InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Setting Them Straight ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Bless you lovely people! It's 6:19 in the morning and I originally only got on this early because I wanted to taunt my sister… see, she is temporarily banned from it… so I just wanted to annoy her at first, but then I checked my mail and saw all my wonderful reviews and I was like, "Hey! I'm WICKED HAPPY now! They just made my day!" Well actually I didn't really say that because there are people still asleep in my house… but I thought it! And now my day is going to be extra-super-fantabulous because I have people who appreciate me even though they don't even know me, and plus it's RAINING! I love rain.

Hey… whoa… I thought I made up 'fantabulous', but it turns out that it's a real word! So is indubitably… my family really needs to stop saying these strange words as if they aren't real! My education is at stake!

Hehehehe…. I'm all hyper now from my super happiness. Can you tell? Weee! Well I think I'll just go on to the actual chapter now then…

~*~

After that little bout with Kouga the other day, the whole lot of them went back to Kaede's and spent the rest of the night there. Them the next morning, it was just the same as always…

Shippo was playing contentedly with a slinky, which just so happened to be red, and he was having a grand ol' time with it. Inuyasha was bored, and saw Shippo playing with the slinky. It looked mildly interesting.

So he went over and plucked it right out of the brat's hands. When Shippo whined for him to give it back, he irritably replied that he would only be a minute with it, and to just wait and 'don't mess yourself over it'. So Shippo turned himself into that pink balloon and started gnawing on Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha got angry, and a scuffle ensued.

What resulted was Kagome sitting against the trunk of a tree with Inuyasha in a branch above her and Shippo held protectively in her lap as she tried to untangle the slinky.

Looking at the mess, she sighed. Then she looked up to Inuyasha and said, "See, this is why we can't buy you nice things." Inuyasha gave her one of those looks that said 'don't you dare scold me just because I try to make sure that I get into a fracas with that kid every day. Come on, I need SOME consistency in my life!'

"Can you fix it, Kagome?" Shippo asked innocently from Kagome's lap.

In all honesty, it looked hopeless. Kagome just wished that something else would come along and distract the kitsune from his broken toy, preferably sometime soon.

She looked around as if to find the words to answer him in the air. That's when she saw Kitty sitting against the outside wall of the hut with the electric keyboard in her lap and a hand hovering above it, ready to play on command. She was looking at Kagome, waiting.

Kagome smiled to her friend, who took that as her queue and started playing the bounciest, most child-appealing tune she could think of. Shippo heard it of course, and instantly perked up in favor of investigating the new toy.

As soon as Shippo was adequately amused and wouldn't let his attention be drawn away from the keyboard, Inuyasha jumped down from his branch and sat cross-legged next to Kagome.

"Let me see that," he said, referring to the slinky.

Kagome handed the tangled mass of plastic over to him and tried to watch to see what he wanted it for, but he spun himself around so that his back was facing her and she couldn't see.

She tried fruitlessly to peek over his shoulder, but he just kept moving. So she gave up and a few moments later, he turned around again a presented her with a fixed slinky.

Kagome smiled as he handed it back to her and said, "Thanks, Inuyasha. I probably would have just thrown it out."

He shrugged as if he did things like that every day. "It was nothing."

Kagome shifted so that she was sitting on her feet. "Nothing, hmm? Well in any case, I really appreciate it," she said, leaning up to pat him jokingly on the head like she would do to a real dog.

He scoffed at her. "Well if all I get is the pet treatment for that then I don't know why I even bothered."

She rested her arms on her thighs and leaned forward a bit in thought. "Well then how else can I thank you?"

"Well," he said as he began to ponder that. He shifted a bit so that he too was leaning forward in thought.

It took them both a few seconds to realize how close their faces were… and when they did, neither of the two retreated in embarrassment as one would expect. Both of their minds were far too scattered from feeling the other's hot breath tickling their faces to draw back.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Kitty is squatting low behind a bush with a camera aimed at the couple. She had left Shippo with the keyboard (and the headphones, of course) so that she could find something more interesting- and this little discovery just made her day. She was so happy, in fact, that she was quite oblivious to the fact that her finger was adding more and more pressure to the button with every passing second of anticipation before they finally kissed each other. So she had no idea what was coming when the button finally gave way and a flash emitted from the camera.

