InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On Vacation ❯ Competition ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I'm beginning to lose track on how many of these stupid things I've done. Inu-Yasha and co. belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and any other place she deems worthy to help out with our favorite half-demon dog boy. I wish I did own him so I could play with his ears. ^^;

Chapter 3: Competition

Having been woken up, only to be shuffled upstairs, Kagome and Inu-Yasha went to the girl's room. Not even bothering to turn on the lights, Kagome slid into her bed, clothes still on, and nodded off as soon as her head touched the pillow. Her traveling companion from the Sengoku Jidai merely slumped to the floor, and returned to dreamland.

Noise…there was some noises floating into his ears. Inu-Yasha rolled over on the blue carpeted floor, emitting a slight groan. Someone had covered him with a blanket. Who had it been: the girl's mom, her little brother, or Kagome? Either way, it was soft and warm, just like the cushion beneath his head.

There was that damned racket again! Huh…wait a minute…that sounded like…barking? Fuck, was he barking in his sleep again? He didn't remember any bad dreams….

He was starting to open his eyes. That's when he heard another yip, right into his human ear. "Ack!" Inu-Yasha shot straight up, the green blanket falling off his chest, huffing from shock. Shifting his gaze, he saw a…a…a…puppy! The hell…

The pup yipped happily, chased its tail for moment before skittering out of the bedroom. Judging by the sound, Inu-Yasha inferred that it was heading down to the living room.

He stretched his arms, arching his back, before flopping forward. His onyx locks fell over his chest again, and he blinked the sleep from his eyes. Standing up, the hanyou-turned-human took the fluffy, bottle-green bedspread and tossed it onto Kagome's bed. Adjusting his clothes and double checking Tetsusaiga was still tied at his hip, Inu-Yasha ambled out. Taking the steps in twos, the boy made it midway to hear familiar giggling.

Venturing a bit quicker now, he found, upon reaching the foot of the stairs, Kagome laughing, her head thrown back slightly, trying to fend off the puppy from earlier as it yipped and yapped…. What?! It was licking her?! Inu-Yasha started to growl from the audacity of it all, even though it wasn't as terrifying as it was when he was 'normal'. "YOU!" he shouted as he snatched the little, black puppy up by the scruff of the neck. It whimpered and squirmed in protest as Inu-Yasha inspected it. "AHA! I KNEW IT! It's a male! That dirty bastard…." He tossed the pup down again.

He whined at Inu-Yasha, who snarled again and glowered. The puppy howled as it scuttled into Kagome's lap.

The girl sat there, very much perplexed, a hand stroking the little dog's fur. "I-Inu-Yasha…why are you mad at Choco?" She blinked as the boy's veins popped.

Pointing his finger at the pup in an accusatory fashion, he yelled, "Because, Choco was licking you!"

To anyone else who was outside of the Higurashi family would've thought that Inu-Yasha's reasoning was a bit absurd. To Kagome, on the other hand, it wasn't too odd. "Calm down-" she began to say before Choco started a renewed licking frenzy all over the girl's face and neck, his tail wagging insanely as he placed his front paws on her pink and black patched, pajama clad chest. "EEK! Stop! That tickles!"

In a flash, the pup was no longer on her lap, but was staring straight into the pissed-off, violet eyes of the former half-dog-demon as he hung precariously up by his fur. Choco started crying once more, writhing as he attempted to free himself.

"Don't do that!" Inu-Yasha shouted, tossing Choco to the carpeted floor. Grabbing the girl by the hand and wrenching her upwards into him, he possessively snarled, "She's mine! You hear me! Kagome is mine!" He gave a predatory bark at the puppy, meaning: She's my mate so fuck off, kid!

Choco gave a curious tilt of his head as he yipped, wagging his tail subserviently.

That's when Inu-Yasha realized it. He was standing there, one arm encircling Kagome, pressing her tightly against his chest, proclaiming she was his…. He audibly gulped, pupils retracting whilst his heart pounded anxiously and that oh-so-familiar hotness swept over his face. "U-um…." Oh, yeah, real intelligent choice of words. He didn't even dare to look down at her, his nose just a beat above her wisps of hair. I…just told that pup…that Kagome…was my mate! He gulped again.

