A Tasty Fish
The sun shines upon the five friends, as they search on for their mutual enemy, Naraku. Kagome's riding her bike, as usual, with Shippo in her basket, sucking on a melon-flavored lollipop. Behind her, Sango is holding her Hiraikotsu, her eyes flickers at the Houshi's hand every two seconds. Whenever she sees the perverted Houshi moves a little, she gives him her stare of death Then the Houshi would give his "innocent"look, and a charming smile that goes deeper and deeper into Sango's heart, making it just impossible to stay mad at the Houshi. A little cat with two tails trails besides Sango, Kirara, a cat youkai who can turn into a fierce beast whenever her master or friends are endangered.

Shippo suddenly looks up at Kagome and asks with his sweet tone: "Kagome, when will the Inu-baka be back with our lunch?"

"Soon, Shippo-chan, be patient." The 15-year-old girl replies with a caring look.

The young kitsune sighes, "if Inuyasha didn't finish all your cup noodles yesterday, then we'd be eating about now."

"Yes, I know." Kagome says with an apologetic look. "I should've hid the noodles in Keade-baachan's herb cabinet, it's my fault. So Shippo-chan, you can have my share when Inuyasha comes back."

Seeing how bad he made his beloved protector feel, the kitsune screams out: "It's not your fault, Kagome, it's that Inu-baka's. If he wasn't so gluttonous, then we wouldn't be..." But before he can finish, two fish tied together flies down from the sky and lands right on the poor kitsune's head, following by a curse of annoyance: "Bastard, talking about me behind my back, just for that, you get nothing."

Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and even Kirara look up, and see a dog hanyou land swiftly from the sky. Wearing his usual red kimono, with his left hand gripping tightly on the Tessaiga, and his right hand carrying up to ten fish, Inuyasha walks up to Shippou, retrieving his fish/weapon, and aims another punch at the kid's head.

"Osowari!" Kagome's voice rings through the trees by the road as Inuyasha's upper body rams into the ground. Shippo takes the chance to give his loudest raspberry possible to the hanyou. And adds a little "baka" but knowing that with the hanyou's heightened hearing, he would definitely be dead soon, he dives into Kagome"s arms for protection.

The group decides to leave the hanyou stranded on the ground for a while, and goes a little farther to sit by the largest tree they can find. Kirara helps Miroku start a fire, and Sango helps Kagome take down her large bag of supplies while Kagome "parks" her bike.

It didn't take Inuyasha long to catch up, and by the time he sits down and starts cooking his own fish, he has already forgotten his quarrel with the kistune.

While everyone are sitting around the fire (Shippo sits between Sango and Miroku just in case), Kagome goes to her backpack and takes out her math book, and begin to study. Sango tosses a raw fish to Kirara, and sees Kagome by herself, she asks with concern: "Aren't you hungry, Kagome-chan? You haven't eaten anything since last night." Miroku's stomach starts to growl at this moment, Sango smirks at the sound. "Okay, so none of us have eaten since last night." Miroku blushes at Sango's comment, and uses this opportunity to feel for her back. His action is followed with a sharp smack, and a red handprint on his cheek.

"Jeez, Miroku, when are you gonna learn to keep your hand to yourself?" Inuyasha asks rhetorically from his spot on the tree branch, still chomping on his share of the fish.

Ignoring the idiocy of the guys, Kagome replies politely to Sango: "I can't take time to eat when I could be studying. My midterms are next week; I have to pass the math." She turns again to her thick book, and started mumbling to herself, "Sine square theta plus cosine square theta equals tangent square theta...substitution...identity proving..."

Sango stares at Kagome in amazement. She turns to the Houshi and says: "Houshi-sama, what is Kagome-chan mumbling about?"

"It's knowledge, my dear Sango, knowledge unattainable in this day and age." The monk nods to himself while answering his companion's question, apparently satisfied with himself for the answer than even the sharp minded Sango can't reject.

"In other words, you have no idea." Sango returns to her lunch, and pets Kirara's head out of habit, leaving the Houshi with a blank look on his face.

The Inu hanyou heard Kagome's mumbling and rejection of food. "Keh." He says under his breath. "That baka will faint soon if she doesn't eat something and keeps on doing so much thinking like that." He looks down at Kagome, who is right below him, eyes turning soft. He lets go a slight growl from his chest, and looks at the fish in his hand. Taking aim, he throws the fish down at the miko, hitting her right on the head. But before Kagome can look up, he folds his arms, buries his head into his chest, and pretends to have fallen asleep.

Kagome feels something hit her on the head, grabbing it with her hand, and sees it was a fully cooked, absolutely delicious looking piece of fish. Her stomach growls at the sight, completely ignoring the curious stares that Sango, Miroku, and Shippo are throwing her way. "Oishisou!!!" She exclaims. Then suddenly, she remembers to look up to check where this fish could have come from. Of course, it's not like she don't know, but when she looks up and sees Inuyasha's fake afternoon nap, Kagome giggles a little, setting the fish aside on a clean napkin, and turns back to her book.

Sango looks at Miroku with worry in her eyes. She whispers just so that Miroku and the two youkai can hear: "Kagome-chan is really worried about her midterm, but I'm worried that she'll overwork herself. She wouldn't even eat the fish that Inuyasha cooked for her."

"Yes, I know what you mean, Sango-chan." Miroku looks up at the hanyou instead. "It actually surprises me that Kagome-sama wouldn't accept Inuyasha's rare emotional gesture. This midterm must be different from other tests."

Shippo turns to look at the two adults whispering, then he turns to Kagome, who is still mumbling something about signs, then he climbs the tree to have a youkai to hanyou talk with a certain Inu-baka.

