InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Presents ❯ Presents ( Chapter 1 )

~*Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Clear and to the point… I am NOT going to cry… *sob*

Rated PG for a bit of language. I'm probably being too… cautious, but oh well.

"…" - speech

'…' - thoughts

~*~*~ - change in time or scenery

Presents

"No!"

"Please, Inuyasha? Just for a few moments! I have to get something!"

"That's what you say every time, and then I have to go there to drag your sorry ass back where you belong!"

"But I mean it this time!"

"Yeah, hell right you do. No."

"But today's important!"

"I don't care."

The bickering of two voices broke into the calm of the forest as two people emerged into the clearing. One was a raven-haired girl who had blue eyes that were currently sparkling in anger. She wore a green sailor suit-like school uniform that was way too short for the feudal era. Her fists were clenched as she stood her ground and glared at her companion.

"Come, on, Inuyasha! Here! You can even time me to drag me back as soon as I run out of time!"

"How about… No."

The one who had just spoken was a boy who had waist length silver hair. Perched on top of his head were two curiously shaped dog-ears that twitched every now and then. His amber eyes blazed into the girl's and his arms were crossed. He wore a red outfit made of fire-rat fur. The boy's brows were drawn together, and if one didn't know better, they'd almost say he was… pouting.

Which was exactly what he was doing…

The girl known as Kagome stomped her foot in exasperation. She let out a rather impressive growl for a human…

"Inuyasha!"

Said hanyou mimicked her.

"Inuyasha!" He copied her words in a high pitched voice.

Breathing deeply, Kagome turned towards the well and started walking towards it. The dog-eared boy followed her. When she put a leg over the edge, Inuyasha grabbed her wrist.

"Oi, wen-!" He was cut off.

"OSUWARI!"

He fell face first into the hard soil around the well, letting loose a stream of extremely creative curses. The girl jumped in, her voice echoing back at our crumpled hanyou.

"I'll be back in a few hours…!"

Inuyasha got up as the spell wore off and glared darkly at the well. He then 'keh'ed and made off towards the Goshinboku.

'Stupid girl…'

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

Inuyasha sat amidst the tall branches of the God Tree. It was almost sunset- about five hours after Kagome had left.

And damn, was he bored.

Every time that wench left for her era, he would have nothing to do and no one to pester. Miroku was too calm and had too much of a reign on his anger. The exterminator was too dangerous, and he already had enough fun with Shippou when Kagome was present.

Snorting softly, Inuyasha rolled over onto his stomach and kicked his legs up. Propping his head on his palms, he fluttered his eyelashes in a manner that resembled that of a bimbo he'd seen in a movie with Souta once. He began talking in a high pitched voice that supposedly imitated Kagome's.

"Inuyasha, I have to go home! Inuyasha, I have a test! Inuyasha, I have to go to school! Inuyasha, I'm going on a date with Hobo, and I'm going to stay in my world to flirt with all the boys so that they'll fall in love with me!"

The hanyou rolled back onto his back and leaned against the tree.

"Keh. I don't care if she's always going home. It's not like I miss her."

'But if you really don't care about her, then why has your mind been fixated on the one person for the entire time?' A calm voice spoke up in the dog demon's head.

"Who the hell are you?"

'I'm your common sense. If you haven't heard me in a while, it's because you haven't been using me. So, am I right? You do care for her than you yourself know.'

"I do not."

'Then why do you keep on thinking about her? Why do you protect her? Why do you keep her around?'

"She's the shard detector."

'Really? If you believed that, then I wouldn't be here.'

"…Keh."

'Do you know what she gives up to help you? She has a family back in her world, friends, and a whole other life over there. Yet she spends almost everyday here helping you collect shards. She cares for you.'

"I know that."

The voice in his head ignored Inuyasha.

'She stayed by you even after she saw you and Kikyou together, even promising to be my your side forever. And yet whenever the poor girl wants to go back for a few days, you blow up. Is it really so much to ask?'

Alright, Inuyasha was feeling guilty now.

"…Keh."

'Again with the 'Keh." Don't you ever have anything more interesting to say?'

"Feh."

The voice almost sighed in irritation.

