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


A/N: For all readers! Are you enjoying the fic thus far? ^^ For those of you with email, please let me know if you'd like for me to notify you with chapter updates! It would be best if you could drop me a note with a review...ehehehehe...^^ Thanks again, happy reading!


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Rising With the Sweetness

Chapter 3: Mornings



Sango woke as the sunlight touched her face at the sunrise. She closed her lids, about to doze when she felt her nose being tickled at the scent of coffee. She'd acquired a fondness for it since she'd gotten here, and she rose to retrieve herself a cup.


Downstairs, she climbed down in her light green tank top and plaid, green flannel pants. She found Kagome beside a pot, stirring its contents. She averted her brown-eyed gaze to the sleepy-eyed Sango.
"Good morning, Sango-chan. You're up quite early."
Rubbing her eyes, Sango took a seat at the table. She looked at the clock. 4:00AM.
"Kagome-chan, what are you doing at this hour?"
"I couldn't sleep. I couldn't help trying to fix up this recipe I thought of. Give it a try, will you?"
She handed her a steaming mug, two-thirds full of its mixture. It stirred itself in circles in a creamy, mocha color. Slowly, she took a sip, her tongue wincing at the heat. She'd expected the usual bitter bite of the coffee, but was surprisingly greeted with a warm sweetness. She stared down at her cup in awe.
"This is amazing. What-"
"Believe it or not, this isn't exactly what you would call coffee."
Sango's returned her a disbelieving look.
"In truth, only half of it is. The rest is milk."
Sango squinted an eye, confused.
"Is that it?"
"Of course not. People primarily stir in sugar, correct?"
She nodded.
Kagome cupper her hand around Sango's ear in whispered.
"I used maple syrup."
Sango nodded her head in understanding as she took another sip. Wonderful.
"Now, try this."
She was handed another cup, and she brought it to her lips. Its taste was slightly sweeter, and was cold.
"What's the difference? All you did was add more syrup and used cold milk, am I right?"
Kagome shook a finger.
"No. I mixed in instant coffee with the cold milk, instead of the actual brewed coffee."
She was quite surprised. Kagome was quite intelligent in the way of cooking.

The girls shared the rest of the contents in the pot as the sun rose higher.


* * *

Miroku felt hair tickling his cheek. He brushed it away with his fingers. Seconds later, he felt that tickling sensation again, this time on his nose. He breathed deep and irritably waved it away. When he felt it a third time, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Come on Miroku, it's 9:00. Get up."
Hovering over him was Sango, looking down at him with what appeared to be a kitty toy.
"Mmm...Sango...?"
He felt her hands grasp him by the shoulders, and he was slowly forced to sit up in his futon. He drowsily stared at her as she tapped his cheeks. She tried lifting him.
"Urrgh, come ON Miroku! Get yourself-AGH!"
He suddenly fell forward, she found herself awkwardly hugging him as he soundly slept with his head resting on her shoulder. She blushed, but frowned.
'Keh, at least he's not-'
She paused in her thoughts, and she abruptly stood up, leaving Miroku to flop sideways on the floor.
'-at second thought, who knows what his hands are doing...might as well be safe while in the same room with HIM...'

But she couldn't just leave him there and delay the construction. So with much effort, she half-piggy backed him, with him leaning on her back while she clutched both of his arms with all the strength she could muster down the hall.

