Ummm...Yeah. Just another short one-shot to keep my muse happy. Fear my nonsensical babbling. FEAR IT!! All shall love me and despair.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. Lucky for them.

The moment he crawled in through Kagome's window, the scent of her terror nearly overwhelmed him. His mind blanked out momentarily as he fought a losing battle against his own rising panic. He was part inu-youkai; he could tell when a living being was afraid. Normally it wasn't scent so much as a sixth sense. But this was Kagome's room. He knew her scent as well as he knew himself. And the acrid tinge to it, that telltale sign of the split-second decision of fight-or-flight, told him only one thing: she'd been here, and she'd been afraid for her life.

There had clearly been a battle as well. Kagome's room was in a complete disarray. Her covers were torn off her bed, her chair knocked over, the desk pulled recklessly away from the wall. Papers and pencils and various knickknacks were scattered everywhere. A soda can lay tipped on its side on the floor, liquid pooling around it. Her closet had been torn apart, the clothes and shoes and boxes strewn out over the floor. The bedroom door had been left wide open as well. He couldn't detect any hints of blood or death, so whatever Kagome had encounted here must have caused her to flee the room. A shriek from downstairs confirmed his fears. Faster than he thought he'd ever moved before, Inuyasha darted out of the room and down the stairs, following the sound of her voice.

He found her in the kitchen, broom held defensively in both hands, staring fixedly at the pantry doors, which were completely shut. Her hair was tied back from her face in a messy ponytail that Inuyasha wasn't accustomed to seeing on her. Barefoot, clad in ripped and wrinkled jeans and a shirt with a giant orange stain down the front, even with her face flushed and her eyes wide with fright, she'd never looked so good. His worst nightmare was that she'd be brutally injured or killed when he wasn't around to protect her, but she was standing right in front of him, all in one piece. Relief overtook him as he rushed forward to grab her.

"Kagome!! What's going on?" Inuyasha inspected her for injury, but Kagome didn't seem to acknowledge his examination, even when he waved his hand in front of her face to catch her attention.

"I'm going to kill it." Her voice trembled slightly, but her face was set in a determined glare. She smirked slightly and one eye ticked. It occurred to Inuyasha then that whatever monster had attacked her was now trapped in the pantry. He stepped in front of her, one arm extended to hold her back. He pulled Tetsusaiga out in one smooth motion and braced to attack. In the back of his mind he paused to consider that he couldn't smell any sort of youkai or even human other than Kagome, but that didn't mean something wasn't there. Kagome could sense spiritual beings he that were otherwise invisible to his senses, and if that was the case, then they were in for it.

Suddenly Kagome gave a horrific scream from behind him, nearly scaring the shit out of him. His eyes darted frantically around, searching wildly for whatever was causing her blind terror. She was clutching his shoulders from behind for a moment, then suddely released, tearing across the kitchen, brandishing the broom like her own personal Tetsusaiga. He still couldn't see what was after her, and it was frightening him as well, How was he supposed to protect her from something he couldn't detect at all?!

She was running the other direction now, growling furiously and striking violently at the floor with her broom. Had she managed to somehow down this unseen creature? He ran over to her, Tetsusaiga poised to make a killing blow. Whatever was there, it wasn't getting up. Unless...

A small brown creature skittered out from under the broom towards Kagome's feet, and all hell broke loose. With a newfound dexterity not unlike that displayed by Shippo, Kagome lept on top of Inuyasha, clinging madly to his back and almost choking him with one arm looped around his neck. "Woman, what the hell...??" Was all of this seriously about a harmless little-

"EVIL ROACH!!!" Kagome had gathered her wits about her long enough to release Inuyasha and climb onto the nearest chair. Inuyasha stared at her for a moment disbelievingly. Expressions of fierce determination and stark terror warred on her face, a display which had him temporarily dumbfounded.

And then he laughed. Loud and hard, side-splitting laughter that he hadn't experienced since Miroku'd groped a male crossdresser on accident. The roach went unnoticed by him as his eyes watered and he had to lean over to catch his breath. Kagome, his sweet, brave Kagome...The girl who defeated demons twenty times her size, who calmly and cleverly outsmarted kidnappers and criminals, who faced evil incarnate head on without batting an eye...His indomitable Kagome was apparently afraid of cockroaches.

He finally managed to control his laughter, his face still split in an outright amused grin. He'd had his fun, but there was no denying that Kagome had been genuinely scared, and he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. "Okay," He sheathed Tetsusaiga and cast about for the offending creature. "Where is the little shit?" He hadn't noticed until that very moment that Kagome had become oddly quiet. The hairs on the back of his neck stood as he felt her eyes on him and cautiously raised his head to meet her scowl. Perhaps she hadn't found the situation as funny as he had?

"Inuyasha..." Oh gods, she had that tone. He cringed, opening his mouth to defend himself, but it was useless. "OSUWARI!!" The magic yanked him into the floor as forcefully as always, only this time there was the slightest crunch somewhere beneath his stomach.

"Got it." Kagome said calmly, letting the broom clatter to the floor next to him. He heard her bare feet padding away, probably back to her room. Stupid wench...

A few minutes later, just as Inuyasha was straining against the last remnants of the spell, Souta wandered in. He stopped in front of him to watch the struggle curiously. "What happened?" Souta asked, as if finding the foulmouthed hanyou on their kitchen floor was a regular occurence.

"Fucking roach..." Inuyasha muttered darkly, and Souta's eyes widened as he caught sight of the smeared, mangled remains where Inuyasha had previously been. For a brief moment, he thought the whole ordeal was about to be repeated with Kagome's little brother. But Souta merely made a face. "Don't let Kagome see it. She'll flip."

"Yeah, no shit." He growled, but upon hearing her footsteps on the floor above him, he hurried to get rid of the last bits of the deceased insect. He was plucking a tiny leg from the front of his haori when she returned, shooting him a challenging glare. A tiny part of him wanted to start cracking up all over again, but he swiftly stifled the traitorous inclination. Clearly his neck was on the line. She walked past him and he stepped back to give her a wide berth, half of him fearing for his health and the other half resenting the first half for being afraid at all. Must've been his human half, the one without the backbone, he thought bitterly.

"Got something to say?" Kagome had stopped in front of him, arms crossed over her chest. She'd changed into a new shirt, one without any evidence of spilled drink on it. It was unnerving, how someone of her short stature could manage to tower over him, despite the significant difference in height.

Inuyasha opened his mouth to issue a witty retort and undoubtedly partake of some foot as well, but Souta was making a wild slashing motion across his neck from behind Kagome, and he wisely remained silent, eyes narrowing in annoyance. Kagome looked satisfied, not smug, and Inuyasha thought that perhaps he could allow her this one weakness. After all, nothing else seemed to faze her. And she didn't ever laugh at him. So in turn, he wouldn't...

Before he even saw it coming, an ill-stifled snort escaped, and he clamped his mouth shut, cursing every deity he could think of for his inability to control himself. Inuyasha didn't do humor much, and on one of the rare occasions he found something funny, this is what he got.

"Fucking hell..." He swore as he saw rather than heard the terrible word leave her mouth. His last conscious thought before crashing into the floor (again) was that he was probably as afraid of Kagome's wrath as she was of a damn roach...But at least he didn't chase her around with a broom.

A/N: I hate the little buggers. Just hate 'em. Evil spawns of Satan. Readeth and revieweth please!