Hear No Evil

**

"Damn, damn, damn!"

Kagome cursed as she ran around her room frantically, tossing the clothes she wanted to pack toward the bed. She was going to be so late. Inu-Yasha hated it when she was late. She'd planned to leave an hour ago, but her homework had proved to be more difficult than she'd expected. She couldn't ignore her schoolwork just because she had to go save the world from demons and other nasties, could she?

But now if she didn't make it down the well soon, Inu-Yasha would get impatient and come to get her. Kagome did not want to try explaining to people why a boy with dog-ears toting a sword was wandering around the streets looking for her. 

One of these days, she was going to have to teach Inu-Yasha to be inconspicuous.

"Yeah right…" she muttered to herself, stuffing the change of clothes into her bag. "A dog boy wearing bright red is so easily unnoticed…"

Kagome finished cramming her bag full, glancing around the room one last time to see if there was anything she'd forgotten. A small silver whistle on her desk caught her eye; something her brother had given her as a joke. A dog whistle. Kagome smiled. Maybe Inu-Yasha would like it?

She grabbed the little whistle, stuffing it into one of the pockets of her backpack, running out the door and praying Inu-Yasha wouldn't be too mad at her.

**

"You're late," Inu-Yasha informed her, reaching down to help pull Kagome out of the ancient well. "What took you so long this time?"

"Homework," Kagome grumbled. "I came as soon as I could. Where are the others?"

Inu-Yasha waved absently toward the village, not ever really interested in Kagome at the moment. His interest had been caught by a butterfly perched on a blade of grass, and he was trying to stalk the little winged creature. Kagome smiled faintly. Despite all his faults, Inu-Yasha was and probably always would be just an over-grown puppy.

Which reminded her…

"Hey, Inu-Yasha! I brought you a present!" Kagome said.

The little butterfly fluttered its wings and flew away. Inu-Yasha blinked and made a leap for his "prey," just barely missing catching the little winged insect. Light glistening off its brightly colored wings, the butterfly flew to safety.

"Kagome, you scared it away!" Inu-Yasha accused her.

"What are you chasing butterflies for, anyway?" Kagome asked.

Inu-Yasha blinked at her, as if needing a reason for his actions hadn't occurred to him yet. "Because… I… want to?"

Kagome laughed, setting down her bag to dig through its contents. "Here, I brought something you might like." She pulled out the little silver whistle.

Inu-Yasha blinked at it. "What is it?"

"A dog whistle," Kagome said with a smile.

"A ­dog whistle?" Inu-Yasha said, a little indignant. "I'm not a dog!"

"You're a dog demon, partially, anyway," Kagome said. "Dog whistles are used to call pets. It's got a high frequency that only dogs can hear. Neat, huh?"

"Yeah, whatever." Inu-Yasha didn't seem too thrilled.

Kagome pouted. She thought it was neat. Maybe he'd be more inclined to agree if she gave a demonstration. She blew a long, high note on the little whistle.

Though she couldn't hear the sound it made, Inu-Yasha apparently could. He yelped, clapping his hands over his dog ears, growling at Kagome and swiping the whistle away from her. Farther off, in the village, Kagome could hear other dogs barking, having heard the sound too.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Inu-Yasha yelled at her, tossing the little whistle down the well. "THAT HURT!"

Kagome shrank back from his fury. "Sorry! I didn't mean to…"

Inu-Yasha blinked at her. Her mouth had moved, but no sound came out. Had he scared her that badly?

"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked. He only looked at her oddly. She tried speaking a little louder. "INU-YASHA?"

Inu-Yasha was starting to get nervous. "You're not making any sounds…" he said, his own voice a little louder than usual. But he couldn't hear that, either. "I'm not making any sounds! I can't hear anything!"

By now he was yelling so loudly, probably everyone for a mile in any direction could hear him. Everyone but Inu-Yasha, that was. Because Inu-Yasha had gone deaf.