* * *

"Ohayou, Inuyasha."
Kagome gently flicked his bangs out of his face as she sat down beside his sleeping figure. He muttered in his sleep. She began tickling his ears.
"Inuyasha~"
He turned so he was lying on his back and slowly opened his golden eyes.
"*mumble grumble*"
"What?"
She leaned closer so she could hear him. She finally made out the words 'My throat hurts' after a long series of raspy noises.
"You're sick? Where's that stuff, I know I have it in here somewhere..."
She shuffled over to the closet and pulled out a wooden box. She pulled out a bottle and a spoon, reading the label as she came back near his futon.
"I think you'll be fine after some of this, it's pretty effective."
She poured some into the spoon as he sat up, bringing his hand to his mouth to cover his coughing. Kagome put a hand behind his back and nudged closer with the spoon.
"Open up, chickling."
He glared at liquid. He looked back at the girl, his look merely saying 'What-are-you-going-to-do,-feed-me-cat-pee?' She returned his cold look and brought the spoon closer to his mouth. He shook his head and turned away. Kagome could only take so much patience. With her free hand, she grabbed hold of his chin roughly, and forced his head towards her, giving her a seconds worth of chance to shove the spoon into his protesting mouth. She covered his mouth with both hands, with the spoon still protruding out of it. He squirmed under her grip on his chin.
"GEEZE, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, DUCT-TAPE YOUR MOUTH?!"
Right then, Sango came to stand in the doorway with Miroku limply drooping over her back. She gave the both of them weird looks, as did they to her.
"Uh...am I--or rather, WE interrupting something?"
Miroku looked up and blankly watched them, Kagome shaking her head whereas Inuyasha was nodding his head vigorously. Kagome's hand didn't leave his mouth despite his actions. Sango gave them a wary smile and shuffled over to the stairs, deciding it to be best to leave the two alone for a bit. Kagome fixed her gaze onto Inuyasha then, her frown not leaving her face.
"You done?"
He nodded with glaring eyes. She slowly lifted her hands from his lips, and before she knew it, Inuyasha was jerking the spoon out of his mouth and splurging the medicine at her like a fountain statue.
"AAAARGH, INUYASHA~!!"
He gagged, coughed, wheezed, hacked, you name it. He rolled onto his back and groaned at the liquid's aftertaste. Furious, she pulled the cap off the bottle, and poured it into her spoon a second time. He stared at her in horror as she drove it into her own mouth. She suddenly lunged at him, pinning him to the floor with her entire weight.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-MMMMF~!!!"

Miroku didn't bother looking up from his head on the kitchen table. Sango simply eyed the staircase strangely and shrugged, proceeding to make Miroku's coffee.

Inuyasha struggled. He beat his hands and legs on the futon, with Kagome forcefully giving back every last drop of medicine from her mouth. With that done, she sat on him, finally pulling her mouth away from his and reaching out to his desk for the roll of duct tape. One hand covered his mouth as the other ripped off a piece from the tough material, using her sharp teeth to tear it off. And with a split second's notice, she whapped the tape onto his mouth. With both hands she held his arms down, preventing his fingers from reaching the tape.
"NOW!! SWALLOW!!"
He shut his eyes tightly, and she saw his throat take in the liquid. She breathed, wiping her mouth with her wrist as she looked down at Inuyasha's half-dead form. Inside, she felt like throwing up. She stood up, staring down at her ruined PJs. Luckily, they were the same thing at Sango's, just that hers were navy blue, so the medicine wasn't exactly noticeable. She stuck her tongue out in disgust.
"THIS is why you REALLY ought to call me MOTHER!"
Wearily, she saw his hands remove the tape to breathe. He sat up, looking at her groggily. He groaned, and fell back onto his pillow.
"I can't believe you actually did-"
"Did what?"
Sango poked her head in with a mug of coffee. She handed it to Inuyasha as she stared at Kagome and her stained PJs. Her friend just shook her head and waved away the subject.
"He didn't want to drink his medicine. Let me go change...and gag..."
She stared at Kagome in shock as she went inside her room and shut the door. Sango looked back at Inuyasha, sipping his coffee.
"The things Kagome-chan does for you, Inuyasha..."
He frowned at her from over the rim of his mug. Miroku walked in.
"I just saw Kagome-sama looking pretty soaked. What was the ordeal up here?"
Sango threw up her hands as she headed for her room as well.
"He didn't want to drink his medicine, Miroku."
He stared at her blankly, not comprehending anything. She sighed and mouthed out the words 'mouth-to-mouth treatment'. He gave her another blank look as she gave up and closed the door of her room behind her to change. Right then, he got it.
"Oooooooh, I see..."
He paused, still standing in the doorway to Inuyasha's room. He suddenly spun around and looked at Inuyasha.
"She DID it? She really DID it?!"
He just got irritable wave of a hand, motioning him to go away. Miroku folded his arms.
"Were you being bad, Inuyasha? Were you being bad to mother?"
"Keh."
Miroku cocked his head in thought.
"Wait a sec, or did you ASK her to-"
"NO!!!!"