Inuyasha and Kagome were both stunned back onto the earth so abruptly that they couldn't figure out whether they wanted to regain their vision first or just charge blindly at whatever had interrupted them. They took a few moments to decide.

Assuming that she would probably get beaten to a pulp, or at least yelled at for eaves-dropping on a rare tender moment between those two love-birds, Kitty sprinted away from the scene and back to the hut, taking a long-cut through some thick trees nearby to try and throw Inuyasha off if he decided to sniff out the intruder. She managed to escape before Kagome and Inuyasha could collect themselves.

~*~

After that little fiasco, Kitty thought that it would be best to look busy, just in case an investigation for suspects was formed. That, and she was bored.

It was almost lunch-time, so naturally, Kaede was cooking, Sango was in the hut preparing things for the meal, and Miroku was inside just to be with Sango. Shippo was busying himself with the electric keyboard, and… she hadn't seen Shio for a while…

She sighed and sat herself on a tree stump that she just happened to find. Why was it that she got so bored all the time? It's not HER fault that she has a short attention span for things that are generally considered to be boring.

But, whenever Kitty gets desperate, she always has a last resort that never fails her: she thinks.

Not always meditating thinking, but sometimes she just liked to think. She could think about anything, really… just something to keep her mind occupied.

But even THAT was difficult! She couldn't think of anything to think of! But then she decided that if she looked around herself then she would be reminded of something…. THEN she could think about stuff. Man, the things she does just to keep entertained!

She glanced at her surroundings: trees, more trees, a few huts in the distance, villagers, some cows, rice patties, and some more trees. That actually gave her a good idea for a poem, believe it or not, but she put off writing it for a time when she had some paper and something to write with.

Okay, now that that was over with, she became restless again. She felt like spinning around, so she got onto her knees without getting off of the stump and spun herself around on it by using her hands to make herself rotate.

Then she noticed something moving on the ground and stopped. Closer observation revealed that it was a worm and a slug. They were both on the edge of the dirt path, and they were traveling in the same direction, side-by-side.

They looked like they were racing…

Hey, she was bored! So she watched them for a bit longer.

Behind her, Shio came back from wherever he was (probably getting 'attention' from a village girl) and noted that Kitty was in a position on the stump with her knees still on it, her elbows resting on the edge, and her head in her upturned hands. In such a position, her butt was sticking up in the air and her spine was bent back in a way that Shio didn't mind admiring for a few minutes, and he didn't even bother to question why she chose a stump to do whatever she was doing on.

As Kitty watched the two slimy critters race, she began to root for the worm in her mind. But then it encountered a rock, which it took a while to try to climb over but then resolve to go around. She groaned in disappointment that it was now behind the slug as she shifted in anticipation.

After hearing the groan and seeing Kitty's position and actions, he could only conclude that she was in need of… assistance… from a member of the male population. And we all know that Shio is just perfect for the job ^_~. So he sauntered up to Kitty, squatted down to her level, and said, "Are you looking for something, or do you perhaps need me to help you lose it?"

"Ssh," she said, waving a hand to shush him after glancing at him briefly.

Only when she looked back to the race did Shio see what had caused her to be where she was and on the log as she was. He sulked at the sight- he was all disappointed now.

But he shrugged it off and asked, "Why are you watching that worm and slug?"

"I want to see who will win the race. I marked the finish line with that twig," she said while pointing to the twig about five feet off, and without taking her eyes off of the race. The worm was gaining!

"Huh," Shio said.

"Yup."

Shio observed the race for a moment and then said, "I think the slug will win."

"I'm rooting for the worm. He's only behind because of that rock over there, and he's gaining."

"Yeah, but the slug doesn't have any rocks in its path, and the worm has a lot more in the way after that one. The slug will probably win."

"Hmm… I disagree," Kitty replied thoughtfully after considering his point.

"What are you looking at?" A new voice asked.

They both looked up to see Miroku approaching them, accompanied with a throbbing, bright print on his face.

"We're watching a race," Kitty said. "And the worm is going to win," she said to Shio.

"I still say that it'll be the slug," he said as he got into a more comfortable sitting position, since he might be there for while.

Miroku watched the race as they exchanged opinions, and then voiced his own. "I think that I must go with Lady Kitty on this one. Although the worm has many obstacles in its path, it is also faster than the slug."

"Hah," Kitty said.

Shio crossed his arms and pretended to be so completely enthralled with the race that he seemed oblivious to their comments.

