Rowan: Hiya! This is my first InuYasha fanfiction, so please be kind!

Sakura: It's also yaoi, so if you don't like it, go away!

Rowan: In addition, it's a one-shot, so…this is it! Enjoy!

A White Day Kiss

White Day, celebrated on the 14th of March, the sister holiday to February's Valentine's Day. On this day, the men were to respond to the female who made her adulations towards him known by giving them goodies in a white box, hence the name. Cookies if you weren't interested, but acknowledged the affections anyway, marshmallows asking to be friends, and chocolates and other varied candy confections if the girl's feelings were returned. A simple, sweet, and brow-perspiring holiday, and the bane to Miroku's existence.

Sitting under a cherry blossom tree not yet in bloom, the houshi sat in supposed peace and tranquillity. This image of complete and total harmony with nature is broken, however, when one notices the large pile of Valentines' confessions of love, and the strained expression on the handsome man's face. Blue-grey eyes squinted against the sun as his cloth covered right hand passed over the group of letters sitting unthreateningly before his folded legs, muttering under his breath. "One week. I have one week to find out who deserves this box of chocolate, and whose hearts will be broken. Ah, if only I was not so burdened with such charm and attractive qualities, perhaps I would not be in this predicament. I might even be happily married and the father of several fine sons, and not have to bother with this atrocious holiday. Oh, woe is me to be so loved by so many women."

Nodding at the sad truth of this statement, Miroku picked up the large amount of declarations of affections and started reading through them once more. Most of them read the same: "Houshi-sama, though we spent only a few sparse moments together, you stole my heart with your charm, wit, and handsome features. Nothing would honor me more than to be your wife and bear not only your sons, but your daughters as well. I pray that you return my affections and will let me know, before I die from not knowing. Ai shiteru, houshi-sama. I hope that you do too." Then this would be signed with a name, the village from whence both the letter and the girl came from, and a brief description of the girl, so as to remind Miroku's poor memory.

There was one that read slightly different, though Miroku felt that the essence of the message was the same. "Miroku-san, despite your ecchirous ways and your uncharming way of asking every girl we meet to bear your child, I find myself endeared towards you. Don't get me wrong, I still won't have your son, but maybe pursuing a romantic relationship wouldn't be so bad. Traveling on the road makes it difficult to be romantically involved with anyone, which may be why I'm writing you this, but there's a chance that you and I meeting was more than just coincidence. I would like it very much if you and I could be together. I miss that in my life and I believe that you could give that to me. I hope you feel the same way. And I hope that if you do, you will abandon some, ahem, habits of yours. Ever your friend and wishing to be more, Sango."

Miroku put that letter down on the grass in front of him with a smile and a sigh. "Dear Sango-san. She deserves better than me." Returning to his still very large pile of possibles, Miroku felt that he would never know who was the right girl for him. "Well, at least that's one down. Now about the others…how am I to know which girl's affections I return? I barely remember half of them. I'll never figure this out in time!" he wailed to the sky in despair, scaring a flock of crows that had been sitting in the tree above him.

~*~

Sitting in a tree by the well in what had been once called InuYasha's Forest, the hanyou of the same name had a predicament of his own. Nearly four weeks earlier, an unexpected anonymous package had been sitting beside InuYasha's bedside when he woke up on the morning of February 14th, Valentine's Day. The package had turned out to be a box of homemade chocolates, and a fluent, detailed letter, expressing love for the dog demon. Reading the letter for what seemed the thousandth time, InuYasha still did not know who had sent him both the letter and the candies.

"Dearest InuYasha, from the moment we met, my heart knew you were the one. Though at first I had scorned you and you me, over time, I came to like you more and more. You are the greatest friend I ever had, InuYasha. I feel like you understand me, even if you don't act like it. Though we have had our differences, I feel that you and I meeting was destined by fate, and I say we take advantage of that. Though I cannot say what awaits us in the future, I hope that you are there by my side, always, my protector. And though I like to think I can take care of myself, I truly depend upon you to make sure I can sleep safely at night. You are always there, and I pray that you always will be. I hope as well that, though friends now, we can be more. I want us to be more than friends. I can't say whether I wish for us to be lovers, not yet anyway. We're not ready for that. But I am ready for love, as long as it comes from you. Loving you, now and forever-" And that's how the letter ended. No name, no nothing. And InuYasha, no matter how much he puzzled over it, could not discover the author of his letter. Running through the possibilities, InuYasha had found it could be any of the three.