"Uh…." Well, at least he wasn't alone in the last place slot for witty lexes. Kagome's heart was beginning to run at top speed and surpassing the max. Was it because he was embracing her so firmly, or was it because of what he said? Her head was swimming as he finally released her and peered at her intently, crimson face. It was both reasons, she concluded, grinning softly at him.

Inu-Yasha was quite aware that his visage wasn't fairing any better than hers. He chewed his bottom lip as he pondered if there was anything to break their awkward silence, spare the annoying, yapping pup.

"Um, well, breakfast is ready…" Kagome feebly mumbled, turning away and meandered into the kitchen. What came over him? I mean sure he's a male dog-demon but surely he can't be jealous over a single, boy puppy? The girl's mind flashed back to all the times he'd been envious and gotten angry with seemingly no reason. She sweat dropped at her observation. Yup, he'd get jealous over pretty much anything….

Not knowing what else to do, Inu-Yasha followed the girl and sat at the table when she gestured him to. The table already had three plates set; they were white with blue ivy trim. Sota was laying down napkins and the utensils; he shot a brief smile to the boy prior to sitting on one side of him.

That's when Kagome brought a pan of something over to him. She set that down and came back with two different bottles with some form of sticky stuff in it. One was purplish and the other was more brownish in color. She lifted off the pan's lid to reveal odd circles of cake, which were a golden brown, and started to put a few on her plate while she sat down beside him. Sota did the same thing.

Inu-Yasha watched them for a moment. "What are these things?" he asked curiously.

"They're pancakes," Sota gleefully said as he poured the funny, brown, sticky stuff on the cakes. "And this is maple syrup. It's really good. Sis is using boysenberry syrup."

He nodded slowly, before endeavoring to take a few pancakes and place them on his plate. He stared at them. Then he added boysenberry syrup, after studying how Kagome drizzled it on. All right, that didn't look bad, not bad at all. But…he didn't know how to use the foreign utensils. Only the knife was recognizable. Inu-Yasha glanced helplessly at Kagome, who simply smiled and leaned over to help him.

"This is a fork," she told him, holding it up, "and this is a spoon."

Fork and spoon, the spoon looks like a scoop and the fork looks like a trident. "How do I use them?"

"Here." Kagome laid her hands over his, after placing the fork and knife in the correct hands, and began to cut up the pancakes.

Once again, his mind wandered to other things instead of how to use the peculiar objects. Inu-Yasha hated this, but absolutely loved it. He would get lost in himself when he was around her, even when he was hanyou. The thing was that while he was hanyou, he was hell of a lot better at hiding how he felt. This act of keeping his big, flapping mouth shut was quite a feat.

"That make sense now?" she asked, her hands leaving his.

Inu-Yasha nodded, feeling that light blush creep over the bridge of his nose. "Uh-huh." He paid attention in the first thirty seconds to figure out the gist of it. He stabbed a square of syrup-covered pancake and popped it in his mouth. Instantly deciding it was good, he gobbled his portion.

After breakfast, Kagome began to clear off the table while Sota headed outside, saying that, "Mom said it's ok that I go over to Keneichi's house. I'll be home around dinner."

"All right, but be careful!" she'd called to her younger brother.

"I will!"

The girl sighed. "That little runt," she mumbled, picking up Inu-Yasha's plate, "leave me to do all the dishes will he." Plopping the plates cautiously into the soapy dishwater, Kagome heard something moving behind her.

A gruff, young man's voiced queried nervously, "Um, do you need me to dry?"

She shifted her gaze and saw out of the corner of her eye, Inu-Yasha holding a white-and-green-checked dish towel. Softly, she grinned. "Sure. I really appreciate that."

"Y-yeah, it's no problem." He anxiously smiled back.

For a few minutes, they worked in silence; Kagome would hand him an item, and Inu-Yasha would dry and stack. It was calming for them to be together without the whining of Shippo, Miroku's lechery closely followed by Sango's rage. Flurries fluttered past the window on the gusts of chilled wind, some adhering to the glass. They were safe inside the warm of the house. Buyo the cat was asleep on the breakfast table, his nose sniffing out any remaining tidbits.