"Eh, Inuyasha, Kagome is not eating the fish you gave her." The hanyou opens his eyes once again. This time, growling much louder. He shoves the kistune down the tree, and goes back to sleep.

"Eh! Inu-baka! What did you do that for?!" Shippo shouts as Kirara catches him just before he could fall flat on his face.

Sango shushes him, and points at Kagome, signaling Shippo to be quiet.

"Tch" was Shippo's response, as he goes back to eat his fish with anger. His kitsune ears flickers a little, and he could swear Inuyasha just said with a voice that only a youkai can hear: "Kagome, please eat it."

Shippo looks at Kagome once again, and at the fish lying beside her. Suddenly an idea pops into his head.

Shippo runs to Kagome's side, picks up the fish, and pleads with the most innocent and sweet tone he can muster: "Kagome, onegai, can I please eat this fish? Miroku took my share."

Kagome looks at the fish with longing, but one glance at the kitsune's eyes, she gives in. The kitsune youkai jumps up to give her a hug, and is just about to take his first bite into unknown fish territory.

"What do you think you're doing, you little shit?!?" Inuyasha suddenly appears from behind, giving Shippo the punch on the head that he wasn't able to give earlier that afternoon. "This fish is for Kagome!!!" He continues to yell on top of his lungs, totally ignoring the stares from Kagome, Sango, and Miroku. "That was the biggest fish I found, and it's for Kagome! Do you hear me? Ka-Go-Me!!!"

Blushing time. Inuyasha just realized that everyone is looking at him, including Kagome, and his voice made it that not just a youkai can hear him. He looks back into Kagome's brown eyes, and notices the red streaks on her face. He drops the terrified kitsune with a low growl, and hops away from the group.

Kagome is so dazed that she didn't notice the smirk on Shippo's face. Sango and Miroku, however, were much more perceptive. When Shippo returns to their circle, both of them gave one of their own fish to the kitsune, along with a "good job".

Kagome sits still on her spot, like a statue. Shippo had placed the fish back on the napkin she laid on the ground. The girl stares toward the direction in which Inuyasha flew. After a minute or two, she smiles to herself. He was worried, wasn't he? Kagome's eyes falls upon the fish. I have to eat it, because Inuyasha caught it... just... for... me

Seeing how their friend has finally dropped her book and began eating. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo sigh with relief.

Knowing Inuyasha's temper and personality, the group goes on without him. But when Inuyasha comes back with fresh blood on his yukata, his companions are all curious as to just where he went, and what he's done.

"Are you hurt, Inuyasha?" Sango asks the hanyou.

"Iie, how can two centipede youkai, four mononoke, and a tiger youkai hurt me?" He answers as though he had a boring afternoon. His companions stares him once again in amazement, but don't want to ask more.

Miroku managed to "exterminate" a non-existent youkai with his "holy"powers, and got them a house to stay at for the night.

"All hail the mighty Houshi." Shippo said sarcastically. But he didn't complain, since this house's futons were especially soft. And the dinner was absolutely exquisite.

"Good night, everyone."

"Good night, Kagome-chan, Houshi-sama."

"Good night, Sango, Kagome-sama."

The girls and the kitsune went into deep slumber, while Inuyasha stays alert. Miroku is staying alert as well... at Sango's chest. But the Houshi is tired as well, he too falls asleep, leaning against the cold, hard wall. Only the hanyou remains awake, gazing at Kagome's sleeping face, unable to pull his gaze away.

Did she eat it? Still worrying about what happened earlier, the hanyou's gaze softens at the image of Kagome buried in her books. She doesn't look very healthy. Inuyasha's grip on his Tessaiga tightens. This is why I don't let her go home. That way, she can't find out about the tests she has to take. Without realizing it, he lets loose a low growl from his chest. Kagome stirs a little in her futon; the kitsune is disturbed, so he suddenly starts to groan. Everyone opens their eyes a little at the sound of Shippo's noisy protest.

Damn that kitsune, I'm still pissed off about this afternoon, when he made me say all those things aloud. Now he's gonna wake Kagome up. Inuyasha drags Shippo up by his bright orange tail, slams the Kitsune against the wall. He opens up the door, and throws Shippo out before Kagome and the others can fully wake up. And stay out!

Luckily, the kitsune thinks he was still with Kagome in a comfortable futon.

Inuyasha turns around and sees Sango sound asleep in her futon, with the perverted Houshi nearby. And Kagome is also asleep... o, never mind that, she is standing about 3 feet in front of him, fully dressed and fully awake.

"Kagome, what are you doing up." Inuyasha asks, shocked at Kagome's brown eyes, piercing through his own amber Inu eyes. He sighs, "You should be asleep, we have a long day ahead of us."

Inuyasha takes his spot by the wall once again, crossing his legs, and pulls Tessaiga closer, but still refusing to sleep. Kagome looks at him, with a gentleness in her eyes that's unable to hide her emotions. They stayed like that for two minutes, then Kagome opens the door and retrieves the shivering, yet still snoring kitsune. She puts him gently back into the covers of the futon, pats him on the head to comfort him. Then she walks toward the hanyou on the floor. Inuyasha finally looks up.

She's coming toward me.

I'm going to him.

Kagome sits down besides Inuyasha, fully aware of his blush. She doesn't look him in the eyes at first, just leans closer. "Inuyasha, I'm fine."

Unable to talk, he gives his best "Un."

Kagome smiles a little: "That fish was very tasty."

So she did eat it! "Un." That's good.

"Inuyasha."

"Na... nani, Kagome?"

"Arigato." Then she closes her eyes, still leaning towards Inuyasha, a blush surfaces upon her cheeks as well.

"Un." The hanyou is finally able to let go and falls asleep.

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