"The beginning reminds me of Kikyou-san," InuYasha said aloud, not for the first time rationalizing his thought process. "Just the way we used to be, enemies who eventually fell in love. But the second part sounds like Kagome-san. She talks about us being together always, as we've been since we met. But the last part could be Sango-san. She's a competent warrior in battle, which would explain the part about liking to defend herself. But that could also be Kikyou-san or Kagome-san for that matter. In fact, any of the girls could have written this." Just then, a thought struck him. "What if it isn't anybody I know?"

"The person writes you are their greatest friend. It couldn't possibly be a stranger," a voice said by InuYasha's ear.

"MYOGA!" InuYasha shouted as he clapped a hand to his ear, smashing the flea vassal flat. "That letter is personal! And I didn't ask you to read it!"

Straightening himself out, the miniature youkai replied, "Lord InuYasha, you have been puzzling over that letter for a month now and have gotten nowhere nearer to knowing who wrote it. I felt I had to give you my input on the matter, as your humble servant."

InuYasha pouted. "Well, unless you saw who wrote the letter, I'm not interested."

Myoga sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. Unfortunately, I did not see who wrote that note. However, might I suggest that you ask Kagome-sama and Sango-sama themselves? They might help shed some light on this issue."

InuYasha contemplated Myoga's words, before slipping out of the tree and stalking over to the village down the hill.

"Lord InuYasha! Where are we going? Kagome-sama is in her own time and Sango-sama is deeper within the forest with Kirara! Why are we going to the village?"

"We're going to see Kaede baa-chan. She'll know what to do."

~*~

Miroku had gotten through half the pile of letters from his beyond numerous amounts of admirers when he was unexpectedly interrupted by a bubbly kitsune youkai. "Houshi-sama, what are you doing?" the child asked, leaping onto Miroku's right shoulder and leaning over to glance at the message in his hand.

"Well, Shippo-chan, I'm trying to decide which of these girls," and he waved the letters to indicate the girls who wrote them, "is the right one for me."

Shippo briefly read one of the notes. "But how can you know from here? All you know is what the girl wrote, and that's it."

Miroku smiled, dreamy-eyed and replied, "Ah, but the memories each letter brings back is enough to go by. You'll understand someday Shippo-chan." Shaking his head quickly, Miroku abruptly changed the subject by turning to the kitsune and asking, "What are you up to anyway? Why aren't you with Sango-san and Kagome-san?"

Shippo shrugged. "Kagome-san went home, to her own era, for a few hours and I'm waiting for her to come back." Suddenly, Shippo's bushy tail twitched and he jumped off Miroku's shoulder with excitement, accidentally knocking over one of the houshi's piles on the grass in the process. "Kagome's back! Kagome-san is back! Yeah!"

Miroku wondered how the little youkai could know the human girl was back, until he faintly heard singing slowly making its way towards them.

"Is it in his eyes? Oh no, you'll be deceived. Is it in his eyes? Oh no, he'll make believe. If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss." Then, from behind a bush, emerged the black-haired schoolgirl, for once not wearing her regular uniform, choosing to don a pretty short pink dress, with big white polka dots spotted around in a random pattern. She was walking barefoot, with her sandals dangling carelessly from her hands. Clutched in the crook of her left arm was a small, stylish purse that matched the dress, having white dots on a lavender purple background. A lighthearted smile graced her lips as her eyes stared dreamily up at the clear blue sky. Kagome seemed to glow as she slowly made her way down the slope, singing all the way down with a nonchalant air. "Or is it in his face? Oh no, it's just his charm. In his warm embrace? Oh no, that's just his arms. If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss."