Inu-Yasha saw the frost on the ground, and estimated that it had snowed roughly two inches last night-though he didn't call them inches, about half his ring finger's height. He took a glass from the girl next to him and continued to contemplate on the happenings thus far. I've been turned into a human by the stupid sutra, and I'm going to be here with Kagome for a month. He glanced over at her at just the right moment for her to gently smile and tip her head before returning to her task. Which…could not be a totally bad thing…no, not bad necessarily. I just miss…. What did he miss? Home? Was that what that place was, the Sengoku Jidai? Home? Everyone supposedly had a home, but did he? And if so, was it Kaede's village, some far off place in the Western part of Japan where he grew up as a kid, or was it the tree that he had been enchanted to so intimately for fifty, long years?

"It's pretty…isn't it?" Kagome asked, breaking him out of his ponderings. She ceased her washing of a rather large pot that Inu-Yasha recognized as the stew pot from the previous night. She leaned over the sink a tad, to get a better view through the frosted glass. "I love snow. I think it's absolutely gorgeous. My dad used to take me out there when I was a little kid, and we'd go sledding or build a snow man or something…." She sighed in soft content, nostalgia sweeping over her. It hit her, as hard a snowball of the season would that Inu-Yasha had no real blood-family; spare his jerk-brother Sesshomaru. She opened her mouth to speak but was halted by faint chuckling.

"I don't know what a snowman is," the boy laughed, "but I do know what it was like to play in the snow with my mom. The servants used to get so mad at us, insisting it wasn't good for us to play like that…that we'd get sick…." His voice trailed off, yet he retained a more cheerful disposition when he continued. "Yeah…we had faithful servants at one point, loyal ones that neither cared about Mother and Dad's relationship, nor did they care I was a half-breed." He shook his head, a tiny grin finding refuge on his lips. "It was the rest of the world that did care. And that made all the difference." Inu-Yasha turned his mauve orbs onto Kagome. "What…happened to your dad?"

The girl was in such a stupor from the fact that he had just up and opened to her that she almost missed his question. "Oh, my father? Well, he died…when I was ten. They say it was an accident, but, now I wonder if it really was, or if it was a demon that sensed the Shikon no Tama in me. It truly makes me wonder…never can be too sure any more, huh?" Kagome turned her head and smiled at him, quietly. Her ebony hair fell serenely on her blue sweater, dotted with snowflakes as she recalled things. "Dad was amazing. He was always so kind and gentle, but he was funny and protective of Mom and me."

Inu-Yasha nodded deafly. It had never occurred to him that someone like Kagome had suffered such a loss, yet had managed to still go on through her life, without a father. It made him really question that, if all these years, he'd been wallowing in self-pity. He heard a scrubbing noise, and the irritated sounds coming from the girl.

"Ugh, this dumb thing has food stuck to it and it won't come off!" Kagome growled, still attempting to scour the pot.

Inu-Yasha shook his head. "You stupid girl," he stood to the rear of her, wrapping his arms over hers, "don't you know how to do anything right?" He rested a hand on one of hers, the other clasping over her slender fingers, gripping the pot. He began manipulating her hand that held the scouring pad, moving it in circular motions. "Fuck, Kagome, even a moron could tell you that this needs to be cleaned in circles, not back and forth. That's how you remove this."

Kagome bowed her head silently, taken aback that Inu-Yasha was even touching her, and so closely nonetheless that she unconsciously disregarded what his exact wording was. Her heart would always zip into overdrive when he was near to her; especially so when he'd protect her. It was a somewhat rare event from him to do something like this. Yeah, sure she'd ride on his back and stuff like that, or she'd hug him, and a few times he'd hugged her, but he was close behind her; so near, in fact, she could feel his warm breath in her ear at steady intervals. It sent shivers down her spine, and his calloused palms were so deft at so many things, like helping her scrub at moment, that this whole ordeal was…amazing…. Hot blush was rising and Kagome was well aware.

Inu-Yasha, flushing madly as well, eventually removed his hands and returned to his drying post, smirking to himself. I…I actually did it! I was practically holding her in my arms, and I could feel her body sway back into my chest, her heartbeat rapid…. Did I…do that to her? Drying off another bowl, the boy couldn't help but grin wider as he caught sight of her cheeks. Hah! I did do it! Not that wimpy wolf or that stupid pup….

