One Week 'Til Sweet Sixteen by Sky's Song

Summery: Kagome's Mom has made Inuyasha promise to get Kagome back to her Time by her sixteenth birthday for a surprise party, but now he only has a week to do it. With a mysterious demon trailing them, and an invisible someone constantly slowing them down, will Inuyasha and Kagome ever make in back in Time? InuKag

Chapter One: The Problem: A Prelude to Events to Come

--

The day was beautiful in the Feudal Era. The birds were chirping, the sky was clear, and everyone was in a good mood. Nothing about the day was giving any hint to disaster, worry, or hurt. These were the days that Kagome Higurashi wished could last forever.

Then again, she traveled with a short tempered hanyou who looked like he was just about to blow his lid. Kagome sighed, and sweatdropped.

"DAMNIT MONK!" Inuyasha had hauled a purple-robed Miroku in the air, and was shaking him with all his might. He had a look on his face as if he had just been told that he had three days to live. Miroku, on the other hand, was extremely calm and collected for someone being tossed about in the air. He seemed to be fighting an urge to roll his eyes too. "Why didn't you TELL me that it was Friday?"

"I believe I just did Inuyasha." The monk replied diplomatically.

Inuyasha stopped shaking him then, and brought him close to his menacing glare and gleaming sharp canine teeth. "Why," His voice was low and evil now, "didn't you tell me sooner?"

Miroku brought his cursed right hand up and rubbed his head in 'shameful' apology. "I told you as soon as it was Friday." Truthfully, the monk was not sorry at all, and instead was very curious as to why this Friday was so important.

"That ain't good enough, Monk…" Inuyasha growled and raised his clawed fingers in threat. About this time, Kagome thought that maybe she'd have to actually do something to stop Inuyasha from hurting the poor perverted monk. It was too bad, too. She had been having a lovely breakfast.

"Inuyasha," Kagome called out in warning. Usually just calling his name would flatten his ears and send him off scowling, but for some reason, he wasn't giving in.

"Shut up, wrench!" Inuyasha yelled before focusing on his prey once again.

"Inuyasha, stop it! Miroku didn't do anything wrong!"

Sango and Shippou looked up from their breakfast on the other side of their fire. "That's not necessarily true…" Sango muttered angrily and rubbed her butt in a scowl. "Damn Hoshi."

"I said SHUT UP!" Inuyasha bellowed. "I say it's HIS fault, you damn useless woman!"

Kagome's eyebrow started to twitch. "Inuyasha!" Kagome's arms shot out strait in her intense anger. "OSWARI!"

Inuyasha cried out and smashed into the ground, the monk flying over him and landing in the dirt behind him. "Sorry, Miroku." Kagome said darkly.

Miroku looked at the darkened Miko wearily and put on the cheeriest face he had. "Heheheh.. Oh, it was nothing." Then he ran to hide behind Sango, fearing the black look she had been giving Inuyasha would be directed onto him.

"Useless am I?" She asked him, her head seemingly hidden in foreboding storm clouds. "Maybe you'd rather I be somewhere else?"

Inuyasha glared up at the girl. "Wrench.." He muttered and looked away.

"Say. That. Again." The atmosphere rang with electrical currents. Fire seemed to be bursting out of Kagome's body. She was a deadly force, and no one – no one – would even dare take her challenge.

Unless, of course, you're a stupid hanyou.

"WRENCH! WRENCH, WRENCH, WRENCH!" He climbed out of the hole he had been in and faced the said dangerous girl, who had literally frozen, save for the shaking of her angry fists. "Did you hear me yet, WRENCH? HUH? You STUPID, USELESS, WRE –!"

"Inuyasha."

The whisper stopped him dead in his tracks and even mid-syllable.

"Sometimes…" Her voice was so low, that it was impossible for anyone other than Inuyasha to hear her. "Sometimes you make me hate you."

Inuyasha froze.

Kagome stalked off into the woods, grabbing her bow and arrows on the way, so daintily that you never would have guessed her black anger from only moments ago. The only thing that spoke of her emotions were the tears that dropped to the ground, stinging Inuyasha's nose like an awful and hideous poison.

Kagome disappeared beyond the foliage of the nearby forest.

"GREAT, Inuyasha, look what you did THIS time." Shippou commented as he hopped to the dog demon's shoulder. Inuyasha's ears drooped and he pushed Shippou lightly off his shoulder, not even sparing enough energy to bop him on the head, and walked away in the opposite direction of Kagome.

"What's up with him?" Shippou asked, jumping this time to Miroku.

"I don't know." The monk said, sadly.

"Maybe he's truly sorry about what he did." Sango suggested as she finished her breakfast and fed the scraps to Kirara. "If that's the case, he should apologize."

"Why was he yelling at me anyways?" Miroku mused out loud.

Shippou and Sango looked over to the monk in question.

"What is so special about today?"

--

All Inuyasha had been thinking about that morning was about food and the battle they had the day before. When Inuyasha had asked Miroku what day it was, as he had so often that week, he was shocked speechless for a second, and then he went strait into anger. How could he have forgotten what day it was today?

He should have left the night before, but he hadn't known. He blamed Miroku because he had no idea what the days of the week were. He just knew that Friday was almost a week before he had to get Kagome back into the well. Why? Well, he had made a promise to Kagome's mom. A promise to get her back in time for a surprise party for her sixteenth birthday. He couldn't let down Kagome's mom. It wasn't just Kagome's mom, it was Kagome's mom, if it made any sense. He wanted to make a good impression. That he took care of Kagome. He couldn't let Kagome be late.

It was eight days until Kagome was sixteen. He had eight days to take him and Kagome on a road that took nine to ten days to travel.

