Okay, so to make up for the lack of posting and whatnot, I decided to double post, so everyone's all happy and stuff! Yay!

Anyway, if your review wasn't replied to in the last chapter, it probably was replied to in this one, just at the bottom as always. Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Day Out

By Auroras-flame

Kagome tilted her head to the side and critiqued him in her mind. It was… different. It actually looked sort of awkward… then again, this wasn't about how it looked; the only thing that mattered is if it served its purpose.

"How does it feel…?" Kagome questioned carefully, inspecting it over again from the across the hall.

Inuyasha shot her a glare in his violet shirt and indigo jeans, "It feels like I fell into a vat of purple dye and barely escaped."

Kagome couldn't hold it in anymore. She snorted and then began to laugh hysterically, practically collapsing to her knees in the department store dressing room hall.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and returned to his dressing room, complaining, "This is stupid! You knew this would look horrible and stupid but you made me try it on anyway!!!"

Kagome's laughter subsided into merry chuckles, "True. But it just entirely brightened my day."

"I'm so happy for you!"

A few minutes passed and Inuyasha came out of the dressing room holding four new shirts and three new pairs of pants and a hooded sweater. Kagome beamed and escorted him to the cashier.

After all was paid for and done, Kagome asked as they left through the glass door, "Now where do you want to go, Inuyasha?"

"Home?" he suggested, traces of hope even present in his doubtfulness.

"Not a chance!" Kagome smiled, "I said I would take you to a restaurant, didn't I?"

"And I said that I had already been to one and wasn't impressed," he grouched back.

"But there's a really good one out here!" Kagome insisted, "Traditional Japanese, almost like an inn; you'll love it!" Before Inuyasha got to say anything back, Kagome spotted a building a little further down and crooned, "Oh! A bookstore! I wanted to get a book of some sorts… I agree with you Inuyasha, it is amazingly boring in my house. We need books… and television really, but there aren't any good electronic stores out here, so let's just get the books."

Boldly and blushing, she grabbed his hand and led him across the plaza. This was so great! Yeah, she might have been torturing Inuyasha a bit, but she did really love being out here with him. It was especially wonderful because he still looked entirely human! For some reason, he hadn't gained yellow eyes or fangs or anything yet, so they didn't have to worry about people seeing him.

Just outside the bookstore, Kagome released Inuyasha's hand and opened the door. A bell tingled above them and they entered. It was a small bookstore, and sort of old looking. Kagome hurried into the rows upon rows of books, searching for the fiction section.

Inuyasha caught up with her and asked, strained, "So, what kind of books are you looking for?"

Kagome paused and glanced over at him, "Which one's do you like to read?" figuring that he would be the one in need of a good read when she started work tomorrow.

He folded his arms, "Kagome, for the past… I don't know… six or seven years, I have lived in the gutter or the alleyway in the shape of a dog. Do you really think I was concerned with getting my fill of Hemingway and Chaucer?"

"Point taken," Kagome stated, turning back to the fiction section. A sign caught her eye and she walked over to it, "I've always been a fan of fantasy…" She scanned the titles of the books and gave a small sneer, "If there were any more dragon books in this collection I might just-"

Her sentence halted as a familiar word caught her full attention: Fairytales.

Inuyasha, curious about her silence, got behind her and looked over her shoulder to see what had made her so silent.

She reached for the book on the shelf. It was old. Really old. It was probably owned by someone before too… The spine was barely keeping together, and as Kagome's fingers brushed the top of the pages she could feel the dust that had collected there after who knows how many years.

She pulled it out gently an examined the cover. It had darkened considerably with age, but remnants of its golden lettering on dull red hardback were still legible.

"Olde Japanese Folklore and Fairytales," Inuyasha read aloud. He looked down at Kagome, "Why do you want-?" he stopped suddenly, comprehending.

"The story- it might be in here…" Kagome murmured, "Only one way to find out…"

She carefully opened up the cover and felt the spine strain to just to keep it on. She flipped by the yellowed title page, making an awful cracking sound after not being in use many, many years, and glanced at the table of contents.

"I'll start from the bottom, you start from the top and we'll meet in the middle," Kagome said, "We're looking for something that might be called "The Jewel of Six Souls and the Band of Demons", right?"