"Thanks, Inu-Yasha, it makes sense." She wet her lips, finishing her last plate and passing it to him.

"Yeah…whatever…. It was no problem."

Waiting till he was finished, the pair returned everything to the cabinets. After a few seconds of double checking, Kagome piped up, "Well, first thing, we need to get you some new clothes."

"WHAT?! What's wrong with what I'm wearing right now?" Inu-Yasha questioned, pointing to his red cloak and pants.

She sighed and shook her head. "Because no one really wears stuff like that anymore with the exception at a festival. We wear more Westernized clothing, and most everyone knows English nowadays. We're going to have to lock away Tetsusaiga as well."

Inu-Yasha growled. "First, you insist I wear funny clothes like the boys in your time do, and I know what they look like. Then, second, you lock up my sword!"

Waving a placatory hand, she ignored him and went on. "It'll be safeguarded, I promise. But we can't have people wondering about your clothes. Oh, and we'll have to get you shoes. If you step on something, it'll really hurt even your feet."

He snorted. "Feh, fine. Whatever." Crossing his arms, he pretended that he was ignoring her giggling fit.

"All right, well, I have some of my dad's old clothes. You can borrow those. I think your feet are the same size as his. I'm not sure," she mumbled, leading him into the living room again, the puppy curled up into a ball in the corner. She heard Inu-Yasha scoff behind her. "Anyway, it won't be so bad. I promise." With that, Kagome trotted up the stairs.

Inu-Yasha slouched onto the couch, tossing a pillow at the pup, making it whine in his sleep. He smirked happily…was that a bit sadistic? Shrugging that question off, he took in the dimensions of the room. It had beige carpeting, one of those funny box things where people magically appeared, and some family pictures lining the walls.

Getting back up slowly, Inu-Yasha edged his way to one family portrait in particular. Let's see…well, he knew that was Kagome's mom, and the whelp in her arms must've been Sota, the little girl was obviously Kagome-kind of a cute, little kid-and the man must've been her dad. She looked a lot like him. Inu-Yasha grinned. Now he knew exactly what the wench's appearance was when she was small. She still had that slightly innocent face, and was still very pretty…ack! There he went again with mentally complimenting her.

A few moments later, Kagome bounced down the stairs. "Here, try these on." She handed him some of the garments in her arms and he gawked at them quizzically.

"And I'm supposed to put them on how?"

The girl grinned. "Oh, I'm sure you can figure it out. You're pretty smart, Inu-Yasha."

"Yeah," he grunted, "thanks for the left-handed compliment…." Feeling only slightly insulted and slightly pleased, the boy-turned-human sauntered up to Kagome's room, where he stripped. It seemed rather unorthodox to be removing his clothing, like she was going to accidentally walk in on him. He tucked the Tetsusaiga in Kagome's closet, figuring it would be safe there. Just for extra comfort for him psychologically, he threw some of the clothes that had fallen from their hangers on it, making it opaque. Still tinged with nervousness, he decided it would be best to get to the matter at hand and get dressed before his fears became vivid reality.

First thing, he figured out the short sleeved shirt, not too hard. The things that looked like…um…shorts! Yeah, that was it, shorts, they were weird looking and still wrapped in plastic. Shrugging, he extracted them from the clear wrapping and put them on. Then there were the strange, blue pants. They were rather rough compared to what he was used to, but they seemed thick enough. Might be good for the cold as well as protection, he thought, slipping them on. He buttoned the top, but was trying to figure out the odd metal thingy on the flap. I wonder…. He zipped and narrowly missed crunching a very sensitive part of himself. Inu-Yasha released his breath, eyes huge. What the fuck was that thing?! A male torture device?! Grumbling continually as he descended, ticked-off as ever, he found Kagome seated on the couch.

The sight of her made him forget everything. Sesshoumaru could've asked him to give him the Tetsusaiga and he wouldn't have even thought twice.

