A/N: Don't hate me.
Read and review as you please.
Beta: Cstorm86


The Champion of Cluelessness


Kagome looked down to the bento box that sat in the basket standing next to her. With all that talking, she'd forgotten that she'd brought the shrine guardian food.

She pressed a hand against her cheek, still remembering the odd feeling of her skin brushing against the spot on Inuyasha's head where regular people had ears and he had just smooth skin. Some people could be weirded out by that tidbit about his anatomy, but Kagome didn't mind that - his regular ears were cute and perfect where they sat atop his head.

It wasn't the first time they touched. He'd held her and had carried her on his back, but this time it was different. This time it was not of necessity, not to remove her from a dangerous spot or move fast across the land.

He hugged her because he wanted to.

Fuzzy butterflies fluttered in her belly and she felt her mouth stretch in - no doubt - a dopey smile.

Her gaze drifted to the basket. She should at least tell him that she was leaving it for him here. She took a few deep breaths to soothe her excitement about the whole situation - his embrace, the fact that she managed to find a way to lift the commands from him and that he wanted to stay at the shrine as her partner.

'Inuyasha...' she called tentatively.

'It was a thank you hug, nothing more!' he barked back at her. He sounded almost panicked, like an embarrassed boy. Instead of feeling bad about his declaration, she giggled.

'Sure thing," she said, easily. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving your lunch here. Bring the basket to the kitchen when you're done.'

All she got was a mental scoff but she didn't mind. It didn't matter if he hugged her to say thanks or for some other reason, she was just happy he did it. '

Somehow she managed to make her silly grin change to a more soft one before she exited the forest. She stopped, looking at Sango and Hojo, the pair engaged in a spar. Hojo looked excited and eager to learn, as always. but Sango had this look of barely concealed dread on her face. She glanced at Kagome and the miko giggled, reading a plea for help in her dark eyes.

Hojo could be hard to handle, especially when he got passionate about something. He just wouldn't listen to a voice of reason, single-mindedly forging his path to his goal.

Judging by the situation it seemed that now the boy wanted to become an exterminator. Kagome shook her head. He'd been lucky that one time, but Kagome wasn't sure it was his calling. For someone so smart, he could believe in things like alternative medicine and always trusted others. But maybe he could learn, after all he'd learned some karate. She decided to talk to Sango and see if this was a path for him or if she should try and redirect his attention somewhere else.

"Hi, guys!" she greeted them. Sango leaped away from Hojo and sighed, while Hojo grinned, both lowering their hands. "So, Sango, how is the training of your pupil going?"

"He is not my pupil," Sango said and glanced to Hojo, who frowned. "Kagome, a word, please." The woman grabbed Kagome's wrist and pulled the miko around the corner of the house. "How do I make him stop?"

"Is he that bad?" Kagome giggled at the slayer. Sango gave her a grim nod.

"He is not fit to be a taijiya." she said and was about to add something more, but a pair of women approached them. Kagome blinked, it was almost time to close the shrine for the visitors for the day.

"Um, miko...?" one of the women asked. Both were slender and pretty tall, wearing their hair in long braids. The one who spoke had almost white skin, while the one standing beside her had a much darker complexion. "Can we go visit the Goshinboku?"

Kagome was about to answer, when she noticed a faint youki coming out of them both. 'Inuyasha?' she asked, noticing that the pair were snakes, wearing concealing charms.

'They're fine. They've been coming here every year before summer for the past thirty years. 'Will hang a charm on the Tree and leave.'

"Sure," Kagome smiled at the pair and nodded. The women bowed their heads, visibly relaxing at her permission, before they walked towards the path to the Sacred Tree. It was plain to see they had been at the meadow before, since they didn't hesitate to go to the shortest path. Most visitors prayed at the shrine, but only a handful ventured into the forest to pay respects to the ancient tree.

"You're aware they're youkai?" Sango asked when they were gone. "You let them approach the Tree of Ages?"

Neither of them noticed a soft gasp from around the corner of the house, nor the hurried footsteps.

"It's alright, Sango. They won't cause trouble," Kagome smiled. The taijiya
frowned, but nodded.

"Your trust in youkai is admirable," she said. Many would think Kagome naive or even stupid for trusting youkai, but Sango knew many of them were harmless if one followed their rules. She had learned to trust the Higurashi miko's judgment, even if she didn't know this Higurashi for long.

"Actually, I asked Inuyasha," Kagome giggled. "He says they are alright."

"How...?" Sango blinked at her and Kagome poked her temple.

"It must sound crazy, but we can talk in our minds," she explained. The taijiya's face lit up with understanding.