Miroku walked around the two of them and sat on his feet on Kitty's other side.

A few moments of silence passed.

"How long have you been watching them go at it?" Miroku asked, noting that there was a twig that looked like a finish like about four and 1/2 feet away from all of the action.

"Um… maybe three minutes? I'm not sure," Kitty replied.

Before Miroku could voice another question, there was a violent breeze that had the leaves on all of the trees shaking loudly, and a whirlwind could be seen nearing them off in the distance. As it drew closer, it began to slow down, almost hesitating. It got over that, however, and soon enough Kouga was standing near the three of them and scoffing down at Kitty, who just continued to watch the race and refused to even acknowledge Kouga's presence.

Miroku noticed the tense silence between the two and did something to break it. "Greetings, Kouga. Have you come to see Lady Kagome?"

Kouga looked utterly confused for a few seconds, before again turning his gaze onto Kitty and glaring at her once more. "You stupid wench! You're so irritating that the mere sight of you made me forget why I'm even HERE!"

Kitty snickered, but otherwise ignored in favor of monitoring the progress of the worm.

Kouga, who absolutely refused to be satisfied unless he could provoke Kitty and actually get a reaction, settled himself down right in the middle of the path so that he could watch the race as well without being on the same side as Kitty.

"So what pitiful form of entertainment have you stooped down to now?" he asked, mostly directing the question to Kitty.

Kitty didn't answer though, so Shio did instead. "They're racing. The slug looks like he's gonna win, too."

"The WORM!" Kitty argued, turning to him and poking him to emphasize her point before watching the race again.

"I think it'll be the slug, too," Kouga said just because he had to oppose to Kitty in every way possible… even though he didn't really give a crap which of the two won.

Miroku, always in at least one of his only two states of mind (lechery and swindling), got an idea. "Shall we make a wager? I propose that the losing side cooks dinner tonight for the winners."

"Hmm… I like that idea," Kitty said, since that deal would let her win either way. If she won, she got a free dinner. If she lost, then she would get to cook, which she likes to do anyway.

Shio also agreed, but Kouga was completely hell-bent on being against Kitty in every way possible. "No way in hell! I ain't cooking food for that flea bag if I lose!" he said loudly, shoving a finger through the air and pointing it to Kitty.

"Aaw, is little Kouga so insecure of his opinion that he's afraid to lose? Or do you just suck at cooking?" Kitty asked.

Kouga glared at her. "Screw you! That slug will win, and when it does, I hope you burn all of your stupid pink-ended hair off when you cause a fire in the kitchen!"

"You agree to the wager then?"

"Of course!"

Ah, the wonders of reverse-psychology.

Hakkaku and Ginta arrived at the scene, huffing and puffing in exhaustion. "What… *pant* wager…?" they asked as they collapsed on either side of Kouga to catch their breaths. It always seemed that they missed everything important when they traveled with Kouga… or rather, when they traveled behind Kouga.

The bet was explained to them, and after Kouga proclaimed that he was rooting for the slug in an excessively loud voice, which was supposed to hint for Hakkaku and Ginta to do the same, they picked up on the signal and also voted for the slug.

~*~

"Why hasn't Miroku come back yet? Dinner is ready- I would have expected him to smell it," Sango said.

"Perhaps he got distracted," Kaede replied.

"Keh, I wouldn't put it past him. Any time he sees something either shiny or round, he gets a one-track mind," Inuyasha pointed out. He and Kagome had gone into the hut to wait for lunch after they gave up on their half-hearted search for the perpetrator of the crime they were involved with. Shippo was also waiting inside, still playing with the electric keyboard (with the headphones on).

"I guess I'll go get him and the others for lunch then…," Sango said as she stood up to leave, Kirara on her shoulder.

~*~

The crowd was getting restless. The slug and worm had reached the half-way point and were neck-and-neck. They were all either cheering on whichever one they were supporting rather loudly, or they were arguing with somebody that the slug WAS cheating, or that the worm MUST have sabotaged the track.

Sango approached them all and cleared her throat loudly and with an edge of confusion and anger to the gesture. They all shut up to hear what she was interrupting them for.

"What's going on? You're all making lunch get cold."

"We're watching a race though! The fate of our dinner is at stake," they said along with other various statements that vaguely resembled that.