Inuyasha nodded and they both began looking on the page for the name.

She sighed after scanning her half, "Nothing remotely like it…"

"Let's look at the next page," Inuyasha suggested.

Kagome turned the page and heard the same crackling sound. Now there were two lists of the Table of Contents, one on the left page and one on the right, the right one being slightly shorter.

"I'll look on the left, you do the right," Kagome instructed.

"Alright."

They glanced over their respective pages, and Kagome let out another frustrated sigh, "I've got nothing. You?"

"Nothing," he shrugged, "Guess it isn't in here…"

Kagome got ready to close the book, but a few key words caught her eye from Inuyasha's page. She looked at it again and beamed. She pointed a finger down at a title, "The Jewel of Four Souls and the Demons Six."

"That wasn't the name the officer guy gave us," Inuyasha said.

"It isn't the exact name that Miroku gave us," Kagome agreed scrutinizing the title, "But he didn't even sound too sure, himself, so perhaps this is the story…" The Jewel of Four Souls and the Demons Six… Why did that sound familiar…?

"Ahem!"

The pair turned their heads to see the shopkeeper giving them the evil eye, "This is a bookstore," he stated, "not a library. You buy books here, you do not read them."

Kagome stood up and gave an apologetic bow, "I'm sorry, I'll buy it right now."

"Shouldn't we check if it's the right story first?" Inuyasha whispered.

"I'm pretty sure it is. The names sound way too similar for it not to be what we're looking for," she said back.

"Yeah, ever heard of Cinderellis and the Glass Hill?"

"What?" she stared at him and shook her head, "Never mind. I'm buying it."

She followed after the book keeper and readied her wallet.

-,-

Kagome held the paper bag with the book close to her, anxious to see what was inside. She would hold that in for now though, seeing as she had promised Inuyasha lunch and they were right outside the restaurant she wanted to eat at.

She walked straight inside with Inuyasha following close behind her. The Japanese greeting-girl welcomed them with a warm smile and bowed politely, "Hello, just two?" This place wasn't as fancy as TokyoBanquet Sea or Sushiland, anybody who made reservations for this place was just plain weird.

"Yes," Kagome confirmed.

"We can seat you immediately," the woman replied back cheerfully, calling over a waitress with her finger. The waitress, clad in yukata and tabi socks shuffled over and picked up two menus and chirped, "This way please!"

Kagome always loved how happy and eager all of the servers sounded at this place. It really added to the atmosphere of being a mock-Japanese Japanese guesthouse. They were seated on a raised tatami platform in front of a kotatsu table. Kagome went around to get to the other side as Inuyasha just sat down at the seat right in front of him. The cushions were a bit stiff, but just sitting down felt good after all that walking they did.

The waitress placed the menus out in front of them and gave a short bow before leaving. Kagome tapped her fingers on the table nervously as Inuyasha glanced over the menu in front of him. Was this just her, but did this sort of feel like a date? Normally, she'd be thrilled with the notion, but considering the last two dates she went on at restaurants had gone so well…

Inuyasha seemed to notice Kagome's anxiousness without even needing to look up from his menu, "What are you all jittery about?"

Kagome gave him a strange look, genuinely surprised that he could detect her worry. Inuyasha glanced up briefly and caught her eye, just to return back to his menu, "Your tapping is driving me insane." Kagome stopped her fingers, and quickly hid them under the table and he continued by asking, "What? Is it the fact that the idiot is here?"

Kagome snapped to attention and gaped at Inuyasha, wide eyed, "What?" Hojou was here?!!! What was he, stalking her?!!!

"Yeah, on the other side of the restaurant," he said as Kagome wildly looked around for her ex, "He shouldn't be able to see us though, there's a wall in the way."

"Shite," Kagome cursed, "Are you serious? Is Hojou actually here??" Before he could even confirm or deny, Kagome had risen to her feet and tromped off the tatami floor to see if what he said were true. Not even bothering to put her shoes back on, she rushed over to the wall separating the place and timidly peeked around it.

