~More than a little Distracting~

"Rrrrrgh, I can't do this anymore!"

Kagome's mother looked to the ceiling once again as she heard her daughter's frustrated shouting.

The young girl had been locked away in her room since returning home from school that day, intent on using every minute she wasn't in class to study and prepare for her entrance exams.

However, it seemed that the studying wasn't going too well.

Finished with dinner preparations and deciding her daughter could spare some time to eat, Mrs. Higurashi calmly ascended the stairs to Kagome's room.

Rapping lightly on the door to announce her presence, she peaked inside to see Kagome with her head buried in her folded arms on the desk.

"Kagome?"

The girl in question snapped her head up, her voice a bit more high-pitched than it normally would be as she responded "Oh, Mom! Uh… what is it?"

Mrs. Higurashi eyed her daughter with some concern, but said as cheerfully as she could "Dinner's ready – think you can spare some time to have a bite?"

For a moment Kagome looked like she would protest, but with a sigh she got up from her desk and padded to the door saying in a very defeated voice "Why not? It's not like I'm getting anything done anyways…."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled but kept quiet as the two headed downstairs.

The whole family sat around the table in relative silence as they ate, but the glances being thrown across the table were loud enough.

"Sota, why on earth do you keep staring at me?!"

Sota flinched at his sister's tone, but she'd sounded madder before, so he decided to test the waters.

"I was just wonderin' sis… did you and Inuyasha have another argument?"

Kagome's whole body tensed, but she kept her eyes on her plate.

"What are you talking about? Why would you think we were fighting?"

"Well… it's just that when we got home yesterday, you both seemed kinda… on edge."

Mrs. Higurashi, watching her two children closely over the top of her rice bowl, was a bit surprised to see her daughters face flush.

"And when I went into your room, you smashed Inu-no-niichan's face into the floor – "

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS."

Kagome's outburst startled the whole table – even Buyo scampered out of the room with a yelp.

Abruptly Kagome stood, gathering her dishes and placing them in the sink before stomping away. Just before she passed through the doorway she turned back, glaring at her little brother as she yelled "AND LEARN TO KNOCK BEFORE YOU BARGE INTO SOMEONE'S ROOM!"

Silence flooded the dining room, broken only by the heavy footfalls of the angry young girl as she stormed up the stairs, and only when the resounding slam of a door was heard did anyone dare speak.

"Wha… what did I say?"

Mrs. Higurashi sighed, but turned to her boy with a smile saying, "Sota, could you be a dear and clear the table for me?"

Sota responded with a meek "uh, sure", and Mrs. Higurashi left him to it, quietly climbing the stairs to Kagome's room.

She stopped outside her daughter's door, listening intently for any clues as to the girl's emotional state, but not hearing any crying, she decided it was safe to proceed.

She tapped lightly on the door and let herself in – mothers superseded little brothers after all – and found Kagome lying face-down on her bed, her head smothered in her pillow.

With a light touch on her daughter's back, Mrs. Higurashi sat down on the edge of the bed, a soft-spoken "Kagome?" all she needed to say.

Kagome turned her head to speak, and her mother could see the anger was still in her eyes, but there was also a little bit of frustration and a little bit of sadness too.

"S-sorry mom. I shouldn't have blown up like that."

Her mother smiled and nodded, showing all was forgiven on her part, but added "I think Sota's a little confused – he doesn't know why you're mad at him." She didn't have to add that no one else knew why either.

Kagome let loose a frustrated groan, saying wryly "Yeah, well, he wouldn't know, would he? It's not like anything happened."

Well, that certainly didn't help her understand anything.

"Honey… would you mind telling me what happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"Then… what's got you upset?"

"Nothing!"

But the way she said 'nothing'… Mrs. Higurashi began to suspect that that word meant more than she thought it did.

"Kagome… should something have happened?"

Kagome flushed and glanced away, before turning her face back into her pillow and mumbling something unintelligible.

Mrs. Higurashi sat for a moment, wondering if that mumble was actually meant for her to hear.

"… What was that dear?"

With a very resigned sounding sigh, Kagome sat up, turning to face her mother with watery eyes and very pink cheeks.

"He… Inuyasha almost kissed me, mom."

Whatever Mrs. Higurashi had thought was the problem… she sure wasn't expecting that.

"… Oh."

Kagome ducked her face, hiding it in her hands and letting out a very frustrated sound.

"Then… dearest, why are you so upset?"

