The "Perfect" Gift

Kagome believed she had the right to be a little pissed off at the daiyoukai. While he may think she was being unreasonable, she highly disagreed. Sesshoumaru had, after all, melted her magic eight ball in, what she called, a jealous fit. Had that truly been necessary? The eight ball had merely advised her to not go to dinner with him that evening, after all. And she would have disregarded its advice with a laugh if Sesshoumaru hadn't played so perfectly into her hand with his gullibility.

Damn it, she missed her toy. It had been a birthday gift from Souta and had kept her highly amused for quite some time. Contrary to what the daiyoukai believed, she did not trust it with her every day decisions. She just made him think that to tease him. Kagome hadn't known he would believe her so thoroughly, though, and take such extreme matters to "end her dependency", as he'd said.

Working out her aggressions towards the dog by pulling the weeds out of her flower bed, Kagome did not realized Sesshoumaru had landed in the grass behind her until she felt the flare of his youki brush across her senses. Turning around, fully prepared to give him a piece of her mind as she had worked herself up into a 'mad as hell' state again, Kagome stopped when she saw him. Actually, what he held in his hands stopped her…even though he looked quite delicious himself. Kami, she thought to herself. It's only been a week since I last saw him and I'm this screwed up over the sight of him?

Standing up, brushing the dirt of her hands, Kagome eyed the package in Sesshoumaru's claws. It was a box, daintily wrapped in beautiful pearly white paper and tied with a velvet red bow. His colors, of course. "What is that?"

The daiyoukai looked down at the gift in his hands and then back to her. He seemed slow to act, slow to answer and that only intrigued her all the more. "Is that for me?"

Sesshoumaru barely nodded his head yes.

"Is this…an apology?"

This time Sesshoumaru remained still, looking slightly less than uncomfortable now, and Kagome knew she was right.

Squealing with glee, she took the box from his hands, admiring his choice of wrapping paper. "Did you wrap this yourself?" she asked, noticing how perfect it seemed. Not even the stores seemed to do this good of a job.

"The assistance of the company employees was less than adequate," Sesshoumaru explained, his voice stiff. "I accept nothing but perfection."

Kagome smiled. "Well, you accept me and I'm not perfect."

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow rose. "This Sesshoumaru," he said meaningfully, "Accepts nothing but perfection."

Knowing she was blushing now, Kagome turned her eyes down towards the present once more. "May I open it now?"

"If you so desire."

Normally one to rip into a present, tearing the paper to shreds on the way, Kagome took her time now to savor the opening of her apology gift from Sesshoumaru. He had never been one to gift her lavishly—not that she desired or needed that—and she wanted to remember every moment of this time for later giggling over tonight. Evidently, though, Sesshoumaru was uncharacteristically impatient with her as he took the gift from her hands and ripped the paper off for her with a quick swipe of his claws. "Hey! No opening my gift for me, moon doggie."

"This Sesshoumaru merely sought to aid you, as you seem to be having trouble tearing open the paper."

"I was trying to savor the moment," Kagome grumbled as she tore her present back out of his hands and lifted the lid on the box.

Peering inside, Kagome was not surprised to find her gift, whatever it was, shrouded in red tissue paper. Feeling almost like she was digging into a bloody body and wondering where in the hell that thought had come from, she stuck her hand in, past the paper, until she reached her gift. As her fingers closed around the globe like object, Kagome's eyes lit up. "Did you get me a new one?!" she yelled out as she pulled the gift out of the box.

He did. It was a new magic eight ball and not one of the ones she'd seen on the shelves in the grocery stores or staring out at her from the toy store windows. This was a "fancy" magic eight ball. "Wow," Kagome said as she looked over the eight ball's glossy finished.

It had been custom made; specially ordered just for her apparently because Kagome had never seen a white magic eight ball with red lettering. And it was heavier, too. Definitely not made of plastic. "What is this made of?" she asked as she tested the weight in her hand.

"The casing is layered with pearl."

"Pearl?" Kagome echoed with disbelief.

"Ask your new magic eight ball," Sesshoumaru ordered, his voice sounding faintly sarcastic when he said the word magic, "A question, miko."

All too happy to oblige because she'd been missing her fun, Kagome set the box aside and took her customary position with her new eight ball. Briefly wondering if Sesshoumaru had ever played pool, she laid one hand on top while holding the ball in the other. Kagome closed her eyes, concentrating and ignoring the humorous waves pulsing off of the daiyoukai. "Magic Eight Ball," she began. "Should I forgive Sesshoumaru?"

Taking her sweet time, Kagome flipped her new eight ball over and peered into the screen on the bottom. The answer floated to the top a few seconds later. "This one says yes," she read aloud. This one?

Her curiosity roused, Kagome flipped the ball over and then back again without asking a question. The little answer box inside once more floated up to the window. 'Hn', it read. Kagome jiggled the eight ball around again. 'Ask a Youkai', it read next. Eagerly, she flipped it again. 'Indeed' was the next one.

Kagome looked up at the daiyoukai, who wore a smug expression. "You changed the sayings on them, didn't you?"

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru replied. "If you are to seek guidance from such a thing, miko, this one will be ensured that the advice is as close to perfection as is possible."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome flipped the eight ball over again and looked down at the screen. The answer floated up to the top once more. "And 'kill it' is your idea of good advice?"

"Hn."

Fin.

a/n: Cookie to whoever gets the funny ha-ha about the "perfect" in the title! And yes, two updates in two days... I'm sure the muses will drought me now for a while as punishment for overworking them.