She must have gotten changed in one of the rooms on that level. She was really pretty…no, scratch that, beautiful! Kagome had a white dress on with pink flowers blooming on it, a cerulean jacket spread on her lap. Her hair was brushed and was a lot shinier than it had been earlier; she probably took a bath prior to his awakening and chose to slip on pajamas after. Smiling up at him, the girl greeted him. "Hey, looking good." She rose and made her way to him, leaving her jacket on the couch, where Buyo the cat hastily moved his chubbiness onto the article of clothing. He looks really good.... Kagome blushed a tiny bit as she moved up to him. "Oh, you have the tag facing the wrong way. It should be in back."

"Ok." Inu-Yasha whipped his shirt off, and Kagome got a good view of his muscles, deepening her redness, and he slipped it back on correctly. "Better?"

"Uh…uh-huh…." She bobbed her head, caught in a brief stupor. "I already have your shoes on the landing. Here." She tossed a cyan jacket to him, which he caught with ease. Shoving her fat cat off, after his many, protesting meows, the girl snatched her jacket as well.

The proceeded to the landing, where Kagome posted a note for her mother that stated where they were going, and they put on their shoes; the girl had to help Inu-Yasha with the laces. Opening the door, they were greeted with chilled squalls, blowing a few snowflakes dancing in. Hustling to lock it, they left the house, sneakers crunching on the frosty sidewalk and down the frozen steps of the Sunset Shrine.

For a bit, they were silent; Kagome enjoying the quiet company-well, as quiet as a street on Tokyo could be-and Inu-Yasha was absolutely fascinated by all the things around him. Sure, he'd been around Tokyo before, this weird city, but only once did he get a brief glimpse. All the other times, it dealt with either saving the girl or bringing her back where she belonged.

A few snowflakes fluttered upon them, yet it was a succinct occurrence. Inu-Yasha noted this, but said nothing, a small pink crossing his nose. When Kagome asked him about it, he attributed it to the cold. She mentioned something about being a little chilly herself, and the boy found her leaning tentatively against his shoulder. Unsure of what else to do, he wrapped an arm around shoulder, bending his head down to fight the oncoming rush of wind and the new blaze of embarrassment crossing his cheeks.

Meandering their way at a leisurely promenade, it seemed like a barrier of sound suddenly burst over them, like an egg cracked over their heads. The noise oozed out as they adjusted to the bustling streets of Japan's current capital. Delving deeper into the yolk of the city, Inu-Yasha could see many tall structures clustered together. Cars went whizzing by, people on bicycles, and groups of people walking along. Inu-Yasha found himself gripping on to Kagome a little tighter. He knew these things weren't demons, but still, this place was unfamiliar and he didn't like the idea of something out of the ordinary, his ordinary anyway, brushing the lightest bit with her.

He had nothing strange to worry about.

"Hey! Higurashi!" the pair heard a cheerful voice call out.

It was the norm he'd have to be wary over.

Inu-Yasha glanced over at Kagome and saw her face grow a tad pale and the fabric woven of dread stretched taut over her face. She bowed her head and gave it a petite shake. The boy craned his neck to get a sideways glimpse of the person calling to his…um, to Kagome.

It was some dork jogging happily towards them-Inu-Yasha hoped he'd slip-with reddish hair and a humongous grin-looked feebler than that idiot Amari Nobunaga. "Hey, Kagome!" Dork boy came skidding to a halt on a slick spot of sidewalk. Inu-Yasha's wish had been so close to being granted when the guy teetered precariously, yet he'd managed to gain balance again. "How have you been feeling? It's nice to see you're out of that strange hospital way up North," the guy prattled, "but I had no idea that tuberculosis could get that bad!"

Kagome's eyes got huge, pupils retracting. She emitted a noise that sounded oddly akin to whimpering. "O-oh, Hojo! It's so nice to see you," she forced out, that fake smile she always wore when Kouga would run around proclaiming her his mate prior to departing with her half-heartedly waving him off. Please…not now…. Not Hojo. She gazed longingly at Inu-Yasha, who in turn, cleared his throat, making his presence known.

Blinking at the other boy like he'd suddenly popped up out of nowhere, Hojo grinned like an even bigger dweeb. "Oh, hello! I don't believe we've met. I'm Hojo."

"Uh, Inu-Yasha," he answered tersely, drawing Kagome closer to him.