It was all the monk's fault.

But now… What was he supposed to do? Kagome said she hated him. Inuyasha's ears drooped even further into depression. He knew it was his fault. He riled her up. He called her names. He was mean and rude and crude, and he knew it. She said she hated him because of it.

"Sometimes… Sometimes you make me hate you…"

Somehow, those words broke his heart more than the words "Die, Inuyasha!" ever did.

He was lost. He didn't know what to do with Kagome's hatred. He didn't know what to do with his feelings. The only thing he had left in his mind was the determination to get Kagome home in time. If that was the only thing he could do right, damn it, he would do it.

--

Kagome's anger had taken a hold on her, and she was stomping through the woods with no heed to danger apart from the weapon hanging on her back. Angry tears flooded her vision, and many times Kagome stopped to pound her fists against a tree to keep her emotions at bay. She refused to break down over this. She refused to be the weakling Inuyasha thought her to be.

A sudden sharp prick on her nerves brought her attention from her anger to her immediate left. A shikon shard was calling out to her, and the pulse was very strong.

Kagome looked back towards the camp. Useless was she? Well, if she got a shikon shard without anyone's help, then no one would complain about her being useless again! Especially not Inuyasha!

And then he wouldn't push her away all the time. So he doesn't want to celebrate her birthday or their anniversary (not that they were going out or anything…) So what. He didn't know what she wanted, and he probably never would.

Maybe this shikon shard would be the coaxing she needed. She griped her bow tightly as she made her decision. Angry determination, and a depressing urge to prove herself pushed her onwards.

Kagome ran through the bushes towards the light and calling in her mind. It wasn't far.

Kagome entered the clearing to come face to face with a centipede demon similar who pulled her down the well, except this one was smaller.

"It's MINE!" It yelled in its high pitched, screaming voice as it rushed at her faster than she could react, floating a foot off the ground. Its menacing eyes flashed as it grabbed Kagome and threw her across the clearing.

Kagome's senses screamed to her the pain she was in, and she started groaning and moaning in protest.

"I hate centipedes.." She mumbled to herself, wincing as she tried to get up.

Raising to a crouch, she pulled out her bow and arrow, cocking the arrow and aiming at the foul beast as it started to round for another attack. Her hands twitched in protest, and kept moving from point to point as she searched for the shikon's presence.

"Where is it?"

--

Inuyasha was back at camp by lunch, ready to ask Kagome to walk with him so he could apologize without the rest snickering at him. He couldn't handle her being angry with him… And what if she really did hate him? He shivered and denied the possibility with all his might. She had said "sometimes," he reminded himself. Usually she said that she liked him even though he was a hanyou. He was so confused. Which was it? Hate, or friendship, or… maybe love?

He needed to tell her that he was taking her home, too. How could he tell her that, though? "There's a surprise party waiting for you, so let's go." It wouldn't work. He would have to do some coaxing. And he couldn't tell the others. Miroku was careless. Sango and Shippou told Kagome everything. Kagome's mom had pressed upon him the importance of her never knowing about the party until she walked in the front door.

Unfortunately, Inuyasha's plan was wasted as he realized that Kagome was not back at camp yet.

"Kagome?" He called out. "KAGOME?"

His head snapped towards his other companions, who looked at him strangely. "Where the hell is Kagome?"

"We thought that you would have gone after her." Miroku said truthfully.

Sango stood up quickly, and her intense gaze attracted Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippou's attention to wear Kagome was staggering out of the forest, light trails of blood following her.

Inuyasha's heart almost stopped. Everything froze in his mind, and all sounds became mute. "KAGOMEE!" His voice barely broke the silence in his mind, and no matter how fast he ran, somehow he seemed slow.

He reached her side though, and quickly scooped her up into his arms. She had been wounded by a demon, and she was weak. She collapsed against him and clung on to his clothes as he lowered her to the ground.

"Kagome..?" Inuyasha's voice was now soft; as if afraid he'd break her.

"I'm alright." Kagome insisted with a tired chuckle. "Just a little… little feint. Lost some blood. I'll live."

Inuyasha hugged her fiercely and buried his face in her neck. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" He chanted over and over again, and he breathed in her scent.

"Inuyasha, Inuyasha…It's okay," She looked at him tenderly, but her voice was firm. "And I'm not dying." She smiled softly. "Calm down, I just need some sleep. My wounds aren't even deep. They just… hurt a little."

That seemed to snap Inuyasha out of his miserable daze. He looked down at her scratched skin with fire in his eyes. "Who did this." His growl was deep and furious.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Centipede demon. Killed her."

His golden orbs found their way back to hers. Shouting suddenly muddled his thoughts and he realized that the others were catching up to him. He quickly regained his senses, realizing how ridiculous he'd been before. Of course she wasn't going to die. What was he thinking? It was obvious that the wounds weren't bad. It was probably all that hate talk getting to him.

"Kagome, Kagome!" Shippou was crying and he jumped to her side and hugged her neck tightly.

"It's alright, runt." Inuyasha said gruffly. Kagome was slightly amazing at how he had gotten over his emotions quickly and hid them. "She just needs some rest."

Inuyasha walked away from her a few feet, handing her over to Sango and Miroku's inspection. When they decided to set up camp to let Kagome sleep off her wounds and recover a little, Miroku offered to carry her back, Inuyasha hit him on the head and gently picked up the dozing girl.

He smirked as he heard Miroku complaining in the background.

Then, it hit him.

He had an excuse to take her home. And what was better, he could use speed as an excuse to get spend some time alone with Kagome, something they hadn't done in months. Now all he had to do was get Kagome there in a week!

His smile slipped off his face.

Damn it, this was going to be harder than he thought.