(AN)---I suppose this is a Kag/Inu story. Wow, I never thought I'd write one of those. I still don't. I guess this is a one of a kind...kind of deal. Anyway, read and review, please! ^_^
Disclaimer: Not mine. It doesn't belong to me, no sirree!
Stolen Kisses:
Part One
It started innocently enough. Er, scratch that. Miroku was involved, so it couldn't be all that innocent. It was the Third Day, and they were all doing their usual things. Inuyasha was pacing back and forth before the well, glaring and cursing at it as if it were the one keeping the girl in her own time, rather than delivering her to him.
Shippou was sitting on the rim of the well, turning his little head from side to side to keep track of the hanyou. He didn't want to say it because dog-boy was just looking for an excuse, but he really did wish Kagome would come back. He got nervous when she was gone for so long.
Sango was a good distance away, sitting in the grass with her hand affectionately stroking Kirara's head. She was close enough to be a part of the group, but she stared up at the sky with eyes that seemed far away with thoughts. Not an uncommon look.
Miroku approached the pacing Inuyasha, looking for all the world like the virtuous servant of Buddha he *coughCOUGH* was. "When did Kagome-sama say she would return?"
Inuyasha said, or more, growled, "Afternoon."
Miroku looked around him. It was morning, but he wisely did not point this out to the half-demon. Instead, he nonchalantly busied himself with picking imaginary lent off his black sleeve. "You must care for her a great deal."
Inuyasha stopped. "Huh?"
"Oh, it's quite alright. I won't interfere. But...there is something I've been wanting to ask."
Inuyasha turned to the monk, his gold eyes narrowing in warning. "What," he snapped, articulate as ever.
Miroku sidled up to the hanyou so fast that the dog actually jumped. "How far have you gotten with the Lady Kagome?"
Inuyasha glared at him. "Do you want to die?"
Miroku smiled, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Ah-ha, as I thought, you haven't even kissed her yet!"
"YES, I HA---ven't..." Inuyasha frowned.
Miroku patted his shoulder sympathetically, "That is why I, the great Miroku, have decided to help you."
Shippou, still sitting on the well, shook his head and sighed.
"I don't want your help." Inuyasha pushed away from the monk and turned to the well. He promptly swept the kitsune child off and grasped the rim in his clawed hands. He peered down. Stupid bitch...
"This is not a matter of want, my friend, but a matter of need. A beautiful maiden like Kagome will not wait long. She already has suitors lining up...that wolf-youkai, for one. Why," Miroku began innocently, "I would not be surprised if Sesshoumaru suddenly developed an interest in her..." The monk watched the hanyou's shoulders tighten, his clawed hands digging into the wood. So predictable!
After a moment Inuyasha turned around, his face schooled into something like annoyance. He was trying for indifferent, but the perpetual slant of his eyebrows made any look beside anger and annoyance difficult. "So what do you suggest I do? Kill them?" Yes, please!
"No, no! Nothing so drastic!"
Damn it.
Miroku glanced around with hooded eyes, then waved Inuyasha closer. After staring at the monk for a long moment, the hanyou sighed, unwillingly stepped closer to the pervert.
Miroku leaned forward.
Inuyasha leaned forward.
Miroku leaned forward.
Inuyasha leaned forward.
Miroku said, "Kiss her."
Inuyasha blinked.
Miroku nodded sagely.
Inuyasha lifted his fist...and *whacked* Miroku on the head. "I know this, you stupid monk!"
Miroku pouted, rubbing at his sore head. Only girls were allowed to abuse him...
"Besides," Inuyasha was going on, "I tried. She just gets all freaky and then 'sit's me. I ain't stupid; I know when a girl doesn't want to be kissed." He was pacing again, though less tensely.
"Ah," Miroku said pleasantly, "But what you don't understand is that Kagome is a true lady. Getting to her will not be easy."
Inuyasha stopped. "You seem to have thought about this a lot," he remarked unenthusiastically.
"Naturally!" Miroku gave a patented anime-smile, taking Inuyasha's veiled accusation as the compliment it wasn't.
Shippou, who had started to climb back up the side of the well, paused, his eyes swinging from Inuyasha to Miroku. He promptly leapt away and scrambled for the safety that was Sango. He knew better than to press his luck with the two stupid boys, especially when they had such conspiring looks.
Miroku rubbed at his chin with his sealed hand, the other casually wrapped around his staff. "Now, when she gets back you have to compliment her on---" he glanced at Inuyasha, stopped, then shook his head. "No, that won't work at all."
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. He was pretty sure he had just been insulted, but he couldn't figure out what the insult had been.
"I've got it! Get her to worry over you! Girls like Kagome love to worry! And then when she's all," Miroku's voice climbed higher, sounding nothing like Kagome's, "'Inuyasha, are you hurt? Inuyasha, are you okay?!'---"
Inuyasha jumped as Miroku gleefully slammed his two hands together, his staff between them.
"BAM! Attack!"
Inuyasha drew back from the cackling monk, true fear in his eyes. "Does that even work," he squeaked, then coughed. "I mean, I don't believe you." Inuyasha's tone deepened noticeably.
Miroku nodded, a serene look on his face. "I understand your skepticism, but allow me to demonstrate."
Inuyasha watched as Miroku spun on his heel and casually strolled towards the demon-hunter. Kirara's tail twitched and Sango looked up. Her eyes narrowed.