It took no time at all spotting the sod. He was wearing the blue shirt that she had gotten him for Christmas one year. Kagome's eyes narrowed furiously. Honestly, you'd think a person would have enough taste not to wear your ex's present to them… honestly…

Kagome blinked, and squinted to get a good view of who was sitting with Hojou. All she could see of the person was their back and their long, raven hair. It wasn't Eri… Eri didn't have that long of hair… Hojou seemed a little on edge by the person, whoever she was…

Kagome shook her head. What did it matter who he was eating with…? Why was he eating here? Here, of all places!

She huffed and marched straight back to Inuyasha. He greeted her with an annoyed, bored face, "Told you so."

Kagome scrunched up her nose and ungracefully plopped herself back into her seat.

"Wanna leave?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome was tempted, but after deliberation said, "No. Hojou has ruined every single meal I have had at a real restaurant for the past two weeks, he is not ruining this one!" With that, she picked up her menu and examined it with more passion then one should ever have to use with a menu.

She heard Inuyasha sigh from behind her laminated shield, "Whatever…"

Kagome threw down her menu and folded her arms. Didn't Hojou have anything better to do than throw her life into turmoil whenever she was feeling even remotely happy?? Really, this had been the second time, the second time, Hojou had appeared at the restaurant she planned to go to. This had to be more than coincidence!

Kagome grumbled and rested her arms on the table. She needed to get her mind off him… She was here with Inuyasha, not Hojou. Inuyasha should have all of her attention; it wasn't fair to him any other way.

She composed herself and resurrected one of her artificial smiles, hoping it would turn genuine when she got distracted from Hojou, "Inuyasha…"

He cringed, clearly seeing through Kagome's faux happiness. She ignored it and pulled a question out of mid air, "… um… Do you like being who you are- you know- all… dog-man-like…?" Kagome only reasoned that the question might be rude after the words came out of her mouth.

Inuyasha gave her a strange look, "Where the hell did that come from…?"

Kagome had no idea… She wasn't typically thinking about that sort of stuff- liking who one is and such. It had to be a little weird, too, since it must be like asking a man on the street if he liked being human, or would prefer life as a hamster…

When she didn't retort, Inuyasha replied, "Well, truthfully, it kind of sucks."

Kagome wasn't really expecting a serious answer from him, so his statement was rather surprising. She furrowed her eyebrows together, trying to imagine why he would say it sucked. She could think of a few reasons straight off: the need to keep the secret that you are different, not having a real home most of the time, having to survive off scraps or hunt for your own food or live off the mercy of others… and those were only a few reasons.

Kagome nodded her head sympathetically, "Yeah, I guess it would suck… having to live like that…"

Inuyasha gave her a bemused look, "I don't mind the way I live…"

Kagome became confused, "You don't mind having to live in alleys and scavenging up your food for most of your life?"

Inuyasha tilted his head, "No, not really. I think I've just gotten used to it."

"Then what sucks about it? I can think of a few times I would have been more than happy to change into a dog and escape the difficulties of human life… if only for a little while," Kagome added.

"Then you're weird," Inuyasha asserted, earning a half-hearted glare from Kagome, "The thing that really sucks about being like this is the fact there is no one else like me…"

Kagome's glare melted away. She hadn't thought of that…

"All my life, I've been fending for myself," he waved a hand dismissively, "Yeah, there would occasionally be people like you who would let me stay in their house as a pet…"

"I don't think of you as a pet," Kagome interjected, slightly offended.

Ultimately, he paid her no attention and went on, "…but that didn't change the fact that I'm the only dog demon I've ever seen or heard of. No one has ever told me what I am or what I'm supposed to do… I've managed, I guess, but it's been kind of…" he trailed off.

Kagome ventured in, "…Lonely?"

Inuyasha scrunched his face up into a pout, "I'm not lonely!"

Kagome rolled her eyes, but grinned anyway. Hadn't they already been past this level of understanding? They were close, there was no doubt about that, but would she ever get Inuyasha to admit it?

A spontaneous change of colour caught her eye and she quickly snapped to attention. She stared, frozen and tense, at Inuyasha, who gave her a quizzical look, "What? What's wrong?"

