A/N: Finally, an answer to a long asked question! Hope you like it!
Beta; Cstorm86

The Miko's Biggest Fan

Kagome stood in the middle of her room, looking at her grandpa and mother, who looked at her with starry eyes. She shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"You look so pretty!" her mother said, clasping her hands in front of herself before she lunged for her phone to commit the view to her SD card.

"A true shrine maiden," her grandpa nodded. Kagome rolled her eyes. She wore her miko attire and had her hair in a usual tail. What was different was heavily embroidered mantle of white silk. Blue and green copper and golden threads etched on the pristine expanse the shapes of leaves and vines, swirls of petals and dew. It was supposed to give her authority. It certainly gave her weight, and Kagome was thankful that the evening wasn't as hot and humid as the last day.

She waited patiently for her mom to take her pictures. She could hear the music from the outside and the voices of many people enjoying themselves on the shrine grounds.

It was a long day. Since dawn people had been coming to the shrine to add finishing touches to the stalls, start preparing the food and wares for the festival that had started with only a small delay around 10 am. Orange, yellow and white lamps hung from every corner of every stall and from strings strung overhead among the trees. There were small alleys where one could enjoy regional food, traditional games and buy lots of trinkets. And of course pray. The path to the Sacred Tree was open to any who would dare to venture into the forest and hang their prayers off the low branches of the aged tree.

Kagome had been out there for the whole time, helping in any way she could. The community organizing the festival relied on her and her grandpa to decide on bigger things, but luckily she didn't have to worry about numerous little things - a group of volunteers was doing their best to manage giving information, handling lost children and other emergencies. Miroku had spent a lot of his morning that way - until Sango had come with her brother. At least Kagome knew that her friend and her shy brother had a good guide.

And there were so many patrons, who seemed to come from quite afar in many cases. Honda Hotel was full of people who had arrived yesterday to witness the festival. According to her grandpa, a new shrine keeper's first kagura dance was drawing more crowds.

Which wasn't exactly soothing right now. She was going to dance in half an hour and she wasn't sure she could do it. With Inuyasha and grandpa's help during her training, she was fairly certain that she could follow the steps, but she was anxious to stand and perform before a huge crowd watching her every move. She'd barely made it without stuttering much when grandpa had introduced her as his successor during his festival opening speech.

And whoever she told that too, was it her mom or Souta (who was probably now on the gift shop duty with Miroku) they just smiled and said that she got it.

She didn't feel like she got it.

Kagome swallowed when her grandpa and mom left her room to give her some privacy to panic. They were going to make sure the stage was ready and bring her bells. Well, she decided that she could try and relax by something a few minutes working on the short story idea she had in mind since morning.

She knelt by her low desk and reached to the drawer, only now realizing that her notebook was not there. No, it was in the gift shop counter drawer again.

'Oh crap.'

'What oh crap?' came Inuyasha's concerned thought, but she ignored him.

Panicking for a different reason, Kagome ran out of her room and ran towards the shrine grounds. Heads turned after her in mild curiosity, but otherwise not many people paid her any mind. Not until she gotup on the stage. Kagome used a shortcut, meaning that she'd come around the gift shop and...

She stopped. There was a man sitting on a stool, his back rested against the wood of the shop. No patrons were roaming this part of the shrine grounds, since all the attractions were on the other side. But the stranger just sat there, dressed in a nice kimono, reading a book. Bewildered, Kagome approached him slowly.. His kimono was definitely a family heirloom, it looked expensive with all the fine details of a forest covered mountain. His hair was pulled in a topknot and tied with a red ribbon. Round face radiated kindness and his dark brown eyes were focused on the book he was holding in one hand. In the other he had a pencil he was nibbling at absentmindedly.

All the polite inquiries left Kagome when she got in around a few meters away from him.

It was not a book.

It was her notebook

"Hey, you!" she yelled and stomped forward, a feat hard to achieve in her geta. The startled man lifted his gaze from his reading and she jabbed a finger in the direction of the notebook in his hand. "That's mine!"

"We know," said the man with a gentle smile. It seemed to make the air sparkle. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. "This is one of your best drafts."

Fire raged in Kagome's eyes as she glared at him.

"You weren't supposed to read it! Not without permission. No one should read unfinished stuff, unless they were asked to do that by the author! And you did it for weeks, sneaking and reading my stories!" she yelled. The not mysterious anymore feedback giver had enough good grace to look sheepish.

"A thousand apologies," he said and closed the notebook before handing it to her. "Asking seems to be the polite way to proceed this sort of things. We found the notebook and... Your style is so compelling and you write about wonders of fantastic worlds... And your mini series of stories with youkai, it is so well done! The temptation was too great not to come back. And it only felt right to share the feelings your writing brought out. Pray, allow us to start again, this time properly. Will you allow the pleasure of first reading your stories to be ours?" the man asked, hope glimmering in his eyes.

"No! I don't like having betas I don't know at least a bit," Kagome huffed. His compliments about her writing doused her ire just a bit. She didn't exactly have a chance to talk to people reading her stories in person. She hugged her notebook to herself.

"That can be amended. You may refer to us as Yama," the man smiled. "And you are Higurashi Kagome. So now we have each other's names.'

Kagome opened her mouth to tell him that it hardly mattered. She still wasn't sure if she wanted him as one of her betas, he was odd. Who used plural when speaking about themselves? And there was the matter of him sneaking behind her back to do his anonymous feedback and reading unfinished stuff. Stuff she wasn't ready to share with anyone yet.

That was when Inuyasha, alarmed by her mental exclamation a few minutes ago, landed beside her. Literally landed, because he'd jumped off of the gift shop's roof.

"Oh, kami!"

A part of her idly mused that he'd probably ran across the roofs of the stalls to avoid going through the crowd But it was a small part of her, because the majority of Kagome was occupied with the sight that presented itself to her upon Inuyasha's landing

The hanyou took one glance at the man, who still smiled at them, then he sank to his knees like he'd been kicked in his gut. Kagome gaped at Inuyasha, who laid his hands on the ground and bowed.

Stunned, Kagome lifted her eyes from Inuyasha's querying ears to the man, who gave her a good hearted smile and stepped forward to lean in and place one hand on top of the hanyou's head. The ears stood to attention.

"There is no need for that boy. We bid you stand up, komainu."

Something in Kagome's mind clicked. She didn't faint, but she really wished she would have.