Kagome nearly walked into the monk as he and Shippo stood, who had been watching the young woman in awe. Looking back to earth at the last minute, she stopped herself before walking directly into Miroku's arms. Letting out a slightly surprised gasp, Kagome smiled in greeting. "Konnichi wa Miroku-san, Shippo-chan. Isn't the weather lovely this morning?"

Miroku laughed. "It's past noon already Kagome-san."

Kagome blushed. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed. I seem to have lost all sense of time since I returned to my era."

Shippo jumped into Kagome's arms, catching the girl off guard. "So, what did you do Kagome-san?"

"Hojou-san and I had a date and, guess what? He gave me a small white box of chocolates! He had told me he would have waited until next week, but he wasn't sure whether he'd see me then, and he wanted me to know that he returns my affections!" Kagome let out a happy sigh. "He's such a darling. I'm the luckiest girl alive!"

"That explains the dreamy look and why you are still wearing a dress instead of your school uniform," Miroku commented dryly, as the subject of White Day had broached the conversation.

Glancing down at her attire, Kagome let out a small cry of dismay. "Oh dear! I forgot to change when I got home! Now I'll have to go back home again!" Kagome turned to leave, Shippo leaving her arms as she did so, when Miroku stopped her with a question.

"What song were you singing?"

"Oh, that. It's an American oldies called "It's In His Kiss", written by Rudy Clark. Hojou-san and I danced to that song at the Valentine's Day Dance last month. I don't know why I was singing that song." Kagome shrugged. "Well, gotta go back home. I'll be back soon." Kagome turned and ascended the hill once more, singing. "Kiss him and squeeze him tight, and find out what you wanna know. If it's love, if it really is, it's there in his kiss."

As Kagome disappeared from sight once more, Miroku suddenly turned to Shippo and exclaimed, "That's it! I know exactly what to do! I'll go and kiss every girl who wrote me a letter! Then I'll know who's the girl for me!" Running back to the village, Miroku yelled back to the very confused youkai, "Tell the others that I'll be gone for a week and not to worry about me!"

~*~


"Did I not tell you, Lord InuYasha, to ask the each woman if she wrote you that letter? Well, Lord InuYasha?" Myoga asked, eager to hear InuYasha admit that the flea was right.

Sighing, InuYasha finally broke under the youkai's ceaseless banter. "Fine, fine! You were right, I was wrong, now shut your trap!" InuYasha was in a foul mood. His visit with Kaede had not been a very fruitful one, the old lady giving InuYasha the same advice as Myoga had, making the flea demon very happy and the dog demon very depressed. Now, InuYasha was going in search of Kagome, Sango, and, if he was lucky, Kikyou. As he walked up the steep hill, the hanyou came across Shippo sitting beneath a cherry blossom tree. "Oi! Shippo-chan! Have you seen Kagome-san?"

Shippo looked up at the half demon and nodded. "She just came back from a date with Hojou-san in her own era and forgot to change, so she had to go back. Apparently Hojou-san had told Kagome-san that he loved her, so she had become unaware of anything after that. Why do you need her?"

"Well, I guess that means Kagome didn't write this letter," InuYasha muttered to Myoga, before replying to Shippo's inquiry. "Never mind. Do you know where Sango-san is then?"

Shippo pointed vaguely into the woods. "Somewhere in there, I think."

"Thanks Shippo-chan." InuYasha and Myoga then advanced into the forest, only to be met by the big version of Kirara. "Guess that means Sango-san's taking a bath," InuYasha remarked, as the neko youkai shooed InuYasha away.

With a sigh, InuYasha walked blindly through the woods, not caring where he walked. He walked for about ten minutes when he looked up. He was at the tree where Kikyou had trapped him for fifty years beneath her spell. Why had his feet brought him here? Turning around and ready to walk away, InuYasha found himself face to face with the beautiful miko herself. "Kikyou-san…"InuYasha said quietly.

"InuYasha-san, what are you doing here?" the woman demanded.

