AN: God I'm so bored of Winter…! Where the hell did Spring go?! And summers too short! Maybe I should just go move to the Caribbean or something…

Rules of Acquisition

~Kagome~

A whole week and I was beginning to feel the slight pretence of concern edging on my horizon. A whole week had passed since Inuyasha had jumped out my window and out of sight. I hadn't seen him since.

And neither had anyone else apparently.

I couldn't keep the frown from furrowing my face anymore as I moved around the library setting books back in their correct places in the stacks, and collecting returned books for the same treatment. Twice my friends had asked me what the matter was… but I just kept it to myself.

I put back a comprehensive reading book about Western philosophy, my hand lingering against it limply as my eyes glazed over and my thoughts over took my body. The pain was supposed to have eased by now. And in a way it had – but it was still much too painful at times. There was no one to turn to other than Sango… and Sango wasn't the most understanding person for my situation. She didn't want to encourage any relationship between me and an Arashi. The times she'd tried to cheer me up had been executed in text book like fashion.

"Cheer up, It's not the end of the world." She would say while mechanically hugging me. "There are plenty more fish in the sea. You'll live. Time heals all wounds. He didn't deserve you anyway. He's a bastard. You could do so much better. You WILL do so much better."

And some times, just to push the boat out she might add, "Kouga's still available you know."

I half expected her to say something like "Don't worry, you'll be… um… Line!"

Ok. Sango had never been a girly, girl who was in touch with their feelings like I was. She wanted me to get over it and move on and put all this mess behind us. We had a small heist to pull off next Tuesday, and I had to be fully functional.

But it still hurt. Every time I closed my eyes at night to sleep I thought of him. During the day I tried to occupy myself as best I could – usually in brainy activities to subdue any kind of lingering thought of him. Hey, sometimes it worked. Though when it didn't work… I nearly burst out into fresh tears every time. Well, actually I was pretty much past the stage of crying my eyes out… and more onto the manic depressed and emotionally scarred and traumatised for life stage.

And every time I saw Mr Arashi on the news with the upcoming election, I thought of Inuyasha. Every time I put on fresh clothes and smelled the clean washing powder aroma… I thought of him. Every time I passed a pine tree, I would smell the musky pine sap and think of him. Every time I saw Miroku I was forced to wonder where he was… but even Miroku didn't know.

"I don't know." He shrugged one time when me and Sango had bumped into him in town. He was busy sucking down the last of his soda drink through his straw noisily. "The last I saw of him was when he accused Arashi of murdering his mother. And the last I heard was that he stayed over at your house for the night. I assumed maybe your dad had found out and had him secretly assassinated or something."

That was what I was worried about. A few people disappeared off the face of the earth in the political world. Not often, but it happened. And I wouldn't have put it past my father to act out passionately against the scum that hurt his daughter's feelings…

No, that was called overreacting – on my behalf. Of course he's not dead in a ditch or assassinated in any other way! I tried to smile at my own stupidness and shook myself from my trance like state over the philosophy book. I moved back to the front desk and began cataloguing returned books in the register.

Of course, it wasn't long before the biro pen nib stopped connecting with the page and my mind began wondering again.

But if Miroku – a spy – didn't know where Inuyasha was… then where the hell was he? It wasn't like him to just disappear like this… but then again, I hadn't really expected him to leave me in the lurch like this either. Maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought I knew him?

Didn't Miroku care where Inuyasha was? They were friends weren't they? Or maybe… yes… they WERE friends. What if Miroku knew where Inuyasha was, and just wasn't telling me because Inuyasha asked him not to.

Perhaps he was living in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere? It would have to be a big refrigerator box, knowing how proud Inuyasha was. But then again, he could just as easily be living it up in a Penthouse with the playboy bunny girls as roommates.

I set down the pen against the register and looked around. There were quite a few people hanging around, but it was unnervingly quiet. My fingernails dug against my palm in my clenched hands, making small crescent moon indents. I half wished it could be noisier in the library… maybe that way the sound would drone out the scary thoughts in my head.

I sighed and forced my fists to relax as I mooched off to find something more stimulating to do.

What if Miroku wasn't lying… and he really didn't know where Inuyasha was? What if Inuyasha was in trouble somewhere…? My steps faltered and I reached out with a hand to steady myself against one of the wracks.

I'd never be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to him…

I stood silently for a moment, contemplating my options. I could just sit back and wait… run the possibility that I'd never see Inuyasha again and act cool and unfazed by the fact I'd been dumped rather harshly. Or I could get into a tizz and find out what the heck had happened to him! Sure, it wouldn't be the cool thing to do… and it would be kinda obvious to all that I was worried about him…

But…

I sighed and came to my decision. Enough was enough and a week was more than enough time to wait around for something to happen. Inuyasha was gone and I was going to find him. I was a spy in training – I had the knowledge and experience to track him down in a few ways. I had resources at my disposal, connections to big names and powers that could make Superman jealous (because he isn't real and I am).

