InuYasha and Marathon had been walking down the sidewalk in total silence since they had left the house. Marathon kept staring down at the list of errands, while InuYasha, being InuYasha, grumbled to himself quietly.

He took the time out to glance at their surroundings. He had been on this street a lot in his searches for Kagome, so he could recognize a few of the buildings and even some of the people that walked by. That familiar pain flashed in his side, but he was too busy observing to give it much attention.

Marathon walked faster than InuYasha, and in her preoccupation got ahead of him. Since his head was in the clouds he barely noticed it either, and wouldn't have at all if he hadn't ran into the photo booth right in front of him.

What? InuYasha looked at it and stepped inside. I remember this thing. I came looking for Kagome and she pulled me in here. I still don't see what the big deal was. He sat down in the seat and looked at the camera. In his mind he could remember the bright flashes of light assaulting him and Kagome, his attempt to protect her, and to him, her lack of gratitude and her attitude.

The flashes are not coming out now. What made them start? He ran his hands along some of the dials. She explained to me before that they couldn't hurt me..and somehow they made those little pictures. He scratched his head and stepped outside. "Here it is.." He touched the outside controls and the slot where the pictures came out. Souta did something out here to do it. That little kid, always trying something...

A small smile worked its way on his face and he leaned against the side of the booth. He raised his hand to his neck and below the rosary, felt the locket Kagome had given him. That's right Kagome, I'm wearing it. You don't have to scream about that anymore. He rubbed the heart shaped golden locket between his fingers and let the sun's rays play on it and make it shine.

"InuYasha?"

He turned and slid back when he saw Marathon standing right beside him.

"A locket on you?" Marathon's lip curled mischieviously and she opened it without asking.

"Ever heard of something called personal space?" InuYasha grabbed it and wrenched it out of her hand. He pulled too hard, though, and the locket piece broke from the chain and fell to the ground.

"Idiot.." He picked it up.. "First thing I'm going to do when I'm a full demon is kill you. "

Marathon looked down, hurt by InuYasha's comment. "I'm sorry then. I saw who was in that locket.."

"Ever think of just asking instead of grabbing? I knew people in your time were mannerless pansies, but you..."

"I said I was sorry, okay?" Marathon looked over his shoulder at a store and then grabbed his hand gently. "Follow me, we have to stop here. Please?"

"Whatever." InuYasha shoved his way past Marathon and into the store. It was a jewelry store, glittering with gold, silver, and other assorted jewels decorating watches, necklaces and rings. It was fairly upper class, and a refined woman stood behind the counter smiling as they walked in.

"How may I help you?" She asked in a polite sing-song voice.

"Yes." Marathon went over the the counter and rested her elbow against it. "Can you get a new strand for this locket?" She pointed over to InuYasha, who then held it up so the woman can see.

"Certainly. May I get a closer look?"

InuYasha was hesitant to let go of it but a look from Marathon made him yield it to the woman. She pulled her glasses to her eyes and examined it for a moment, before handing it back. "Lets see here." She kneeled down behind the counter and began to search through some boxes. In a matter of moments she pulled out a gold chain identical to the one that broke.

"How much will it be?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"You see," the refined woman said as she took the locket and threaded the chain through. "These are a set that are being discontinued as of tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with them, we are just moving on to a more affordable supplier. It was the last one we had, and I just have a feeling it will be fufilling a very special purpose." She reached to her right and grabs a polishing cloth, giving the locket a good shining before giving it back. "At least that is how I feel, intuition at all."

"I don't know what to say..." Marathon dug in her pockets to give the woman something but she was stopped.

"Have a good day will you. That's all I ask."

"Yes, thank you. " Marathon bowed slightly and held the door open for InuYasha. InuYasha put the locket back around his neck and tucking it in his shirt before giving the woman an acknowledging nod and leaving. However, his quiet politeness ended at the door.

"We wouldn't have needed to get a new chain if you didn't grab at things like a two year old." He snapped at her.

"Excuse me?" Marathon's eye twitched and she loomed over InuYasha. "You ungrateful little sunuva.."

"Keep talking bitch."

Marathon growled but pulled herself away. "We have things to do. If you think you could act like a decent person for the next few hours we will be done long before dinner."

"Fine by me, cat"

"I was going to pay for it you know. I said I was sorry."

InuYasha thought about that and sighed in "defeat". I guess I was a little touchy..as long as I have it back..." We don't have all day, you said so yourself, lets go."


Within an hour InuYasha was lugging two grocery bags, trailing behind Marathon. "Don't you know how to wait for a person.?

"Is it heavy?" Marathon snickered. "I wasn't the one who insisted on buying an entire bag of ramen when, you know, we already have three months supply at home."

"That three months supply.." InuYasha switched the weight of the bags to his other side, "is being sucked up by some greedy american that doesn't know how to share."

"You have to be kidding me, at least I taste the other food groups. I can't wait till you go back to your own time, because you are becoming a lazy and fat weiner dog."