"Oh really now? Who are the contestants?" Sango asked, slightly curious.

They explained the whole spiel to her, and sure enough, they had lassoed her into the excitement. After deciding to root for the worm, she took a seat next to Miroku, but not close enough to be within groping range.

~*~

Ten minutes had passed, and Inuyasha was getting quite impatient. He wanted to eat, and he wanted to eat NOW, dammit!

Too bad Kagome wouldn't let him, though. She threatened to say the magic 'O' word unless he went outside to investigate with her- that way she could make sure that he didn't be rude and dig in before they all got there.

Then, while they were leaving, Shippo decided to come along so that he could get some fresh air and a break from the keyboard.

~*~

"GO! MOVE YOUR ASS, YOU STUPID SLUG!" Kouga hollered as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. The worm was in the lead again, and he just couldn't STAND that smug look on Kitty's face.

"Yay! Go worm!" Kitty and Sango cheered.

Miroku was also anxious, but, not being one to appear as anything but calm, he did his best to not burst out with a loud string of profanity directed toward the worm, which was slowly letting the slug catch up. They only had a few more inches to go… six, at the most.

Shio was leaning forward, as if glaring at the slug from a closer distance would make it go faster.

So close to the finish line… and the worm was still in the lead. Then Kagome, Inuyasha, and Shippo arrived at the scene.

"What's going on? Sango, you were supposed to get everyone for lunch… Kouga, when did you get here?" Kagome asked.

Sango explained the bet to the three of them who had just arrived. And yes, you guessed it: they decided to bet, too. Kagome rooted for the worm, Shippo rooted for the slug, and Inuyasha just didn't give a crap, so he rooted for whatever Kagome rooted for.

The two contestants were an inch from the finish line, and the worm was still in the lead.

A minute of screaming and shouting later, the worm had won.

"Yay! I get to cook dinner," Shippo cheered. The winning team was hesitant about eating the dinner he made, but hey, they won the dinner, so they'd eat it! Besides, the worst he could do would be to put gummy worms in some ice-cream and call it the entrée, and he didn't have either of the two, so it was all good.

All good except for Kouga. Shio didn't really care if he had to cook or not, since he was on his own most of the time and he always got his own food. Hakkaku and Ginta attempted to look angry about it because Kouga looked like he would if they didn't… but it really didn't affect them much at all, since they would have made dinner that night anyway if they hadn't stopped to see Kagome… or stopped for whatever reason they did…

But still, Kouga was just ticked off at his loss.

"Oi, wimpy wolf, would you quit whining? You can't even win your own battles, so why is it such a disappointment that you can't bet on a winning side?" Inuyasha said.

"Oh you are SO gonna pay for that comment, dog-turd!"

"That's five."

They both turned to look at Kitty.

"Huh?" Kouga asked.

"That's the fifth time you've called Inuyasha a dog-turd… at least out of all the times I've heard it. I don't doubt that you've said it many times before, though…"

Inuyasha grinned… the only thing that even came close to arguing with Kouga was watching somebody else do it.

"You know, at this point in our association, it's not much of an insult. It's just what I call him," Kouga said flatly.

"Pfft. Nice excuse."

Kouga started getting really annoyed again. "There IS a difference between an excuse and a GOOD REASON, you know!"

"You just keep telling yourself that," she said with a sarcastic smile and a nod.

Kouga started fuming and was distracted by Inuyasha laughing. Kouga glared at him for a while, then when he looked back at Kitty she wasn't even there anymore. She was off placing her bet for when Kagome and Inuyasha will get together. Miroku was probably reminded of it because of the race.

Kouga stomped up over to her.

"I think Sango has the right idea," Kitty said to Miroku, handing him some money. It was American money, but he didn't notice. "I'm going with this December as well-"

Kitty was cut off when Kouga slapped her upside the head.

She turned to face him fully and stared at him expectantly without saying a word.

He stared back at her.

…

He slapped her on the head, and he didn't even have a good reason! That just ticked her off. She pushed him lightly on the shoulder.

He pushed her back, but just a tiny bit harder.

They continued to exchange shoves, which continued growing harder and harder, until they were wrestling each other on the ground. They were pulling tails, biting, fighting for the upper-hand- but still, it was obvious that they were both holding back because otherwise, Kouga could have easily won since Kitty has little experience with REAL fighting. It was more of a fight that was just supposed to let them take their frustration out on each other for as long as they wanted while simultaneously keeping the other from being able to say any more stupid things. Just your typical win-win situation, really.

