara had to carry it."

"Weird. Very weird." And frustrating as hell, but what was there to do for it? Nothing. "Let's go get some lunch, shall we?"

They returned to Kagome's room with food and admired the way someone (probably Inuyasha) had managed to fit her narrow but relatively large bed into the little room without damaging anything, and the boxes were stacked neatly in the corner with the rest of her things. Shippou zeroed in on the smell of food, and Miroku soon joined them after promising to stay well away from both women. He faithfully did so till he got up to leave, at which time he only missed Sango's rear by virtue of the slayer's quick suspicion and quicker reflexes, and thus left with another bruise on the other cheek.

The meal itself was fairly pleasant, though. Kagome pressed Miroku for details he was permitted to relate, and the monk willingly described how he had been brought to the castle at an early age after his father died and a curse in his hand developed.

"The Kazaana is a void, a wind tunnel that the men of my family are cursed with," Miroku told Kagome in response to her questions. "A demon called Naraku inflicted it upon my grandfather, who like my father died by being sucked into his own hand. Every year, the winds get stronger."

"If we could find...the object Naraku had..." Sango nodded urgently at Miroku. "Then you could break the curse, houshi-sama."

"Do you know what they mean, Shippou?" Kagome asked the kit hopefully. He shook his head.

Miroku also shook his head, heavily. "I tell you, Sango-sama, if it didn't close when Naraku died, it will never-"

"Stop that!" she snapped with such ferocity that the monk fell silent. He fingered the heavy blue beads around his glove from time to time as he ate, though, and the atmosphere grew a bit morbid till he brightly asked Kagome if she would be willing to do him a favor.

"Don't you dare!" Sango and Shippou yelled in perfect unison, the former holding a bowl and ready to fling it.

"My, my." Miroku held his hands up in a guileless shrug. "I merely wanted to know if she wanted the last of her fish."

Kagome knew she was missing something, but somehow, it just didn't seem wise to ask.

"There's little else to tell," Miroku finished. "I trained here and helped to defend the castle until..." And he also had to trail off.

After lunch, the two women made another round of the second floor. This time it was Kagome's turn to share stories about her family, and she made certain to think of only the best ones. Worried as she was about her brothers and dad, she had to admit she already felt a little better about her captivity, knowing that Inuyasha was not only not going to eat her, but seemed to be trying to suck up for some reason. Even better, she hadn't seen him since his appearance that morning-she might go the whole rest of the day Inu-free!

Sharing stories about making home movies with her older brothers helped, too, even if her listener didn't quite understand and she had to say they were enacting their own plays for fun.

"So here I am, seven years old, puny as an ant and trying to hold the camera steady," Kagome told Sango, both women idly swinging their legs over the side of a high rail on the second floor. "Yusaku has the most ridiculous dummy set up-it's a sort of puppet that's supposed to look like a normal human. He's supposed to run at it with a baseball bat - a long club made of metal - and pretend to whack its head off." Sango nodded dubiously. "Yes, it was stupid. We were all young.

"I get the camera ready to record the images, I yell for him to go, and he charges up the hill, takes a huge swing, and misses by a mile-" Sango chuckled at that mental picture.

"Oh, no, no, no. Then the bat goes flying out of his hands-" Kagome swung her whole torso around to illustrate, and Sango sputtered at Kagome's reenactment of her horrified seven-year-old self's reaction: wide eyes, wrinkled nose and round o mouth.

"The bat goes flying into a neighbor's yard, hits an old tree, and a huge dead branch cracks off and hits the fence. So then the fence breaks - the wood was rotten anyway - and the dog in that yard is so scared that it runs right into the next yard, where a famous artist had just spread his paintings to dry in the sun. The dog sees them, squats right on 'em, and..."

"Oh, no," Sango protested, gasping for air by this point. "You can't be serious!"

Kagome was also laughing too hard to stay upright. "Of course not! How can you be serious when you're seven and cranky old Kimura-san's million-yen art has dog pee-pee all over it because of you?!"