"The fu- You're one to talk!"

"Please don't run into the pole."

InuYasha narrowly misses the power pole and catches up just enough to dump one of the paper bags in Marathon's hand. Marathon growled to herself but took it, and manuevered her hand so she could support the bag and look to see what was next in the list of errands.

"Okay, we went shopping, bought Souta that shirt he wanted and put it in the bottom of the grocery bag, and now we have to get my aunt and gramps' dry cleaning and do more mall shopping for some birthday presents they forgot to pick up." She let out a loud audible groan ( in unison with InuYasha) and stopped to rest on a bench. "Why did they want us to do all this stuff anyway? It seems like they could've done it a lot faster if they used the car."

"I think its because the old man is crazy." InuYasha sat down next to her and rested his grocery bag between his legs. He pulled out a cup of ramen and poked it longingly. "I wish I had some hot water so I could cook this."

"Pathetic." Marathon crossed her arms behind her head and looked at the bustling city. "This one city is so incredibly huge, especially when you know that Japan is only a small island. I guess I could compare it to New York or something, but this city definately has a different flavor. I can't help but miss the United States."

InuYasha put one of his ankles over the other and leaned on his side so he could look at Marathon. "What's so great about the United States anyway? "

Marathon paused to make sure an automatic insult didn't shoot out at InuYasha, and took the time to answer his question. "You could turn that around and say what is so great about Japan. Its all about being at home. Different places have different things that are special about them. It would be hard to answer you unless you came with me someday."

InuYasha turned back around and stared ahead. "Kagome mentioned the United States once or twice. She said it was okay, so I'll have to take her word for it."

"She was a smart kid, I'll tell you that. You probably already know she made perfect scores all the time."

"Perfect scores.." InuYasha held back a laugh. "She was always complaining about how she was about to fail a test or exam, or something like that. You hear that enough and you begin to think someone is a horrible student."

"Not horrible, preoccupied. My take on it was that she thought it was more important to take care of her friends and family than grades. Always good when it came to priorities." She flicked around her earring in thought. " Do you think I look like her?"

The dog hanyou was taken offguard by that question, and had to let his eyes scan Marathon's form before responding. He remembered making that observation long ago, but now that he looked again, he was sure that she bore more resemblance to Kagome than he originally thought. "A little. Your hair and eyes are the wrong color, and you're taller."

"Ever thought of cutting your hair?"

"What? Why?"

"Nothing, nothing. Its just that maybe you would stop getting those biker boy comments."

"Forget it." She stood up and grabbed her bag. "We have a whole bunch more of these annoying little tasks to do before we get home."

InuYasha grabbed his bag and walked beside Marathon, peering over at her errand list. "So that's english? I recognize that from one of Kagome's books. Everything looks so strangely shaped."

"That's because its not Japanese," Marathon rolled her eyes. I bet he can't even write Japanese and he wants to learn English. Pathetic. She glanced behind her and began to pick up the pace in her walking.

"What's your problem? Trying to lose me again. Its not going to help things." InuYasha complained as he caught up with the cat hanyou again.

"That's not it at all." She whispered to him, knowing his sensitive ears would pick up, "Looks like we are being followed by that group of guys back there."

"Those demons again? Fine, I'll take them out." InuYasha whispered back, and started to put his bag down before Marathon's hand stopped them.

"No, last time they only attacked me because I was in a somewhat empty parking lot. Crowds are our friend, they won't dare bring attention to themselves. Keep going, and ignore them until they make the first move."

She is starting to sound more and more like Kagome. InuYasha thought as he hesitantly took Marathon's advice.


At the end of their tiring shopping day, they dumped the pile of goods they had collected at the door and fell on the couch. Souta searched for his new shirt while Ms. Higurashi put the groceries and the dry cleaning away.

"I want to thank you guys for your help." She placed a hot bowl of ramen in front of each of them on the sitting table. "Because of you I was able to get a lot done around the house today. It was invaluable, your giving up your time for this family."

"Not a problem Aunt Kei.." Marathon said out of the corner of her mouth and shoved a pillow over her face.

Makes no sense. I could take out 50 demons and smack Naraku around, InuYasha yawned, But going shopping and errand running bores the hell out of me. I want to go to sleep. No wonder Kagome was so weird when she came back. This stuff sucks. His eyes began to bat shut and in a matter of moments, was snoring lightly on his spot on the couch.

This is my wonderful teacher? Don't make me laugh. He went shopping and now he is too tired to eat his favorite food. Marathon fought back a yawn but failed. "Aunt Kei I'm too tired to eat...can you save it for me?"

"Sure I'll warm it up when you are ready." She took the two bowls back and fluffed Marathon's pillow.

"Yeah thanks. I appreciate that." She stretched and let off a soft meow before curling up. Nothing felt better than the cozy spot she was in, even though she was only inches away from the annoying dog demon.