Disclaimer: Any character mentioned here is not owned by me, but the person who created the Inuyasha anime series, which is Rumiko Takahashi.. Sadly, I'm not her, therefore, I'm not the creator, therefore, like I've mentioned before, I don't own any characters found in this fanfiction. ^_^ (Hope everyone enjoyed the run-on sentence!)

*~*

Unexpected Blossoms

*~*

Sighing to herself, Kagome opened her twinkling, blue eyes and stared blankly at her bedroom ceiling. It's been a week since the day she met Miroku in the Sengoku Jidai Era. She had left after yet another one of her arguments with the silver-haired dog demon, Inuyasha. Now, as her mind raced back to the event, she couldn't sleep. . .

*~*

"I say we go this way," Kagome pointed out when the gang had reached a fork in the road. "The right way is always the best way!"

"Hn. Proves how much you know, we're taking that trail over there." Barked the hanyou as he pointed to the opposite direction.

Miroku and Shippo, sensing that another all-out-mouth-off was about to take place, decided to take the opportunity to rest. Finding a nice, smooth rock, the monk laid his staff beside him and sat down. Shippo darted up a nearby tree and perched skillfully on a branch laden with pinecones, which he mischievously began picking.

"FOOL! Can't you see that this trail leads to a forest!? Demons would much rather hide there," exclaimed Inuyasha, pointing at a forest heavy with unknown plants, "than anywhere else! I should know. I am a demon." He put on a smug face.

Kagome, bursting with rage was not going to let her half-breed companion off so easily. "HALF-demon, you mean.." She said triumphantly, knowing she had hit a weak spot. "You're not a full-fledged demon, you know."

"GR.. You pathetic human!" The fight raged on.

*~*

Kagome smirked as her thoughts led her near the end of the fight.. which undoubtedly ended with Inuyasha's face in the dirt, before she stomped off to towards the Bone Eaters Well. She rolled onto her side, leaning on her arm, allowing her mind to wander. The moonlight shone through her open window and gave a warm, serene calmness to the otherwise, dark and shadowed room. Slowly, but surely, fifteen year-old Higurashi Kagome, finally drifted into a deep slumber..

*~*

"Where am I?" Kagome somehow found herself standing alone by a blazing campfire.

As her orbs of blue adjusted to the night's darkness, she soon recognized her surroundings as the Forest of Inu Yasha.

"I'm back." She said to no one in particular. "I'm, in the Sengoku Jidai Era.."

She sat down by the fire, pulling up her knees to her chest. She looked around. No one was here. She was alone. A chill trickled down her spine as a gust of wind blew through, making the fire crackle irritatingly. She wrapped her arms around her bare legs, noticing that she had somehow gotten into her school uniform. She inched closer to the fire, trying to warm up the part of her legs that weren't covered by her skirt.

"But how?" She asked, trying to ignore the growing silence.

She's never been this alone before. During her own time, she would be around her friends, or her family. Even when she's walking alone down a block, there's bound to be other people rushing around on the busy streets. When she's in the Warring States Era, there would always be Inuyasha. He would always be there with her, and Shippo, even Miroku. Never had she faced such utter solitude. This was new for her, and she didn't like it one bit.

Lowering her head to rest on her knees, she tried to calm down. As the silence leaked in her, she was more wary of her loneliness, and her heart began to beat at an abnormal pace. Another burst of wind suddenly picked up. Kagome raised her head, trying to tell which direction it was coming from, to get her mind focused on something less confusing. Her eyes widened when she found that the wind seemed to be coming from every direction - all heading for her.

"Kagome.."

"Heh?" Kagome gasped at hearing her name.

It seemed to have come from the wind itself, for she couldn't pinpoint where it originated. The voice was definitely of a male, yet who, she couldn't tell. It was so soft, barely a whisper. It had a tinge of slyness.. but as the wind blew it deeper down her ear.. it reached her heart, and the voice, was deeply one of gentleness and enchanting.. Her ears perked when it picked up that same alluring voice, at the same, small decibel.

"Kagome.."

She turned around, sensing that the speaker was behind her. Her heart leapt out from her chest towards the mysterious man who spoke her name. The dark figure she saw before her seemed painfully familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

The man was walking towards her, step by step, as if he had all the time in the world. He wore what appeared to be a dark-colored robe. Very similar to a monk.. - A monk! Kagome's heart raced a mile a minute as she placed the pieces of the figure together like a jigsaw puzzle. Her heart skipped a beat when the figure entered the flickering light of the fire..