InuYasha looked down at the ground, unwilling to meet the once warm priestess's cold eyes. InuYasha caught sight of the letter in his hand. He was surprised to see he still had it with him. Looking back up and sideways at Kikyou, he stammered out, "I…I wanted to know whether you wrote this message or not." InuYasha then handed the note to Kikyou for her to read.

Kikyou took the piece of paper silently, and began to read it, her face showing no signs of recognition or emotion. InuYasha, embarrassed to watch her as she read the letter, looked away again.

A loud, tearing sound brought InuYasha's attention back to the miko as he watched her rip the letter into tiny pieces. "That," she said, "was a letter I wrote to you more than fifty years ago. Those words have no meaning now. As far as I'm concerned, those words never existed. Forget that letter InuYasha-san. That letter does not matter anymore." She dropped the tiny squares of paper like so much confetti, turned around, and walked away.

~*~

Seven days later, and InuYasha still could not forget Kikyou's bone-chilling words. The hanyou was depressed by those words and the fact that the letter that meant so much to him ended up being nothing. Shaking his head, he tried to forget the letter like the miko had instructed him to, but still could not let go.

Miroku, equally, was not happy either. He had spent his whole week traversing the whole of Japan, kissing each and every girl he met, and feeling nothing. None of the kisses meant anything to him; none sent shivers down his spine and warmed him to his toes. They were merely kisses exchanged between friends, or siblings, not lovers. Also, it seemed the more he kissed the girls, the less he liked it. Now, his week was over and White Day was upon him, and Miroku still didn't know who he would choose.

Maybe the houshi would not choose this year. Maybe each girl would get a white box of marshmallows or cookies. But just as Miroku had come to this conclusion, he spied InuYasha in his perch on a tree branch, sitting pensively, with a frustrated and sad expression on his face. Suddenly, Miroku had an idea, one that would at least convince him that he should send a special box of chocolates to one of the girls he had kissed. Who, he would decide later, depending whether his experiment would work.

Miroku slowly approached InuYasha's tree, like approaching a timid puppy dog he did not want to scare away. "InuYasha-san?" Miroku called gently, causing the half demon to turn his gaze down to the monk.

InuYasha jumped down from his perch and stood in front of Miroku, mere inches away. "Where've you been?" he snapped in an irritated voice. "You've been gone for a week. Sango-san and Kagome-san are very worried about you! What if something had happened to you while you were gone? What if your kazaana had sucked you in? We wouldn't have been there to help you if you got in trouble! It was really insensitive of you to leave like that, you lecherous jerk!"

Miroku smiled. "Kiss me InuYasha," he whispered.

InuYasha blinked in shock, then recovered and shouted, "What do you mean, 'Kiss me'?! I can't kiss you; you're a guy! Why would I want to, anyway?"

Miroku simply grabbed the front of InuYasha's fire rat coat and pulled him close, his breath tickling InuYasha's nose. "Just do as I ask. You don't have to enjoy it." Miroku then brought his trembling lips to InuYasha's, much as he had done to the girls he had kissed in the past week.

Immediately as both mouths met, Miroku felt a shiver down his spine that made him shudder, not with cold, but with something deeper than that. His heart beat faster, breath catching in his throat as his toes and fingertips, still wrapped in InuYasha's kimono, tingled with an exciting warmth. Moving closer, Miroku released his hold on the hanyou's top, arms snaking around the other's neck, hands combing softly through the long silk tresses of white. Miroku pulled InuYasha's face closer to his, their lips pressing bruisingly on the other's.

InuYasha, caught off guard, tensed almost immediately, but, finding Miroku's lips to be soft and soothing on his, relaxed, his golden eyes closing with the houshi's blue-grey ones as his arms found their way around the monk's waist. Something squirmed in InuYasha's belly, like butterflies, once dormant, suddenly awoken by Miroku's touch.