"Your hair!" she squeaked, finally standing up and running over to him with her shopping bag. It was silver again! She pulled out the hooded sweater she had bought him just earlier that day and offered it to him urgently, "Put it on and cover your head. Before the ears come out…"

Inuyasha did so, but complained, "But it's so freaking hot today!"

"Oh hush! The Weatherman said it would be a 27 degree high today. We'll go home now, I won't make you eat hot food dressed up like that," Kagome said, helping Inuyasha fit the sweater over his head.

Inuyasha got the hood on and Kagome chuckled. Now he really looked like some thug, with his white hair and all. She went around and picked up the other bags, including her purse, and grabbed Inuyasha's hand as soon as he stood up, "Let's go."

He nodded, looking uncomfortable with the hood and she walked him out the door. The matridee/okami-san stopped them right before they left, sounding worried, "Didn't you just get here, Miss, Sir? Has our staff displeased you in any way?"

Kagome turned around briefly and waved her hand apologetically, "No, no! The staff was wonderful, we just have an emergency. We'll come back, we swear, bye bye!" She dragged Inuyasha out of the door a speedily as she could.

On the way to the car, Kagome couldn't happen but notice with a peeved smile that all of her diner dates were always cut short for some reason… It must have been Hojou… he was present for each one… he was like some sort of dating bad luck charm. Sod.

-,-

Kagome brushed her teeth, as ritual demanded that night. Tomorrow she would have to go into work. Bah…

She smirked when she recalled what Inuyasha did the moment they got home. He was only trying to peel off his sweater, but his T-shirt came along with it. So relieved to feel cool air, he left it off, despite Kagome's minor protests. She gave in and let him go bare-chested rather easily. After all, she had seen much more of him than just that, so his chest really didn't bother her much anymore. In fact, although she would never say it out loud, she was rather giddy that he walking around like that.

She giggled, not believing her own lustiness. She spat and picked up a cup from her sink and drew some water from the faucet, gargled, and spit that out as well. She wiped her mouth and exited the down stairs bathroom. She climbed the stairs and peeked through her door.

Inuyasha was lying down on her bed, dog form. He was clearly exhausted; he still had his pants awkwardly encasing his canine legs, too tired to bother taking them off. Kagome's first thought was of those obnoxious people who dress their animals up in annoying little costumes. She snickered as she imagined trying to get Inuyasha to dress up like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Christmas. Really, people who did that to their pets were…

Kagome stopped. Pets… Today at lunch… didn't Inuyasha say that he believed that she thought of him as a pet?

She tip-toed to the bed and crawled up on the sheets, leaning over him, "Inuyasha…"

His eyes blinked open and glanced up at hers lazily. He changed back into his human form, pants miraculously fitting his legs immediately, "Yeah?"

Kagome sat up and brought her legs to her chest, "Today, at lunch, what you said about me thinking you were like a pet to me… that isn't true, you know."

Inuyasha scoffed, and propped himself up on his elbows, "Really?"

"I don't!" Kagome insisted.

"Okay then. What am I to you then?" Inuyasha asked critically.

"You're-" Kagome halted and blushed. How could she possibly answer that? Technically, he wasn't her boyfriend, he just pretended he was. Lover just had the wrong connotation. Crush sounded so childish…

Inuyasha, seeing that she was having trouble answering, sighed, "Goodnight, Kagome…"

No! She wouldn't let it just end like that!

She uncurled and crashed her mouth onto Inuyasha's, suddenly, and without warning. It was a fast kiss, but it was a kiss none the less. In the fractions of seconds that she delivered the kiss, Inuyasha was entirely stiff.

Shamed and embarrassed, Kagome ended it quickly and swiftly let up, slip under the covers, and face away from Inuyasha, "Goodnight, Inuyasha."

She coiled up, totally unsure of herself. She decided quickly that she shouldn't have done that. What if he didn't like her? Yeah, he said she was nice, but that didn't say anything about whether he liked her liked her.

For a couple seconds Inuyasha didn't do anything. Kagome was starting to think that he wouldn't say anything at all. However, that thought didn't last long.

She felt Inuyasha sit up and start shaking her, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! What the heck was that?!" he demanded.

Kagome scrunched up tighter. She couldn't hear him. She was asleep. She didn't have to answer him.