When they recovered enough to speak again, Sango wheezed out, "You...get in trouble?"

"N...I got lucky," Kagome gasped. "Was only seven...and he sold paintings for...half million more...to some nut who liked the patterns!"

It was a good five minutes before either of them were able to draw a deep breath without starting up again. "I'm g-glad you had such an entert- taining childhood," Sango giggled. She hadn't laughed that hard in several years, as far as she could remember. "I hope this lasts you..."

Something wary and cautiously optimistic in Sango's tone drained most of the hilarity right out of Kagome's system. "Why, what's gonna happen?" she asked, still smiling but on edge.

"I didn't tell you yet..." Sango wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "You're gonna have dinner with Inuyasha."

"WHAT?!" Kagome leaped to her feet, then promptly doubled over and slowly sank back down. Her abdomen hadn't recovered from its workout yet. "Sangoo! I don't wanna eat with him!"

"I know, Kagome, and I'm sorry, but it's either that or you don't eat dinner at all," Sango said apologetically, and groaned at Kagome's bright smile. "You can't skip dinner every night, Kagome!"

"Every night?! That cheating bastard!" Kagome's indignation overcame her pain, and she started pacing. "Why does he wanna eat with me? He didn't like me any more than I liked him!"

Sango cursed her need to stay quiet, not for the first or last time. "It's about time now, Kagome. Come on. Just eat quickly and try to hold your temper and you'll be fine."

Kagome sulkily got up and followed Sango, muttering vague threats about baseball bats and dogs all the way.

"Good evening" were the only words out of his mouth as Sango showed Kagome in.

Kagome knelt, blinked at him and cautiously returned the greeting. The food was already laid out, and she sipped at her tea hesitantly. Inuyasha was wearing the same red as last night...and this morning, come to think of it...and eyed her modern outfit with idle curiosity, but nothing more.

"So. What'd you do today?"

Blink. Kagome squinted at him a moment, analyzing for any sarcasm, boredom, sneering...none detected yet. Just polite, detached interest. Weird.

"Uh...Sango showed me around the castle and we talked," Kagome said lamely. When he declined to make any comment, she coughed. "I know it sounds stupid, but if I'm going to be staying here, I might as well be able to get around. And she's a really nice person. I'm glad you insisted she look after me."

Inuyasha raised a single black eyebrow, and she decided she might actually get used to that face if he kept this up. Not getting my hopes up, of course... "Yeah, it was a good idea," he drawled, helping himself to more salmon sushi. "'Course, Miroku came up with it in the first place..."

"He WHAT?" Kagome nearly dropped her chopsticks. "He said you were gonna kill him if Sango didn't do it!"

Inuyasha stared at her blankly. "Wha? I just agreed when he said Sango would be a good choice. None of the other servants like her, so she won't get distracted or ditch you, and she can protect you from any demons that might wander in."

So much for our theories on his sensitivity! "There are no demons in this era," she said evenly, careful not to sound aggravated or otherwise set him off. Just eat and run. Eat and run.

His nose twitched. "What're you getting mad for? I didn't do anything."

"Exactly." Kagome turned her attention to her food, vowing to kill Miroku and then beat the truth out of him with Sango's help after dinner. In that order.

"And there are too demons in this era," Inuyasha went on, darting a glance at her over the edge of his bowl. "You can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there."

"Of course. Just like germs and aliens," she replied absently, contemplating her options. Maybe a eunuch? He'd probably rather be a corpse, knowing him, even for just a day...Sango said he's usually worse.

Inuyasha scowled at her. "Fine. You wanna get ripped apart because you weren't paying attention, see if I care."

"So are you a demon?" The question popped out before she could apply any brainpower to it. She froze, then glanced up at him. Was it just her, or were his eyes redder?

"Sorry," she said humbly, just as he opened his mouth. "That was rude. Kinda like asking your weight...except you probably don't know yours. So I guess that'd be even more rude to ask, then, huh? Sorry."

