Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi is the owner of Inuyasha and all of its characters.

A/N: Pssst, I'm back! ^-^ Long time no write, ne? Well, another humor fic for all of you~! Enjoy!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



Rising With the Sweetness
Chapter 1: Moving on



"INUYASHA, WHERE'S THE FRIGGEN HAMMER?!"
Kagome held the boards together along the bare wall as sawdust rained on her. That hanyou just never seemed to get used to adjusting to his new life...dang it...

She found the hammer right next to her foot, and bent down to retrieve it. She hammered away at the wall until she felt strands of silver hair in her mouth.
"ICK, INUYASHA!"
"You called me?"
He bent over her working form as he loomed above her head. His hair dangled limply in front of her face as she scowled at him.
"Never mind, I found it."
He grumbled and stalked off, hoisting up ten boards on his shoulders. Sango ran past him as she entered the 'café in progress', making a face as he passed.
"Geeze, being macho-half-man is one thing, being macho-half-man-with-bad-odor is an entire different story... Give the poor dog some deodorant..."
Inuyasha gave the girl a death glare before he leapt up onto the roof. Sango came walking over with a boxful of screws.
"Kagome-chan, are these the kind you needed?"
She turned around, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"Oh, perfect. Thanks."
The two of them left their work right then, and went outside. The girls admired the ever-improving frame of the new café.



After the five of them had defeated Naraku, the Shikon jewel perished, leaving all of the Japan in the old years to live in harmony. Thus Kagome had decided to resume onto college in the present time, as did the rest who decided to join her. They bid the remaining of their families farewell, and through the past years, Kagome tutored each of them at night once classes were over. And after a few years of hard work, she graduated, and at the least Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango were allowed to live as 'civilized' beings in the real world, getting passports and whatnot. As for Shippo, the animal health care associations finally admitted that he was not an animal, but a human, and they let him go. And now here they stood, building their very own café to carry on for their living. The five of them ended up buying a small house, and lived in it as a cozy, tight friendship family. Life was just too kind...

But then Kagome got distracted in her thoughts when she heard a holler...from the portapotties...
"WHERE THE HELL IS THE TOILET PLUNGER?!"
The girls stared blankly at Shippo, who had the thing stuck to his head like a hat, proudly marching into the cafe as if he was king and was wearing a crown. Sango gazed at the portable stall in pity as it rocked and bounced around, a trickle of water leaking from the edge of the door. She gave a yell.
"Miroku, what's going on in there?!"
"GOOD MOTHER OF WOMEN, LET ME OUT!! OUT I SAY!!"
Kagome pointed at the stall.
"Refresh my memory, did I tell him how to use a portapottie?"
Sango shook her head, and sighing, Kagome reluctantly walked over to the stall, giving the door a hard kick as it flew open. Miroku came falling out in a heap, the bottom of his jeans dripping with wetness... He kissed the ground as he attempted to stand.
"Thank Buddha, I thought that toilet was about to drown me..."
He crawled up to Sango's feet and latched himself onto them, rubbing his cheek adoringly against her jeans.
"Only then would I have regretted not seeing you ever again..."
She turned to Kagome with a frown.
"You should've just tipped that stupid stall over and left him there...see if he'll really drown this time..."


* * *


The weather was just beautiful, and it would've been a shame had the five of them decided on eating indoors. So Kagome set up a nice lunch in the shade of a tree nearby a Shinto temple down the street. Spring was here, and the girls were looking forward to seeing the cherry blossoms bloom, but being in the urban area, there were no cherry blossom trees around. In any case, lunch was pleasant.
Miroku gave a tug at his baggy jeans.
"I miss my robes, Kagome-sama..."
She waved a finger at him, shaking her head wisely.
"In the present day, Miroku, girls are not easily attracted when the male is not wearing clothing of style. As for your dialect, you are doing fine, just remove the '-sama' from my name, ne?"
He sighed, but nonetheless felt grateful for coming into the present day...after all, Sango was wearing clothing that was slightly more reveali-

His thoughts were intruded when he felt Sango's glare of death enter his state of thinking. He could do nothing but smile warily and continue eating his rice ball.


* * *

After lunch, Inuyasha was up on the roof again, putting down boards with a hammer and handful of nails. He hated hammering. For crying out loud, the last time he tried it, he brought that piece of metal head down so hard it made a hole in the roof... He needed to learn to be more 'elegant' in the art of hammering, as Kagome put it. He was pretty much getting used to it by now, in the same way he was adjusting to the clothes he was wearing and yaddayaddayadda. Like Miroku, he wore a pair of baggy jeans, (but NOT sagging, and he is NOT revealing his boxers...) along with a white t-shirt with his sleeves rolled up. He still had the rosary, but Kagome didn't really 'sit' him as much anymore, so it didn't matter anyway. He used up all his boards and rose to fetch more, when-
"YAAAAAARGH!"
He fell face forward, splinters grazing his cheek. He lay there at a slant, clutching at the roof beneath him as his body slowly began inching towards the ledge two feet away.
"Crap..."
He tried to scramble up, but scrambling up BACKWARDS wasn't doing him any help...except helping him go DOWN... His chin was at the ledge now, his hands gripping the edge of the roof. Cautiously, he turned his head around to see what he'd tripped on. Apparently, he didn't trip on anything. He twitched at the sight of right pant leg nailed onto the roof...
"Damn it...!!"
Right then, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku came running over, looking up at the helpless Inuyasha. All they could see was his head over the ledge, a horrified expression painted on his face.
"Inuyasha! Get down from there! What's going on?!"
"NOTHING!!"
He waved them off annoyingly as he began to sweat, his arms starting to give way.
"What are you doing? Fix your position before you fall off the roof, stupid!"
He growled at Sango, but his voice faltered into a whimper as his arms gave a jolt, his hands freely letting go of the ledge...
"SHIT!!"
The three of them stood watching in horror as he began to slide off the roof, but he stopped suddenly at the point where he was dangling off the roof from waist up. Blood began rushing to his head. But then, he froze in the horrible realization that his pants were sliding away from him. He could feel his belt slowly releasing him, lowering him closer towards the ground in an agonizingly slow speed. Kagome pointed at him.
"Inuyasha always liked to wear his belt loose, didn't he?"
"Ah, well, that explains it..." Sango nodded in agreement.
"Heey, I didn't know he liked polka-dot flannel boxers!"
"YOU IDIOTS!! DO SOMETHING!!"
"Your choice! You want the swat team or the fire department?"
Sango inched towards Kagome and whispered.
"More like TV Japan or CNN News..." (I do NOT own these companies)
"I HEARD THAT!!!"
Kagome was about to run and get...well, SOMETHING, but it was already too late. Inuyasha blushed bright red as his pants began slipping off at an alarming rate. He clutched his belt in his last effort.
"N-NOOOOO~!!!"
Kagome stared wide-eyed whilst Sango slapped her head and covered her eyes. Miroku could do nothing but shake his head in sheer pity as the poor hanyou's pants slipped off entirely, dropping Inuyasha pant-less off the roof. Gravity did the rest.