"Because… because…" Kagome mumbled into her hands, but then reluctantly raised her head to meet her mother's eyes and continued "I've been waiting for that for so long Mama! There were always so many obstacles between us, but things are changing now…. He was being so sweet, and the mood was perfect… and then he promised his life to protect me… and then we… we were so close…." She trailed off and blushed, looking away, but her face soon turned angry again. "And then Souta just barged in here without any warning, and I just got so flustered and… and I kinda pushed Inuyasha's face into the tatami… I mean, what if Souta had seen us k-kissing! If the little brat had just… just – "

Mrs. Higurashi couldn't hide it any longer – with a slight shaking of her shoulders, she brought a hand up to hide her mouth, her giggling clearly audible.

Kagome stopped abruptly, turning back to her mother, her look incredulous.

Was her mother… laughing at her?

"Wha… what's so funny?!"

Trying desperately to control her laughter, Mrs. Higurashi looked back at Kagome with sparkling eyes.

"It's just… I imagine poor Inuyasha wasn't too happy to get a mouthful of tatami instead of mouthful of–" She broke off into giggling again, and it didn't take long for Kagome to catch what it was her mother hadn't said, and her face turned a brilliant pink.

"No wonder he didn't seem too happy to see us!"

"Mom, come on! It's already embarrassing enough!"

Still laughing, Mrs. Higurashi reached around to place a warm arm around her daughter's shoulders, saying "Oh Kagome, you're growing up so fast! Just yesterday you were a little girl in middle school, and now you're a young woman in love!"

Despite the blush still staining her cheeks, Kagome couldn't help but smile.

"I'm sorry we interrupted you two, honey. But try not to be too mad at your little brother – he was just excited to see you! He misses you a lot when you're gone, you know."

Looking into her mother's pleading eyes, Kagome sighed sadly, her shoulders drooping a bit. "I know Mom. I was happy to see all of you too, but… the timing!"

Letting out a small laugh, Mrs. Higurashi drew her daughter close, laying her head atop Kagome's. "I understand. But you know, maybe you should just tell Souta what really happened! I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that his sister and his 'Inu-no-niichan' have gotten so close!"

Kagome rolled her eyes, saying "The last thing I need is his teasing! It's already hard enough for me to concentrate on studying as it is!"

Mrs. Higurashi's expression turned confused as she asked "You're having trouble studying? But you've been up here for so long already today! Have you been that angry at Souta?"

A sheepish smile crept onto Kagome's face as she admitted "No… honestly, I just can't stop thinking that we almost kissed, and what he was thinking, and wondering what it would have felt like…. Uh, I mean…."

Her hands slapped across her cheeks suddenly to hide the blush threatening to turn her into a cherry as she continued to stutter out "I m-mean, I didn't mean to say… it's not like I think about kissing him a lot – that is, I don't think of him all the time, I just… uh, I was just surprised and –"

"Honey."

"Hm?" Kagome turned fearful eyes to her mother, dreading seeing disappointment at how hung up over this she was.

Instead, Mrs. Higurashi just smiled softly and said "You don't need to be embarrassed about this. I really don't mind if Inuyasha kisses you, or if you kiss him for that matter! I'm very fond of Inuyasha, and I know he's a good boy who will take care of you. He's already done such a good job!"

Kagome smiled back, her previous tension melting as she leaned against her mother's shoulder.

"Thanks Mama."

"And just so you know…" Mrs. Higurashi continued, her voice taking on a teasing edge, "if, one day, I happen to end up with dog-eared grandchildren, I wouldn't complain in the least."

"Eek! Mom, we only kissed once!"

Her giggles were back as she pressed a quick kiss into Kagome's hair. "I know honey, but I mean it! I look forward to having him as a son-in-law someday!"

Replaying her daughter's words in her mind though, Mrs. Higurashi paused. "Wait, Kagome… I thought you said he almost kissed you. Do you mean… have you two kissed before?"

That darned blush just wouldn't leave Kagome alone!

"Uh, w-well, the c-circumst-stances were kinda… odd…."

Interrupting her daughter's sputtering response, Mrs. Higurashi's voice was calm, but her grin gave away her excitement as she said "Kagome, tell me everything!"

*Author's Note:

because if I had been in her place, I wouldn't have been able to focus on anything else for days either.

So this follows the timeline of the anime, and not the manga, because I don't have those volumes and I'm too lazy to look up scanlations and go through tons of chapters.

Also, I kinda involved movie 2 into my canon at the end, so… yeah, this isn't manga canon. Sowwy. :3

Other than that, I have nothing to say. This is just mindless fluff.