Well… it would have been if they actually managed to keep each other from making smart comments.

"Mangy street-cat!" Kouga shouted while straining to keep Kitty's hand away from his neck.

"Earth-vexing pile of parrot droppings!" Kitty exclaimed as Kouga managed to flip them so that he was on top. He then reached for her ears, but she caught his wrists and the battle for power began another cycle.

"Infectious hell-hated harpy!"

Kitty caught Kouga's tail between her toes behind him and tugged just hard enough to make him give up on her ears. "Infectious? That's a pretty big word for a dankish flap-mouthed puttock!"

"Would a mewling gudgeon like you even know what a puttock is?" Kouga asked as he tried to resist being caught in a head-lock.

Kitty gave up on the head-lock attempt and instead pinned him on his back and tried to get a hold on his arm so that she could twist it back. "Quit flailing your arms like a butchered cephalopod and take a beating like a man!" Kitty said, purposely not answering the question because she really had no idea what a puttock was. She only vaguely remembered seeing that it was a European kite… or a buzzard… or marsh harrier, or something…***

They kept going at it for quite some time. Everyone else got bored with watching them (surprisingly) and sick of waiting for them for lunch, so they went inside. About half-way through the meal though, they brought it outside so that they could see how long Kitty and Kouga could go at it like that.

Nearly thirty minutes later, they finally gave up on it. Nobody questioned why they went so easy on each other, because they figured that it was most likely so that they would get reactions to the insults they gave instead of just wasting their breath on an opponent with a lip too swollen to speak. At least, that's what they expected from Kouga. Kitty would probably come up with something like not wanting to even be a part of that in the first place, so she tried to keep it tame.

Tame. Pfft.

So after they gave up, they ate a cold lunch and avoided each other until dinner, when they would try to interact as little as possible.

When dinner-time came, Kitty saw Shio, Kouga, Hakkaku, Ginta, and Shippo getting ready to make the meal (after some convincing that no, cooking does not make Kouga seem feminine and he runs no risk of having something in common with Kitty) and she insisted that they cooked on the gas grill that was stored in the truck back in the present. She snuck off with Kagome to get it, and then brought it back so that they could have a cook-out, thus cooking a meal for 11 people (Kaede's there) properly. Kitty also brought a sack of everything that she would need and had forgotten to take with her for her stay in the feudal era (A/N: In the last chapter Kitty decided to stay in the feudal era until Sunday, when she would go back to the present to see if she got the job at WacDnald's. It's now Wednesday. Just a re-cap.). She made sure to pack some candy, and also thought to bring some food in a cooler that wouldn't be found in the feudal era.

One of the main things she brought was… corn. She also brought some garlic and other stuff to cook it up all nice and good, just because she was missing American veggies.

"What the hell is this monstrosity?" Kouga asked as he held an ear of corn between two fingers and looked at it in disgust.

"It's called CORN and it's GOOD! Now go learn how to fire up the grill from Kagome and I'll get all of the ingredients, since you're obviously too incompetent to manage that on your own," Kitty said.

Kouga glared at her, but obliged.

Mostly everyone was watching Kagome to learn what the grill was, but Shio and Shippo were curious about the corn.

"Don't people usually boil corn?" Shio asked, because he has that weird knowledge about the future. No, really. He does.

"Usually, yes, but grilling it while it's still in the husk after soaking it with a sauce of melted butter and crushed garlic is SO delicious and way better," Kitty answered.

"Uh… you soak the husk in the sauce? What, do you eat that part?" Shippo asked from his perch on Shio's shoulder.

"No, no. You peel it part-way, put the sauce on the actual corn, then cover it back up and grill the whole thing. You don't eat the husk, and it's really good, trust me."***

"I want to grill some carn!" Shippo said, unknowingly miss-pronouncing corn.

The three of them started walking out towards the grill, where Kouga, Hakkaku, and Ginta were already waiting to start. "I don't thing you should be using the grill, but you can help with the sauce ^_^" Kitty offered. He was only a kid, after all. "AND you can make dessert!"

"YAY!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Shio asked with a sideways glance to her.

"Nobody will be hungry enough to eat whatever he makes, anyway," she reasoned.