Inuyasha proceeded to watch as Miroku attempted to draw Sango out of her distant thoughts with meaningless small talk. Sango answered any and all questions, usually with one syllable, and did not ask her own. With a practiced frown, Miroku sat down in the grass and continued to talk.
Inuyasha did not need to see his hands to know when *it* happened. The exterminator's eyes did not widen with surprise, but slitted. She calmly lifted her hand and slapped the monk. Even the hanyou was impressed with the practiced strength of her swing and the resounding clap of noise that followed. His mind could only describe the movement as beautiful.
Had the situation gone as expected, the monk would have grinned sheepishly, maybe rubbed at his decorated face and let everything go. But things did not go as expected. Miroku shrieked, threw himself upon the ground and whimpered as if there were no words for the excruciating pain he was in. Sango was on her feet, eyes wide and hands wringing.
"What is it?! What is it," she cried. "What's wrong?!"
Miroku writhed, turned on to his side and curled around himself. He continued to moan, but for a second his eyes found Inuyasha's wide ones. He winked. Then squeezed his eyelids down tight.
Sango went to her knees beside him, frantically pulling at him, trying to get him to calm down, or at least tell her what was wrong. Inuyasha watched as she finally managed to wrestle the monk's hands away from his body. She instantly began checking him over for injuries.
Miroku sat up in one motion, and Sango paused. Her eyes widened as Miroku leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. Sango jerked back, her mouth falling open. Her hand raised, but did not slap him. She pressed it to her chest.
Inuyasha watched in utter surprise as Sango climbed to her feet with a blush. She turned quietly and started very calmly for the path that led to Kaede's village. Kirara and Shippou trotted after her. Only Shippou turned his head back once to glare at the two boys.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
It was the first time afternoon came too soon. Inuyasha was pacing nervously before the dry well when her scent suddenly permeated the air. He froze, every one of his tense muscles coiling harder. He heard her then, humming a tune unrecognizable to him. The leaves lining the mouth of the old wooden structure trembled as he drew nearer to it, the vines tightening as he imagined her habitually climbing up. He glanced around the clearing to make sure they were alone, then moved even closer, expecting to see her appear at any second, as if by magic, as if conjured from the very air. Of course, that wasn't too far from the truth of the matter.
Something whooshed through the air, and he looked up just in time to see the colour yellow smash right into his face. Then there was the colour black.
Inuyasha groaned. What the hell had happened?
Once upon a time he had been in a hurry to intercept Kagome as she came through the well. He had been running along at top-speed when her familiar scent caught him. For one second he had been distracted, he had smiled and thought of how good she smelled, and how equally good the ramen in her backpack had smelled. Next thing he knew---his face had been implanted in the side of a tree. A not so soft or smooth tree.
With his head rolling on his neck, as if his brain were loose and sloshing from side to side...he felt very much like he did then.
"Oh! You're awake!"
Inuyasha's head cleared enough to let him follow the voice. His eyes turned toward it, but all he saw was a fuzzy black out-line with big, concerned blue eyes. Kagome? The concern let him know it wasn't Kikyou.
She's worried...Wait---She's worried! Licking his lips he didn't even bother with waiting for his sight to fully clear. Sitting up, he pressed his lips to an approximation of hers. And sucked in air.
Kagome had turned in the nick of time, setting something off to the side and completely avoiding his 'attack'. Inuyasha blinked, looking like a demented dogfish with his mouth all scrunched up and puckered.
A bush near the well made a sound suspiciously reminiscent of a giggle. Inuyasha glared at it heatedly and it promptly shut up.
It was then that he felt cool liquid sliding down his face. He lifted a clawed finger to his cheek and came away with moisture. Crying? She's crying...?
He started to panic. "Kagome, please don't---"
Kagome turned back curiously, her face clean and clear and unstained by the salt of tears. Her movement showed him that she had placed a small bottle of water off to the side.
"Huh?" they said at the same time.
Kagome blinked at him in confusion.
"Keh!" Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest and thrust his nose up in the air.
Kagome sighed.
Damn it, he thought. Failure. Time to go back to the original plan. Inuyasha grinned. This would be one of the easiest things he ever did. Clearing the smirk from his face, he glared at the miko. Best to start slow so as not to make her suspicious.
"What the hell was that?!"
Kagome's eyes instantly lowered. She fiddled with the edge of her green skirt, then glanced up at him. She was pouting. And she was very good at it. But, unfortunately for her, Inuyasha was very good at being oblivious.
"I threw my daypack over the side of the well," she said finally.
Inuyasha glanced at the huge yellow monstrosity sitting beside her, and his eyes widened. He got hit with that? And lived? O.O
Perfect!...Though painful...He rubbed at his nose in irritation. "Stupid bitch," he muttered, making sure it was loud enough for her to hear it. "...Always doing stupid shit like this."
Her eyes instantly snapped narrow. In anticipation he watched her dainty lips part, his body relaxing in preparation of impact and his mind racing with an internal re-enactment of what he would do.
"OSU---you know what, I'm gonna let that go this time. I'm in too good a mood to get upset over such a...*small* thing." She reached out affectionately and patted his head. Smiled, and bounced cheerfully past.
Inuyasha watched her go, his mouth falling open. Ehhh...?
Miroku rolled out of the bush, laughing his ass off. It was so the wrong thing to do.
With a rabid growl Inuyasha swept up Kagome's yellow monstrosity and dropped it on the monk's head.
Part Two forthcoming!