"Ah, I see. This must be very helpful," Sango said. There was relief in her voice, along with wonder. Kagome was relieved to see that she seemed not to be weirded out by that. Well, she was from the youkai world. "Coordinating actions must be much easier this way."

"Yeah," the miko grinned, fondness in her voice. "Inuyasha often gives me pointers, since I wasn't raised at the shrine and have a lot to learn as the shrine keeper. And a miko dealing with youkai. Up until recently I had no idea they were real."

"I bet he's as grumpy when he speaks in your mind as he is when he talks out loud" Sango said and Kagome laughed.

"Yes, he is, but he is a great friend, too. I hope you will see the gentler side of him. If you need to..." she leaned towards the exterminator. "You can brie bribe with food," she shared this as if it was a huge secret. Sango giggled.

"Just like Kirara. If I need to get her to do something I use food or let her sleep in my bed."

Kagome thought about it.

And then promptly turned tomato red and covered her mouth as she gasped. Sango's eyes widened when she saw that and she lifted her hands, waving them in front of herself.

"I don't mean... I wasn't implying... I wasn't implying anything!" Sango squeaked.

"Um..." Kagome tried to focus on something else than imagining herself in one bed with Inuyasha. He was her friend and protector, fantasizing about him wasn't right, right?

"Just forget that part, okay?" Sango, blushing herself, looked away.

"S-sure... No problem," Kagome said, knowing that this was going to haunt her later. She was about to change the subject to something not embarrassing, when a woman's scream froze them both in place for a moment.

Kagome realized she ran after Sango, when they were already in the forest, because a wave of disgust and anger flooded her mind. 'Kagome!' roared Inuyasha and the miko knew that whatever was going on, she had to hurry, otherwise someone was going to lose their head.

As they approached the glen, they could hear voices.

"Take it off!" they heard a yell. It was a female voice, pitched high and full of panic. There was also a second female voice, sobbing and moaning, but much quieter.

"No way! She's a youkai!" exclaimed Hojo, obviously triumphant. "And you are too, so you better watch out, because you're going to end up purified too!"

Kagome paused on the edge of the meadow, that wasn't as serene as it usually was. A youkai was lying on the soft grass, the upper body of the dark-skinned woman, with a lower half being a snake tail with an intricate, colorful scale pattern of green, blue and red. Something white was stuck to her shoulder. Hojo stood a few paces away from her, facing the other youkai - a big white snake with red eyes. It coiled and slithered, trying to move past him - or more precisely the slip of paper he held.

"It hurts," the woman sobbed. "I can't move..."

The snake hissed, baring its huge fangs dripping with venom. "Take it off of her!"

"I'll keep the snake away, you deal with your friend," Sango said, reaching for her knife. It was shorter than the snake's fangs.

"Good idea," Kagome nodded and they both entered the meadow. They were halfway towards their targets, before they noticed them. The white snake rose, hissing furiously, obviously ready to attack if it needed to.

"What's going on here?" Kagome asked, reaching Hojo, who smiled.

"I took care of the youkai. You really should pay more attention to who visits your shrine. They could attack someone," he said.

"We did nothing wrong, miko!" the white snake hissed. "He attacked Naru out of nowhere!"

"Hojo, they aren't evil," Kagome said, gesturing to a snake the size of a bus, who was glaring at him with ruby red eyes.

"See? I told you, he isn't fit to be a taijiya." Sango shook her head.

"I am!" Hojo argued. "I was handling things until you came running!"

"You fucked up asshole, shut your bloody yap, or I will tear you from your throat to your nonexistent balls," yelled a new voice.

Kagome gasped and looked to the side, where Inuyasha was crouching beside the second snake. He reached a clawed hand and, despite the snake's hiss and the woman's sobbing, put it on her shoulder.

Right over the white talisman stuck there by Hojo.

The shrine guardian pulled it off as if it was a post it, not a paper embedded with sacred power. The woman froze and fell silent for a moment, before she looked up at him, her tear-stained face confused.

"It doesn't hurt you?" she whispered. Inuyasha shrugged.

"Nope," he said. The next second the white snake pushed him away and coiled around the woman protectively. Inuyasha stumbled back. "Oi, you!"

"You okay?" the snake asked. The woman wrapped her arms around as much of the youkai as she could and nodded.

"Good," Sango sighed and put her knife away. Kagome smiled in relief. Then she groaned when Inuyasha put in her hand the slip of paper. There was one word written on it in the crooked way of someone who wasn't used to writing with a brush, but with a pencil. It was her handwriting and the word read 'bind'.

"I apologize for Hojo's actions," she said and bowed her head to the women, who once more were looking like normal humans. "We didn't know he was going to do this."