"Miroku" she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

..and proved her accusations true.

The figure, Miroku stood there, with the same goofy smile plastered on his face like always.

"Hello there, Kagome, lovely night, isn't it?"

"Miroku.." Kagome was lost for words..

Here she was, in the middle of a forest, alone. Then out comes her knight in shining armor with his beautiful voice - and it turns out to be the perverted monk, Miroku. Kagome almost laughed then and there, had she not been too overjoyed at finding her glass of solitude shattered. Unaware of her actions, she jumped to her feet, ran over to the very surprised monk, and embraced him.

Rest-assured, her sudden "action" was not thought over thoroughly in her brain. Tears escaped the corners of her eyes as her hold of Miroku's neck tightened.

"Oh, Miroku!" She sobbed, blinked, and quickly blushed as realization seeped through her very thick head.

She stood there, still hugging him, unsure of what to do now that she's actually in this position. Miroku fixed that problem up easily as she felt a sly hand crawl its way down her back, towards her - SLAP!

Miroku earned a new handprint on his cheek for his "hand-print collection," twitching as the sting slowly eased away. Kagome also twitched, but it was her eyebrow that did so. Her hand was still in the air where it had made contact with Miroku's left cheek.

"PERVERT!" She had screamed as she slapped the lights out of him.

"Haha!" Miroku laughed uneasily, his plan, like always, backfired - literally. The goofy grin still lingered on his features as he stared dazedly at the sky.

Kagome clapped her hands for the finishing touch. "Don't you DARE ever try that on me again, Miroku." She added, at a very dangerous and warning tone.

Miroku soon recovered and with a bow, replied "Of course not, Lady-Kagome."

Kagome turned around with her nose in the air and resumed her position by the fire, once more pulling up her legs to keep them warm. The monk smiled, for he was being let off easy this time. Deciding to see how far he could push his limits, he walked over and sat down beside her.

Knowing he would blow his chance if he asked what had happened, he decided to put up a different topic of discussion. "So, uh, what are you doing out here, Kagome? I thought you left for your time."

Kagome's eyes widened as Miroku's words pierced her like knives. What was she doing out here? Forget that, how'd she get "here" in the first place? Her mind soon flooded with unanswerable questions.

Miroku watched as many expressions came and vanished on the girl's face. At first, it was happiness, and then it quickly changed to confusion, sadness, reverted back to confusion. Finally, her expression settled on the unmistakable anger.

"Uh.. Kagome?" Miroku asked, filled with worry and concern.

"Heh?!" She snapped out of her little trance of questions on hearing Miroku's voice. "What?"

"Um.. You ok?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I think so." Kagome blinked. Something was missing. "Miroku?"

"Yes?"

"Where's Inuyasha?" She asked, "And Shippo, where are they? Why are you by yourself?"

"Oh! Um.. Actually, I don't know."

Kagome sweatdropped, "You, don't know? How can you NOT know?"

He laughed uneasily. "Well, you see, when you left.."

*~*

"SIT!" Kagome concluded the all-out-mouth-off.

"Gr.." Inuyasha growled as his face was pushed into the dirt road. "Stupid girl, stupid necklace, stupid fork in the road.." He mumbled.

Stomping off angrily, Kagome turned back to the direction they came from. "I'm going back home! I'll come back when I feel like it!"

Miroku sighed and got up, heading towards Kagome.

"Lady-Kagome..-"

"Don't 'Lady-Kagome' me, Miroku! My mind's made up, I'm not going to stand around and be yelled at by that mutt!" Kagome interrupted, pointing at Inuyasha as the referred "mutt".

Deciding it was probably best to let her go and let off her steam, he turned around and walked over to stand next to the sit-up hanyou.

"Inuyasha -"

"Shut up, Miroku." Inuyasha barked.

Miroku sighed again, turned around, and sat back down on the rock.

"Hehe.." Shippo snickered, a pile of pinecones stacked neatly beside him on his perch.

*~*

"Then, after you left, we decided to set up camp right there at the fork in the road. We were going to wait for you to return since you wouldn't know which direction we took if we just left without you." Miroku explained.

Kagome nodded silently in response.

*~*

"I'm going to go take a look around the area." Said Inuyasha, standing up and added "I'll come back when I feel like it." He mocked before he ran off.