"...."



Kagome couldn't help looking away from the sight as Sango put a sympathetic arm around her, shaking her head. Miroku was in the back stifling his laughter, but immediately stopped when an old woman came stumbling by, waving her cane around like she was about to kill somebody with it. She gaped at Inuyasha...for a second.
"Young 'uns these days, have they no shame...?"
And with that she closed her eyes in disgust and walked away, leaving Miroku to roll around in the dirt in laughter.


* * *


That night, in their little cozy house, Sango sat at the table with Kagome planning out a menu.
"The usual lattes, the espresso, the cappuccino, the mocha, urrrr..."
Kagome whipped out what appeared to be a textbook. Sango watched curiously as she flipped it open to a page containing 'helpful tips and ideas'.
"Kagome-chan, what's this? It looks like those books you used to tutor us..."
"It is, but this is something that I used during my college years."
Inuyasha loomed over them to take a peek.
"What is it?"
Kagome grinned proudly as she showed them the cover of the book.
"Culinary Arts?"
They seemed...surprised... But nonetheless, the girl continued grinning.
"Sure! I've always wanted to a chef, like my mom."
"Keh."
Kagome ignored his comment and continued to scan through the page. But she suddenly looked up, and stood up abruptly, only to collide her head into the lamp hanging above the table.
"I GOT IT-OW!"
The blub cracked as it swung side to side.
Sango rested her head on her chin, watching the girl clutch her head in misery.
"I saw the light bulb go off. Literally."
Kagome rubbed her head, calling over to Miroku who was on the Internet.
"Miroku, can you go look up 'tea' on the search engine?"
Sango perked up.
"Tea...that sounds pretty good, but don't the other shops do that too?"
"I'm sure we can alter that a bit...let's just see what comes up online."
Miroku scrolled down the page, reading aloud the options.
"Teafreaks online, How to detect toxic teas, teas for medicinal purposes, teaceremonies.com..."
Sango began tapping her fingers on the table.
"...teasucks.com, soothe the heart teas, cooking with Martha Stuart..." (now THAT I don't WANT to own...)
The girls made a face, and watched Miroku suspiciously as he paused for a second, his eyes emotionlessly staring at the screen.
"Miroku? What are you doing?"
"...tampons to the fullest; free condoms, tummy fat loss..."
"MIROKU!!"


* * *


Kagome stayed up late, the lamp at her desk softly shining on the piece of paper in front of her. Sango was already asleep, curled up in a ball in one of the beds in this single room they shared. The guys slept next door, and no sound came forth from their room. She sighed. Cooking was one thing. Thinking of recipes was entirely another. However, she did have a few ideas listed.

Peppermint hot chocolate on cold winter nights, candied fruit bites and chocolate covered strawberries for snack time, elegant cream lattes with a pinch of cinnamon for that special someone...

She began to doze, resting her head on her arms as her eyelashes fluttered. A soft, low voice muttered in her ear.
"You're still awake?"
Her head rose, and she saw Inuyasha at the doorway.
"Inuyasha..."
He came beside her, and looked over at her list. Surprisingly, he smiled, leaving Kagome a little curious on what he was thinking.
"You ought to sleep before you pass out on us tomorrow."
She pouted up at him.
"But we need ideas! No, I'm going to sit here and think until I-"
Without a moments notice, she felt an arm slide beneath her knees and one behind her back. He hoisted her up from the chair, princess style, her hands gripping his t-shirt. She growled.
"Put me down, you beast."
He returned her frown and dropped her on her bed, her expression unchanged. But it softened, and it turned into a gentle smile.
"You worry for me too much."
Even in the dark, she could always detect a pair of blushing cheeks.
"Keh."
He didn't realize that she was staring at him until their eyes met, his blush still visible.
"What?"
She shook her head as she climbed in under the covers.
"You changed...but you haven't changed. I swear, you can really go from a form of Satan to a sugar plum, you know that?"
He waved away the comment. For a second, he stood there, watching her close her eyes. She could've sworn that he slightly bended over her, before he changed his mind and walked away. And with more ideas brewing in her head, sleep took over her world of dreams.










*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
TO BE CONTINUED...

I greatly appreciate comments!! ^^

~Momori^^