They reached where everyone was waiting (with the exception of Inuyasha, who was up in a tree nearby) and Kitty got right down to business.

She set down two grocery bags (each with eleven ears of corn, just in case everyone happened to want seconds) and the cooler, then turned to face the five male characters who were chefs for the night.

"Okay men," she said, picking up an ear of corn. "This is a vegetable called corn from my country. I'd leave the recipe to you so you could go at it yourselves, but I'm sure you wouldn't be able to read English and writing it out in kanji would just waste time. So, I'm going to be here and oversee the procedure while I tell you how to cook it."

"Why do we have to take orders from you?" I'll give you three guesses as to who asked that, and the first two don't count. That's right: Kouga.

"Because I'm the only one who can translate the recipe."

"So?"

"So, you want to wind up using the butter to grease the grill, stick the garlic under the feet to balance it, and set the corn on fire because you haven't the slightest idea about what you're doing?"

"Well the fox-dog seems to know something about it."

"But then you would go and use that as an excuse to get out of doing any work, since he would be the only one who knew what he was doing. Now let it go and cooperate just this once."

Kouga crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air in a show of stubbornness.

Kitty sighed in mock disappointment. "I guess Kagome will be going hungry tonight, then…"

Kouga agreed to cook after that.

~*~

Inuyasha jumped down from his tree branch when he smelled the food.

"Oi, wimpy wolf, what's that smell?"

"…Carn."

Inuyasha examined what was on the grill. "What, no meat???"

"I for one think that by the smell of it, the carn will be just fine," Miroku said. Sango nodded in agreement from beside him.

Kagome overheard them from where she was standing nearby the fire. "It's corn, you guys."

None of them made any indication that they cared.

~*~

Kouga was off to the side for a while, arguing with Kitty because he wanted MEAT with the meal, but Kitty didn't want to have the smell of a corpse being gutted around the place where they were going to eat.

Kagome, Miroku, and Sango were engaged in a conversation with Inuyasha about where the last few shards might be- besides the ones in Kouga's legs and the one that Kohaku has, that is.

And finally, Kaede was overseeing Shio while he made MORE butter sauce. Then after he finished he got bored… so he took an extra stick of butter and sculpted a beautiful woman, making use of artistic .

So it was safe to say that while Hakkaku and Ginta were watching the corn and Shippo was lounging on Ginta's shoulder, everybody else was distracted.

For that reason, Shippo took the opportunity to experiment with the grill. He took some acorns out of his pocket and tossed one into the flames below the many ears of corn. There, it started to burn in its fiery death.

He decided that he liked the reaction, so he chucked another one.

However, instead of just innocently landing into the bottom of the grill, it knocked the first acorn through a hole that was there for ventilation, and it landed on the ground where it started to catch grass on fire. At that point, Shippo fled to Kagome before he could be blamed for the trouble.

Hakkaku was the first to notice. "Um… Ginta?"

"Hmm?"

Hakkaku pointed to the flames.

"Well… that can't be good."

"Of course it can't be good!" Hakkaku whispered so as not to attract attention. "It could burn the whole village down!"

"Well then put it out!"

"With what?!"

"I don't know! Put it out!"

"I don't have anything to put it out with! You do it!"

"Um… okay, I'll go get something to put it out with and be right back!"

"Hurry!"

A few moments later, Ginta came back with a cup in his hands and dumped the contents onto the fire. The liquid ignited and spread on even more grass.

"Oh that is great, why don't you just burn the whole village down, while you're at it?!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that sake is flammable?! It's a fluid, like WATER. I just got the crazy idea that maybe it would put out the fire!"

Hakkaku sighed heavily. "Did you think that maybe the ICE in that cooler thing that… the cat girl has would put it out?!"

"…"

He rolled his eyes and went to get the cooler. They spent a couple of minutes discreetly tossing ice onto the spreading flames, and then they finally subsided. Ginta went to put the cooler back where it came from, and then they went back to watching the grill as if nothing had happened.

Kitty came over with Kouga, and they both sneezed. "Why does it smell like burnt sake over here?"

~*~

"Hey, this is pretty good," Kagome said.

Kouga looked proud. "It does me good to have my woman compliment my cooking."

Inuyasha bit into his corn at just the right angle to make juice squirt into Kouga's eyes.

"Oh please," Kitty said dryly. "You didn't do anything but tell Hakkaku and Ginta when to flip the cobs and Shio when to make more sauce."