Miroku, still sitting on that same rock that served him well for the entire day, tended to the fire with a stick. Shippo had picked and stored even more pinecones on his perch up in the tree. He had been unusually silent the whole day, but Miroku took no notice of him.

"OW!" Miroku placed a hand behind his head to ease the sharp pain that struck him. He quickly stood up - following closely was his guard. "Who's there?" He asked, forgetting about Shippo.

Shippo stood stock-still as Miroku finally sat back down on the rock.

Smirking, Shippo pelted the poor monk with countless pinecones. "Haha, bombs away!"

Shielding his head with both his arms, Miroku paid the price for forgetting about the little fox demon.

"Shippo!" He managed to say between gritted teeth.

A sly grin appeared on Shippo's face as he hurled over more and more pinecones at the figure that was running around the campfire, hands on his head. Knowing that Shippo had enough pinecones to last him for at least half an hour, Miroku fled the campsite and ran towards a random direction.

Shippo celebrated a short victory as Inuyasha returned from his run.

"Where is everybody?" He sniffed the air, and sensed Shippo's presence. "Shippo, where's the monk?"

Shippo, once again, stood stock-still and remained silent. Slowly, he picked up a pinecone, and through it as hard as he could, right as the half- demon below turned around.

"Argh!" Inuyasha's foot lost balance in the soil as the pinecone struck dead center on his face. A mask of anger placed itself in its place as he jumped up to the tree where he knew Shippo must be. "Shippo!"

The little fox demon panicked as the face of Inuyasha, eyes glowing, appeared before him. Grabbing the first thing that came to hand, which was, of course, another pinecone, he threw it at the terrifying face that had popped up.

Ignoring the pinecone that found it's target on his face, Inuyasha grabbed the squirming fox demon and jumped down on the ground. Knocking his fist into Shippo's head on each syllable, Inuyasha punished the little fox for his behavior.

"You. Need. To. Learn. Your. Man. Ners. How. Dare. You. Strike. Me. With. A. Pine. Cone!

"I. Am. Sor. Ry. It. Will. Ne. Ver. Hap. Pen. A. Gain. I. Am. Sor. Ry!" Replied Shippo, now with a big lump on his head.

With a finishing bonk, Inuyasha held the helpless Shippo up by his tail. "Where's the monk?"

Shippo tried to smile a cute smile but failed miserably, "He ran away!"

The half-demon eyed Shippo suspiciously before dropping him. "No doubt after you pounded him with pinecones, right?"

Shippo laughed softly, uneasily. "Hehe?"

*~*

"HAHA!" Kagome was laughing as she heard of Shippo's fun.

Miroku frowned but allowed the girl to laugh all she wanted. Once she had settled down, he continued.

"So I ran away from the campsite, trying to dodge the pinecone missiles."

Kagome gave a little giggle as he spoke.

The monk ignored it and continued. "Eventually, I got lost and didn't know where I was. Then, I saw a campfire, but the person I saw sitting next to it, wasn't Inuyasha, and too big for Shippo. I knew then that it had to be you, so I just kept walking, calling out your name to let you know I was coming."

She blinked. "Oh."

"You know, Kagome, - " Miroku started to say, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"PERV-" Kagome instinctively turned to Miroku, her hand suddenly stopped in mid-swing. His eyes, they're so, beautiful, she stated in her mind.

Miroku continued, oblivious of the handprint he almost received. "I don't know what I'd do if the mysterious figure by the fire wasn't you. I needed someone to break the silence. Inuyasha would do a too good a job at it, and Shippo, well, he was the one who started this whole mess." He smiled a smile Kagome knew to be sincere, "Kagome.." He leaned closer, both hands on her shoulders.

Kagome didn't know what to say. Once more, the monk had made her stumble for words. "Miroku." Was all she managed to say before she felt warm lips on her own.

*~*

Kagome's eyes shot open. Sweat was visible on her face as she sat up to look around. She was back in her room. The sun was shining through the window. Today was a Saturday, no school. What had happened, it was, only a dream.

*~*

Author's Words: This was my first Inuyasha fanfic. I hope I did okay. It was suppose to be a Kagome + Miroku fic. And it sort of was, don't you think? Only, it didn't really happen, since it was a dream. Oh well. Please review with your thoughts, comments, flames, etc. Arigatou! ^_~