Grinning, Hojo turned back to the poor girl. "Well, Higurashi, I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble, if you'd like to go to a movie sometime? Winter break starts in a week you know."

"Oh, really? Break. Um…." Kagome bit her lip. No offense, Hojo, but you're just not my type. You're sweet and all, especially to keep trying like this, but haven't you figured out by now that our 'dates' just don't work out. I don't want to go to the movies with you. I just--

"Well, she can't," Inu-Yasha interjected suddenly into her thoughts. He looked at Kagome, gripping onto her tighter, wind swirling into their faces, her hair doing that dance over his face again with that sweet scent of jasmine and incense…. He mentally shook himself out of his trance. All right, he'd probably get sat so badly but he didn't care. Not like he could beat up this wimp. That would be cruel. This Hobo guy wasn't trained to be tough like Miroku or anything so, better verbal. If he verbally assaulted this nerd, it'd make the next week or so tense. Forcing calm into his tone was hard work. He really wanted to shout: "Fuck off buddy! She's mine! Not yours! She has always been mine and will always be mine! I'm never letting her out of my sight, hear me! Unless you'd like me to kill you now, that is." Instead, he came up with a much smoother way, like fresh-blown glass….

"Oh, huh?" Hojo grinned innocently again. "If she's busy hanging out with her cousin, that's understandable-"

"I'm not her cousin, idiot!" Ok, so there went smoothness…well, that of busted glass...kind of glassy…. "I'm her…her…her courting partner!" Inu-Yasha suddenly babbled out. The threesome was quiet. I…I just said I was her…her…. Oh, I am so dead…. His normal, fierce courage was now left behind in the Sengoku Jidai as his visage contorted into utter panic….

Kagome peered at Inu-Yasha in astonishment. Did he really just say he was…my boyfriend?

Softly, Hojo said, "Kagome, I thought we were together…."

"Uh, huh?" She glanced at him, and she couldn't help but feel a tad sorry for the guy. Gently, she smiled. "Hojo, I met Inu-Yasha a long time back and I don't know we just…had chemistry." It's kind of true…I mean, we are friends but with something between us…. "Besides, there are plenty of girls that would love to go out with you. Ayumi has a major crush on you."

"She…she does?" the boy inquired in surprise.

"Yeah! You should ask her out," Kagome went on encouragingly, bobbing her head.

"You know what, I think I will!" Hojo burst out happily. "Thank you so much, Kagome. You're a good friend. I hope you two have a nice date. Bye!" With that he skipped along…and fell smack on his ass when he hit a patch of ice. Still grinning like a fool, he slipped to his feet and tramped on around the corner.

Well, he bounces back quickly, now doesn't he? Kagome thought, watching him leave. Scrutinizing his features, she looked at her companion and found he was blushing.

Before she could question, his stuttered response was, "W-well, I d-didn't want to s-s-see you with that f-f-f-fucking dumb shit…." He was still not looking at her for fear of hearing something he really wouldn't like.

"Inu-Yasha," she cupped his face in her palm so he faced her; shock leapt from every feature. "Thank you." And, doing something she hadn't done before, Kagome Higurashi kissed Inu-Yasha the (normally) hanyou boy on the cheek.

Gawking at her, violet eyes wide with surprise, his heartbeat rapid, Inu-Yasha smiled without vacillation. "Uh, you're welcome," he replied, forgetting to add an insult.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: *long stretch* Ok, told everyone I'd update! ^^ I updated "The Mysterious Little Visitor" a week or so ago, and I will begin work on "Shikon High". I have so many ideas, but right now, I have to suppress the urge to write a few more…for now ^.~ In any case, there's not much more to say but, I need people to R+R! (Read and Review!) I really like reviews and it's been a rather slow week. *sigh*

Inu-Yasha: (human) Moonlight, what's wrong?

Oh, I'm ok. Just tired from babysitting and stuff….

Inu-Yasha: Yeah, well…um…. *looks around* Th-thanks.

Uh, what?

Inu-Yasha: Thanks for the chapter with Kagome and me…. Truce for right now?

Yeah, truce. *grins*

Anyway, that's all there's to report.

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow

P.S. More one shots swirling in my head. If you haven't already, check out "Hugs and Kisses" I think it came out cute.