'Well, you had better think about what I told you. If my guessing is correct, I won't be used for a long time after this. So here's some last minute advice. Get up. Jump down, and try to be more reasonable. -Oh. And stop talking to yourself- people will wonder.'

It stopped talking.

Inuyasha listened carefully, and discovered that his head was, once again, thankfully silent.

The hanyou sniffed the air and located the most alluring scent he had ever come across in his travels. A mixture of wild flowers with the freshness of springtime floated by his nose, and for a moment, he closed his eyes just to savour it.

A feminine voice Inuyasha was accustomed to floated up to reach the hanyou's twitching ears.

"Ne, Inuyasha?"

Jumping down, said hanyou landed in front of a slightly surprised girl.

"What do you want, bitch?" He slammed his head against the mental brick wall at the brief flash of hurt across Kagome's face.

She started fiddling over something in her hands that was hidden behind the girl's back.

"Well, today's my birthday, and I turned seventeen this morning!"

Trying to be slightly more polite, the dog demon thought carefully over his words before voicing them.

"Happy Birthday…?"

Surprised at his comment, Kagome smiled widely at Inuyasha. He felt a warm jolt speed through his body, and decided to be nicer to her more often… but not too often.

Encouraged, the girl went on. "And it's not only my birthday, but it's also two years from the first day I met you. The last time I asked you, you said that you didn't know when your birthday was, so I decided that… we could share one?" She hurried on. "I brought you a gift as well."

She held out her hands and in them was a carefully wrapped present covered in small happy faces.

The boy was shocked and very touched. With a gentleness that surprised even him, Inuyasha slowly reached out and took the gift. Cutting open the wrapping paper with his sharp claws, the inu-hanyou removed the happy face paper to reveal a golden locket. The last of the sun's rays glinted off of its shiny surface.

Inspecting the pendant carefully, he discovered that it was the same as the one she had given him in the battle against Kaguya, and his free hand felt around for it. Kagome noticed his searching movements and shyly captured his rough hands in her own softer ones.

"You don't have to look for that locket, they're the same one. I took it when you were sleeping, and replaced the photos." Keeping her hands on his, she carefully opened the locket. "See?"

The pictures that had been originally in the pendant had been replaced by newer ones. While the old ones had shown several comical pictures of Inuyasha attacking the photo booth, the new photos were much more personal.

One was of a brightly smiling Kagome leaned up against of a slightly confused Inuyasha, their cheeks were just barely touching. The other was of them sleeping together. Both had peaceful expressions, and Kagome's head was on his red clad shoulder. He supposed that Sango had taken that one, since she was the only one who had really gotten the hang of using the ca-mer-a thing.

Turning slowly back to the nervous girl, Inuyasha offered a rare smile.

"Th-thanks. But, I didn't get anything for you… But if this was what you were going back to get, why didn't you just say so sooner?"

Kagome smiled one of her ever-bright smiles and briefly hugged a startled hanyou.

"You didn't have to get anything… And I wanted it to be a surprise."

When she started to pull back, the dog demon held her tighter and murmured into her hair softly.

"Let's just stay like this… for a while…"

Time seemed to stop for the couple, as they stood there in the shelter of the Goshinboku tree. They remained in each other's embrace for some while before finally breaking apart. Kagome pushed some hair behind her ear, and a small smile played on her lips. After a few moments, the blushing girl took the equally shy boy's hand and they started silently back towards the village.

The last of the suns rays pierced through a hole in the canopy of the forest, and they were momentarily bathed in light.

Stealing a glance at the girl's face, Inuyasha decided to listen to his common sense more often. There was a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest that just wouldn't go away.

And he didn't want it to leave either.

He looked at the item he grasped in his left hand. The locket was not the first of Kagome's gifts, and the girl herself was unaware of the many presents she had given to the hanyou- not all of them material, nor could she possibly know how important she was to him.

Taking another glimpse of Kagome, Inuyasha held the hand within his own tighter, as if afraid it would be torn out of his grasp at any moment.

'You've given me so much more than you could know…'

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

[At first, this was going to be an Easter fic, but it slowly morphed into what it is now. (I still have no idea how that happened…)

Till next time…

Ja!]