Kouga looked at her. "Who are you?"

Kitty ignored the question. "So really, they and Shio deserve the praise." She looked at the three of them, who were all sitting next to each other. "Great job! I think I might have to win more bets to you more often."

They all smiled to her in thanks through mouthfuls of corn, and Ginta blushed. Probably from being reminded of that fiasco with the acorns.

"Hey! Don't forget about who made dessert!" Shippo said.

"Yes, Shippo, good job with that," Kagome said as she patted him on the head. He beamed with pride. "What did you make, anyway?"

"You have to wait and see! ^____^"

Kitty smiled at how incredibly cute Shippo was, and didn't even notice that she had just polished off her second thing of corn. She sighed and cave the cob to Kirara to chew on (well… my dog likes to chew on them. I'm not quite sure about cats though).

"Somebody can have my second one if they want," Ginta said, looking like he was way too bloated to even take one more bite of his first one.

Kitty beamed and reached for it, and at the other end of it was Kouga. They sent each other murderous glares and started a match of tug-of-war.

Neither of them were making any progress, so Inuyasha grabbed a hold of it as well, because he wanted it, too. Besides, if he was fighting for it too, then there would be even LESS of a chance that Kouga got it.

Kitty tried to solve it. "Okay, okay, whoever wants this corn, raise your hand.

They both gave her flat looks.

"Oh, good job not falling for that one ^__^" Kitty said. "Give yourselves a round of applause!"

They actually looked like they would do it, but then they sent Kitty more flat looks and sweat-dropped. Did she think they were stupid?

…

…

…We won't answer that.

Kitty sighed when the tugging match started again and looked over to Ginta. "Who should have it, Ginta?"

Inuyasha and Kouga both glared at him with 'I'll KILL you if you don't let me have it' written all over their faces, and Kitty just smiled and batted her eyelashes.

Ginta looked panicked and torn between keeping his mouth shut to let them solve it, and pleasing his pack leader. "Um…"

Kouga started to growl at him.

"Kouga."

Surprisingly, Inuyasha let go. Perhaps even he was smart enough not to get too worked up over some corn.

Kouga grinned with triumph.

But Kitty would have NONE OF IT! She promptly smacked him on the forehead with the heel of her hand and in he let go out of surprise. She bit into the corn and just barely kept herself from bubbling over with giggles at how disgusted Kouga looked now that she had taken a bite of it. She won the corn.

So after everyone finished with their share of the meal, Shippo brought out dessert: pistachio ice-cream with sour gummy worms, Butterfinger bb's, and skittles all mixed in. Yum.

"Um…" Sango said as she pushed the ice-cream around in her bowl. "Um… just… eew." Mostly everyone else scrunched up their faces in agreement.

Fortunately, Shippo didn't hear her say that because he was too busy getting praise from Kitty. She apparently thought it was delicious. But then, she once ate marshmallows with mustard as a snack, so she just has weird taste.***

~*~

After Kouga, Hakkaku, and Ginta had left, it was pretty late, so they decided to call it a day.

Everyone was asleep in Kaede's hut with the exception of Inuyasha, who slept in his tree, and Kitty who liked to sleep on the roof.

Tonight, though, sleep didn't come to her until she thought about the bet she made with Miroku.

'December… I'll have to get started, then ^_____^.'

~*~

So how was it? It took a while, but it WAS extra-super long. I had so much fun writing this. It was insane.

***I got 'puttock' from this site that has a bunch of Shakespearean insults (where I get ALL of Kitty's insults… or most of them) and then I looked up 'puttock' and it didn't have the word in my dictionary or the one at dictionary.com. So I went to a SHAKESPEAREAN dictionary, and it had 3 definitions for the word. A European kite, a buzzard, and a marsh harrier were all of them. Get it?

***I don't think corn is native to Japan… Because, see, corn was new to the Europeans, who knew about Japan, so yeah… and that recipe for grilling corn was something I saw on a cooking show. It looked wicked good, and I have yet to try it…

***I know that the marshmallow and mustard thing might seem familiar to some people because I mentioned somebody eating that in 'Till the End of Time… if you must know why I recycled it, it's because I think it's funny. And… I got that idea from actually eating that. It wasn't half bad, actually… but that might be because at the time, it was 3 in the morning and I was completely slap-happy.