As Miroku pulled InuYasha's lips harder on his own, the dog demon's tongue flicked out, tracing a moist trail on Miroku's bottom lip. Miroku correctly took this as a plead for entrance into his mouth, which he willingly granted, letting out a soft moan as InuYasha's tongue darted into his mouth, devouring him hungrily.

InuYasha surprised himself with his forwardness in a kiss he didn't even want to engage in a minute before, but he found Miroku's mouth, hands, lips, tongue, so irresistible, he just could not help himself. His tongue attacked Miroku's mouth with a vengeance, completely ravaging it for the sweet taste of the houshi. Groaning in pleasure, InuYasha crushed Miroku's body to his, not willing to let go.

Finally, the two men pulled apart, panting heavily, neither saying a word as they fought to catch their breath. Eventually, Miroku managed to gasp, "Whoa. So…what happened to you not being able to kiss me, eh?"

InuYasha mock-frowned at the monk. "You lech. You tricked me."

Miroku grinned ruefully. "Not at all. You could have fought against me if you had wanted to. But you didn't want to. Why?"

InuYasha shrugged, and with that movement, removed his arms from around Miroku's waist, pulling out of the houshi's embrace.

"InuYasha-san? Why did you kiss me back?"

InuYasha turned away, his face turned to the sky and away from Miroku. They stood there for a moment that stretched to eternity, InuYasha looking at the sky and Miroku looking at InuYasha. Finally, the hanyou replied, "I don't know why. Can you accept that, houshi-sama?" When InuYasha dud not receive an answer, he looked around to where Miroku stood. Or had stood, for he was walking back down the hill he had come over earlier. Curious and confused, InuYasha ran after him, all the while yelling, "Miroku-san! Where are you going?"

Reaching the bottom of the slope, InuYasha peered around him, searching with his eyes for the monk. Catching no sight of the houshi's purple an black robes, the dog demon grew worried. "Houshi-sama?" he called.

From behind a bush the half demon was tackled to the ground by a whir of black and purple. Struggling, InuYasha tried to get up off the ground, screaming out for help all the while, until a slim tanned finger silenced him. Opening his eyes that he had shut when he had fallen, InuYasha found himself nose to nose with Miroku. Growling, InuYasha yelped, "Miroku-san! What was that for?"

Miroku smiled and pulled out a white box. "Happy White Day," he whispered.

Inside the box was a handful of homemade chocolate candies.

~*~Owari~*~

Rowan: Okies…kinda brief ending there, but I couldn't figure out how to end it, so…well, I will now take this time to thank Pen-pen for beta-reading this, even though she doesn't like the couple. Thank you Penny!

Sakura: We're also adding the disclaimer here.

Rowan: Ahem, right. I do not own Takahashi's Yu-g- Oh , wait! Wrong Takahashi! I don't own Takahashi Rumiko's InuYasha. If I did, Kikyou would be burned. Oh wait, she already was! Ha! That means I do own it!

Sakura: Keep dreaming!

Rowan: *sigh* I do. *sings* I'm dreaming of a lot of reviews, Just like the ones I used to get, When I wrote Yu-Gi-Oh!, Now I write about Shippo, And about all of his friends, I'm dreami-

Sakura: That's enough. We all get the point.

Rowan: *still singing* Here come reviewers, Here come reviewers, Right down Fan fiction Lane, They've got a bag with reviews, For all authors the same, Th-

Sakura: *growling* Cut it out!

Rowan: Oh the weather outside is frightful, But this story's soo delightful, And since we've no place to go, Let's review, let's review, let's review, It doesn't show si-

Sakura: *frothing at the mouth* If you don't shut up…

Rowan: Have a holly jolly reading, It's the best I've written yet, Say hello to Rowan, oh!, And don't forget to review, Oh, oh, the mistletoe, Best part of the fic, Somebody waits there, Kissing their true love, Have a holly jolly reading, It's a grand old yarn I've spun, Oh by golly have a holly, jolly reading, today!

Sakura: What's with all the Christmas songs? It's March!

Rowan: It snowed today! I feel Christmassy now! Even though I didn't get out of school early. *pouts* Oh well! Review please!