* * *


So after much gargling and tooth brushing in the bathroom, Kagome threw her PJs in the washer and suited herself with a light blue tank top, and a pair of cargo pants. Sango had her slightly baggy, boyish jeans and a navy tank top. Miroku had his white, collared shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbow, along with a pair of shorts, obviously coming down to his knees. A pair of sneakers and a brown belt finished off his outfit. Inuyasha was finally ready to go with a t-shirt and baggy jeans. He wasn't exactly 'Sir Knight of Fashion', if you know what I mean...

So scarfing down a few cream breads and several pitchers of milk, the four of them let the late morning sun beat down on them as they ran, headed for the subway.


They all ignored the stares they were getting. A big tall boy with long white hair and a baseball cap was...well...supposedly unique. Obviously, this isn't surprising.
"Inuyasha, I swear I'm going to drag you home and dye your hair, then..."
Kagome muttered under her breath. He muttered back.
"You try it, mom, and I'll be sure you look older with loads of gray hair..."
"Pfft, I always wanted to know what it would look like if I managed to crop off that hair of yours...give you little pig tails and call you 'Mimi'..."
He gave her a menacing glare and she sighed.
"I'm just kidding..."


* * *


They met up with Shippo at the café. He and Kirara were staying at Kagome's mom's house, which worked quite well considering that Sota had no close neighbors to play with, and Buyo always needed some company once in a while. He leapt into Kagome's arms as his tail wagged joyfully.
"You got me worried, Kagome. It was taking you guys awfully long this morning."
She rubbed his head and walked inside the already four-sixths complete building. The rest followed. She began pointing out the day's planned work.
"Shippo-chan, I need to have you measure out the rest of the boards, and be sure to be careful with the saw when you're cutting them. Miroku, you go with Inuyasha to begin building the furniture. As for you, Sango-chan, we've got some planning to do. We'll be heading home at 6:00, so let's get moving!"

The group split up, Sango and Kagome going into the 'kitchen' to plan things out. Miroku and Inuyasha followed Shippo outside to begin their building chores.
"Keh, it's always you being told to 'be careful'..."
Miroku gave Inuyasha a knudge.
"Someone's grilling mochi, is he?" (Grilling mochi=term used in Japanese for being jealous)
Inuyasha returned a growl as Shippo looked haughtily up at him.
"That's because she cares about ME and not YOU!"
"Why you little-"
Shippo grabbed hold of a thin wooden board in both hands, looking on guard. Inuyasha picked one up likewise and glared down at him. Miroku stood to the side, acting as the pacifist.
"Now now, we're all one big happy brotherhood-"
"SHUT. UP."
They said in unison as Shippo swung the board at Inuyasha, with the hanyou dodging out of the way and swiping it back. The battle was heated, but neither of them were going anywhere with all the dodges.
"...You puny, irritating... chop off that rotten caramel-cotton-candy moth ball stuck to your butt you disrespectful twit!!!"
"I wouldn't talk you fat, bulky, drooping six-pack old hag!!"
"You call me a woman and I'll call you an 'it'!!"
"You wouldn't DARE, you so-called chickling!!"
Miroku didn't really have the space to kinda sneak in his words of peace. Ah, well, as long as they didn't kill each other...literally.

CRASH.

Miroku turned around in time to see an entire tray of clay vases, in the process of being designed to decorate the café, go flying off the shelves and crashing into the stone walls behind them, showering down bits and bites of dried, hard clay. Shippo and Inuyasha stood frozen with their boards still upraised.

"SHIT~!!!!!!!"


Sango looked up from her work.
"Did you hear something?"
Kagome looked around.
"No."





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TO BE CONTINUED...