"Don't apologize for me to the youkai!" Hojo argued. Kagome and Sango glared at him when the shrine patrons frowned at his words. Kagome planned to talk to him about his behavior later, but she didn't have a chance.

"You shut your damn trap!" Inuyasha barked and leaped in front of startled Hojo. In the blink of an eye in place of a hanyou stood a normal-sized dog, which proceeded to bite on Hojo's calf as soon as he landed on all four paws in front of him. Hojo screamed in pain and tried to make him let go, but Inuyasha only growled.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped. The dog gave a last growl and let go of Hojo's leg, the man limping back, his face pale, twisted in pain and fear. Inuyasha assumed his humanoid form again and gave a bow.

"The matter is not finished yet, but as the shrine guardian I assure you, we will not allow him to continue this," he said to the snakes. "Please, don't hold his idiocy against the miko and the taijiya, they had no part in this."

Kagome could only stare at him for a moment, amazed at how formal he spoke.

"We trust in your justice, Inuyasha," the white snake youkai said firmly. Her companion held her forearm as she watched Sango, who went to Hojo to wrap his bleeding leg. Kagome could hear his panicked and pained gasps and her grumbling for him to stay still and that he'd brought it upon himself.

"I'm just glad he went after me. Even if he'd have had a purifying talisman, he wouldn't do more than turn me human, while it'd be deadly to Aki."

"Naru! Don't say that" Aki gasped. Kagome blinked at them, not certain, what they meant. How could a white talisman turn one youkai human and kill another. Her confusion had to be plain on her face, because Naru smiled shyly.

"I'm a half-breed," she said. "Purification is painful, but I turn back to my normal form after a while."

"Oh, a hanyou," Kagome breathed out and glanced to Inuyasha, who stood with his arms crossed. 'My reiki didn't hurt you when you took the talisman off of her?' she asked in her mind. His ear twitched.

'I'm immune to the reiki of the one who holds my kotodama,' he replied. 'Another reason why the beads ain't coming off.'

'If you change your mind about them, just let me know,' she replied easily. She trusted him and wanted him to remember that keeping them on was his, not her, choice.

"We will go now," Aki said and glanced to where a colorful ribbon hung from a low branch of the Sacred Tree, a piece of paper dangling from it. "See you in a year."

"Oh, yes," Naru nodded. "Congratulations on your new position, miko."

"Thank you," Kagome smiled brightly and watched them walk back, their arms linked. Then she turned around to look at Hojo, who was sitting on the ground, his leg wrapped with a piece of fabric. He was trying to convince Sango, crouching beside him, that Inuyasha was rabid and that he had done nothing wrong.

"I just tried to protect everyone," he said. "Keep them safe from youkai. Isn't that what heroes like you do?"

"Not all youkai are evil and deserve to be exterminated," Sango said, the tone of her voice indicating she was almost out of patience.

"I want to know," Kagome said, her hands resting on her hips. "From where did you get my white talismans, Hojo?"

"And why do you want to ruin the shrine's reputation by attacking our patrons?" Inuyasha added. Hojo looked down.

"I wanted to help..." he mumbled.

"Hojo, you can't go and assault innocent people, no matter if they are human or youkai, or hanyou," Kagome scolded. At this moment she had this weird feeling as if she was a mother scolding a misbehaving kid.

"He won't have a chance to do it again," Inuyasha declared firmly. "We will ask Kaede to wipe his memories."

"What? No!" Hojo gasped.

"She can do that?" Kagome was awed. The hanyou nodded and leaped to grab Hojo before he could crawl away..

A few hours later Kagome finally climbed in her bed. She sure deserved a good sleep, after witnessing Kaede's ghostly hand slipping inside Hojo's head and the whole event at the Sacred Tree glen.

Now, Hojo was asleep in the living room, while Sango and Kirara had the guest room for themselves. She could hear rain falling outside, the sound of running water soothing. She made a mental note to clear out one of the storage rooms, so it could become Inuyasha's bedroom. The shrine guardian shouldn't sleep in the forest, at least not during the raining season and winter. She wasn't going to let him use the shed anymore.

She gasped, when her imagination created a vision in which Inuyasha shared a room - and a bed - with her. She almost could feel the warm, firm body behind her and his arms wrapped around her. She had to use all her willpower to shoo the vision away before she could share it with Inuyasha by accident.

That'd be horrible, she wouldn't know how to face him after that. They were friends and no matter how big her crush on him was, she couldn't just dump it on him. Knowing Inuyasha, he'd freak out or run off. She couldn't blame him, he had been mistreated by her ancestors, maybe an idea of her having feelings for him would be repulsive to him? Was it even possible he could see her as more than a friend and partner?

"Damn," she pulled her blanket over her head.