Sesshoumaru was relaxing in his living room, reading a newspaper and occasionally sipping his coffee. Truth be told, he was bored out of his mind, and his reading had evolved somewhere into staring blankly at the print. Belatedly realizing that he was staring at a set of words that looked surprisingly like a fish, he gave a gusty sigh and tossed the paper onto the couch cushion.

A rather timid knock at his front door roused him a bit from his stupor, and he wondered who on earth could be calling past one in the morning. Crossing to the door, he was fully intending to terrorize anyone who dared to attempt a doorbell ditch. Flinging it open rather spectacularly, he scared the living daylights out of the girl standing just outside it.

Wide eyes staring up at him while hastily backing up, the girl managed to squeak out, "I'm sorry!"

She was fully prepared to make a mad dash off the porch, but was thrown off a bit by the man giving her an expectant look and saying, "Yes?"

Still rather shocked, the girl thrust out a measuring cup clutched in her hands, and blurted out, "Sugar!"

Peering down, Sesshoumaru saw that yes, there was some sugar in the cup, but not much for any real practical use. Not quite knowing what to say, he settled on something rather neutral.

"Congratulations."

At this, the girl gave a tremendous groan and applied a hand to her face. Shaking her head, she said, "I'm so sorry. Usually, I'm more eloquent than this." Giving the man a calculating look, she continuned, "And usually I'm not greeted with such an…enthusiastic welcome."

Sesshoumaru gave her an arch look and retorted, "Usually people do not come calling at half past one for any good reason."

The girl looked rather sheepish at this and said, "Well, these certainly are not usual circumstances. And it's a very good reason, I assure you."

At his searching look, she took a deep breath and launched into a very long, rather caustic speech.

"My friend is getting married, and at the last second the stupid caterer said that the cake was lost in transit. I mean, honestly, how do you lose a cake? So now, instead of having a nice restful day to prepare for the festivities, I'm stuck making the replacement cake. And knowing my friend's tastes, something of this magnitude is going to take all night! We're talking five layers here, and that stuff just doesn't happen on its own. And I have run out of sugar!"

The girl flared up at this last sentence and gave her measuring cup a vengeful shake, before remembering that she had an audience. Blushing a bit she looked up at him rather beseechingly, but wavered when his piercing look persisted. Finally, he spoke.

"Just who are you?"

Gaping at him, she exclaimed, "I'm your neighbor!"

This being new news to him, he asked, "Where do you live?"

Pointing accusingly at the house directly to the right of his, she said, "Right there! You honestly didn't know that?"

Noting his blank look, the girl grumbled, "Apparently not…"

Giving a slow blink, Sesshoumaru processed this information.

"When did you move here?"

The girl looked highly indignant at this and fussed, "Three years ago!"

Nodding a bit, Sesshoumaru said thoughtfully, "That explains why that one corner of my lawn has been riddled with tire tracks for about that length of time."

By this time, she was starting to get rather peeved, and said, "I did no such thing!"

"Yes, I'm afraid you did. Repeatedly."

"I do not drive on grass."

"My lawn proves otherwise."

"Impossible! For that to have happened, I would have had to jump the curb. And let me tell you, my little car is not capable of such feats of wonder without at least losing part of the bumper."

"It is fully possible, as my grass is a testament to it."

Getting rather antsy now with the state of her cake nowhere near completion, the girl was getting nearly frantic with the need to get that sugar, and fast. Hitting upon a brilliant idea, she said, "Fine! Show me this horrible transgression, if you're so convinced of it!"

"Very well. Come."

With that, he swept off his porch and over towards her driveway. He pointed blatantly to the lawn there, and said, "See? You do drive on my lawn."

When he received no response, he looked behind him only to discover that she hadn't followed, and was nowhere in sight. Sighing, he returned to his house and closed the door, about ready to retire. But then he heard it.

Soft shuffles and thumping came from his kitchen. He immediately thought, "She wouldn't dare…" But upon entering the kitchen, his fears were confirmed. The girl was indeed present, had found her sugar, and was in the process of transferring it to her measuring cup. When he cleared his throat pointedly, she looked up and winced.

"Uhm, hi there."

"And what do you think you're doing?"

Giving a sheepish smile, she said, "Borrowing?"

"What is your name, girl?"

"You don't know that, either?"

Seeing his stony face, she decided to cooperate and said, "Kagome, why?"

"Because you are trespassing, and I fully intend to rectify your indiscretion."

Letting out a cry of alarm, Kagome said, "No, no, no! Don't call the police! If you do, I'll never get the cake done and the wedding will be a disaster and Sango will be so disappointed!"

A curious glint appeared in Sesshoumaru's eyes for just a moment at hearing this latest development. Fully ready to wager now, he said, "So, this is all a big misunderstanding?"

Kagome nodded her head frantically, looking hopeful that he might be willing to reason with her.

"Yes, yes, it's all a mistake! Honestly, this is an emergency of epic proportions, and this is entirely necessary!"

Sending her a calculating look, Sesshoumaru said, "Hnn. So, how are you going to pay me back for this?"

Not realizing how it would sound before she said it, Kagome blurted out, "I'll do anything!"

Seizing his opportunity quickly, he said, "I don't expect you to do just anything. But turnabout is fair play."

Having said this, he quickly moved to her side and his lips descended on hers. She let out a muffled cry, but as the kiss wore on, she fell limp in his arms. It ended far too soon, in her opinion, and she looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Wha- what was that for?"

"As I said, turnabout is fair play. I'm allowed to steal sugar, too."