Inuyasha had a small frown, but not nearly the size of the one he'd had before she apologized. "Singing a different tune now, wench? That's good. " He returned to his food, and she gritted her teeth. Eat and run.

"I'm hanyou," he said suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Kagome glanced up. Inuyasha was looking anywhere but at her.

"I said I'm hanyou. Half breed. Only half demon." Now he looked up, almost defiantly.

"Cool!" Kagome grinned, her first genuine one in his presence, and he was taken aback.

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked, a little gruffly.

"It means I approve," she said cheerfully. "You say it like I'd say 'leper' or 'pervert' or 'Miroku' or something, but there's nothing wrong with it. One of my best friends in elementary was biracial."

Inuyasha's ears drooped slightly, and he glared down at his bowl. "I'm glad it amuses you so much, but I doubt your friend thought it was so much fun. And he didn't have dog ears, did he?"

Kagome sobered quickly. "I know, and I didn't mean to make fun of you. She had a tough time, too. People were so stupid about it...first like it was her fault, and then that there was something to be at fault for. Made me sick." She tapped her chin thoughtfully with one chopstick end. "Well, pity won't help, so enough of that for you. And for the record..." She got an idea and crossed her eyes at him. "I happen to like your ears. They're cute. So there." Wow. It was true, too. Even better.

"You're stupid, then. Or insane. Or both." Now Inuyasha was the one trying to clean his food up first. Kagome would've been extremely pissed if she hadn't caught a faint flush of pink under his cheekbones in the dim light. She would've rubbed her hands together with glee if he hadn't been watching her: he was blushing! He did have a weakness, then! Nothing like telling 'em they're cute to make 'em squirm, as Akemi had probably said within her hearing once. It sounded like something she'd say, anyway. And the pink and purple combination...

Kagome was still plotting various ways to make him squirm when he stood up gracefully and coughed, folding his hands into his sleeves. "Gotta ask you something before I go to sleep every night," he mumbled, face averted.

Shaken out of her reverie by his obvious embarrassment, Kagome could only frown and shrug. "All right...what is it?"

Inuyasha took a very deep breath, let it out, and glared at the wall. "Willyoumarryme?"

Kagome's brain stopped. Then it sputtered, turned over, and started up again. "What?!"

Inuyasha pressed the heel of his right hand against his forehead. "Look, just answer yes or no. I'm not making fun of you or anything. Just humor me and be honest."

His torment was so plain that she did just that. "No, Inuyasha, I will not."

"All right, then. Good night." Inuyasha bowed stiffly, turned on his heel and almost ran from the room.

Well.

Nothing to do now but go to sleep, right?

Kagome got up very quietly and walked peacefully down to her room, where Sango had spread a futon next to the bed and was curled up on her side, dozing. Still in a daze, Kagome reached down and pinched her nostrils shut.

Snerrrrk "Ouch! Hey!" Sango flailed her way back up, glaring at Kagome. "If I were really asleep, I might've broken your arm! Be more careful next time!"

"Sango." The older woman started at Kagome's perfectly flat tone. "I think we need to talk."

"Talk...?" Sango edged away. "And why would that be?"

"I dunno..." Kagome ran a hand through her loose black hair. "I just thought it might be nice if you knew why Inuyasha just proposed to me or anything."

Sango gulped and shuffled further away. It was going to be a long night.

A/N: Not quite the way I wanted it, but ah, well. I'm writing under a more severe lack of sleep than usual. So if this chapter seems subpar, sue me and see how many pennies you get. :'D I have no money.

Oh, and quick note...if Kagome's story seemed a little weird, that would be because it's a compilation of two actual childhood memories of yours truly, though seeing my brother miss that wild swing was actually way funnier than the dog peeing...go figure. Mysteries of life.

Speaking of which, couple more characters enter the picture next chap, and a bit of action, too. Ta-da. Gonna upload and sleep now...ah, lack of school... :D