"Oi!! You can't just say nothing after that!" he told her.

"Yes I can!" she shouted back, not moving an inch.

Inuyasha didn't fight back. He was entirely silent. She felt his weight fall onto the bed, laying down once more. He didn't say a word.

Kagome uncoiled, just a bit and she murmured, "I don't think of you as a pet…" I love you, she added mentally, but dared not say aloud. She was afraid of the consequences if she said that aloud. What if he didn't feel the same way…? Would he still stay here with her? Or would he just leave, not feeling comfortable housing with someone who loved him like she did?

"I see." Kagome couldn't pinpoint the emotion that went along with his tone. That made her worry. She thought of turning around, and seeing what his expression was, but because of fear that it would be the wrong expression, she kept her back turned.

She couldn't believe what she had just done. Would this ruin their relationship forever?

But what if Inuyasha liked the idea of them being together? At the moment, Kagome was doubting it… Anyway, even if he did like the idea, would she ever get around to him admitting to it?

Kagome sighed and closed her eyes, knowing that it was very unlikely that she would get any sleep at all tonight…

-,-

Sesshi's-gurl: Thank you, I hope to hear from you again.

DogHanyou3693: Yerg… sorry about the not updating for months thing… it was schools fault…?

Nekopax.: Thank you, but now I feel a little bad… guess your not gonna love my update time, huh?

Oofie: Yeah, well, where the normal Inuyasha fan might make Kouga out to be the bad guy, I worship Kouga as my love-triangle-god which leaves Hojou as being the bad guy in this… Ah, I wish I could manage to do reading, writing, and homework simultaneously… Unfortunately, two extremely hard AP classes, and a teacher who gives out English homework like candy sort of restricts my time to do anything fun… ;.;

BoredGirl17: I'm happy that this made you laugh, sometimes I review old fics and cartoons I've drawn ad wonder if I really have an acceptable sense of humour or not… I hope to hear from you again!

Beautiful.Black.Joy: Gahhhhh::Gets hurled to the ground by a tremendous force:: The guilt! It's cutting off my air supply!!! You so desperately wanted be to update soon, and I ended up not getting around to it for months! I'm soooo sorry!!!! I hope everyone isn't ticked at me for this… but schools really stressful---- ;.; Sorry…

Kylexi: Yeah, I sort of did choose schoolwork over fanfiction… and then I didn't even have time to update until the semester was over…. Kind of lame, but I've got A's in almost all of my classes, that's good… right…? As for Kikyou, nope, totally regretting mentioning her name now. She has no appearance in this fic whatsoever besides her name being uttered. A lot of people seem to be concerned about her… Anyway, thank you for reviewing!

Shadow thief wolf: Yeah, sorry it took so long to post these chapters… but here they are!

Kumikonhan: Thank you, I really appreciate you reviewing each chapter like this.

Greenee16: Fortunately, I have dominated over school with almost all A's in my classes (curse you AP Chem and your unreasonably hard tests!!!) and I have about two weeks before I'm thrown back into academic hell and can't touch a computer without fretting about how I have some paper or another to type out… Yeah, sorry, off topic, thank you for your review!!

Kagome1312: Thank you, it's always good to hear from you!

My Heart is in Sonoma County: Gahh, I'm so sorry I haven't been updating or even checking up on lately! I so would have tried to update sooner if I had the time to! I'm so sorry!

Lakodasmoon: Wow. I actually can't answer even one of those questions without spoiling something. Phew, always like questions though. Well, I hope you find some answers in these two chapters, but chances are, you'll just get more questions… -.-;; Thank you for reviewing!

Monkinkninja: Thank you so much, I hope to hear from you again!

Rowdysgirl: Well, I'm going to reply to your review anyway! I'm sorry I just haven't been writing lately. School is evil and mean and cruel to me… I'm also really happy you like my jokes, sometimes I wonder about them… Thanks for the review!

Jessica: I'm sorry, I haven't been updating, but thanks for the review!

Veralidaine Sarrasri of Galla: Thank you! I was admittedly a little worried about adding so many random Western references, but I'm pleased that someone did enjoy them! I hope that you will review in the future!