And it wasn't like I was looking for him so I could fall onto my knees like a pathetic moron and cry my heart out, begging to have him take me back. Nor was I about to go scream and beat him into a bloody pulp for leaving me. I just wanted to go and make sure he was ok, happy and safe… then I would get back on with my life and forget about him.

Ok, fat chance I'd forget about him in a hurry. No matter how much I tried to deny it I still loved that idiot… and love wasn't an emotion that could evaporate as easily as anger. Yes, I would be angry at Inuyasha when I saw him… IF I saw him… but that would only last for a day at least. My love for him would last a whole lot longer than that.

"Ayame!" I called as I passed my boss who sat at her table reading a book title 'The Joy of Sex'. "I'm going for my break – see you after lunch!"

She just nodded and went back to reading. I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder as I headed out the open doors and into the street outside. I was serious about finding him… and the first place to look would be his work place.

I fancied I knew Inuyasha well enough to know that he would still be working as a Male Nurse. He was always going to be petulant and stubborn, and he wouldn't drop the job – only because his father wanted him to drop it. If he was still mad at his father (and I reckoned he was considering he was refusing to return) then he would undoubtedly keep the job just to tickle Mr Arashi's nerves.

I prayed I knew him as well as that…

The hospital loomed ahead of me after a few minutes and I quickly hurried towards the automatic sliding doors and went inside. Around me was the waiting room, filled with patients and a few medical staff like doctors in white coats and blue scrubs. I saw a few female nurses dressed in burgundy red scrubs but no Inuyasha.

I headed for the front desk and waited for the nurse on hand to look up. "May I help you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Yeah… there's a Nurse here named Inuyasha… I was wondering if he was around today."

"Inuyasha…" the young woman looked thoughtful. "You mean Inuyasha Arashi, the MP's son?"

"Yes, that's him."

"He's not around today. He doesn't work here anymore I don't think." She told me.

My heart fell. Ok… perhaps I didn't know Inuyasha as well as I thought.

"He got a transfer to some other district." The girl went on.

"Really? Which one?!" I demanded, leaning forward quickly.

"I don't know… you could always ask the Sister. She might know which hospital he works at now."

"Where's the Sister then?" I asked.

"Hanging around the open wards. You can't miss her – she's the matron in the white uniform." The nurse smiled jovially and went back to work. I turned and followed the signs for the open wards down the corridor.

The open wards were just cheap equivalents of normal ward, but just with curtains separating the individual wards that held two or three beds. It wasn't a very rich hospital… but it was quaint. And it made it far easier to spot the matronly Sister across the way.

"Excuse me!" I came up behind her and she turned expectantly. I had to refrain from jumping back with a shriek of horror as I realised one of her eyes was missing and covered with an eye patch. God only knew how she'd got that injury. I looked at her name tag. "Sister Kaede…?"

"Yes?" she frowned curiously, watching me intensely. I think she must have thought me familiar… well, I had been in the newspapers a few times over the past few months.

"I was wondering… do you know what happened to a Nurse named Inuyasha, he worked under you didn't he?"

"Inuyasha?" the woman barely refrained from rolling her eyes (eye?). "He doesn't work under me anymore. Never did actually…"

"Do you know where he is now?" I asked hopefully.

"I heard he got a transfer. He came and handed in his resignation a week ago." Sister Kaede folded her hands before her. "I noticed he didn't tell me where he was heading, even when I asked him directly."

My hopes faltered again. He was covering his tracks well. He really didn't want to be followed.

I sighed and thanked the old woman before heading out of the hospital to ponder on where to look next. Perhaps finding Miroku was the best way to Inuyasha…

I phoned Sango and got the priest's number before dialling it into my phone and waiting for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" Definitely Miroku.

"Hi, it's Kagome."

There was a surprised pause. "Hi… can I help you with something… or something…"

He sounded confused, and I didn't blame him. I would never have considered calling the bastard. He was the one who prowled around at night, always getting to mine and Sango's job before us and basically causing us all a lot of grief. Plus, he didn't even try and hold his punches when he fought with me.

"We're friends, aren't we Miroku?" I said, trying to mentally block all the previously mentioned things.

"… sure…" he said carefully, as though someone had a gun pressed to his back.

"So… do you happen to know where Inuyasha is? I mean… he's been gone and me and Sango are getting a little worried." I told him, half truthfully.

"I told you. I ain't heard from him either."

"You have no idea where he is?"

"None." Was the blunt reply. "He's an Arashi. I've seen a few of the other male members of that family do the same thing in the past. They get into trouble, financial or legal, they declare bankruptcy, move away and change their names. Inuyasha's done the same. No point looking for him. No one's found his three uncles that did the same thing. Not even the police."

"Nice family…" I commented, feeling a little astonished.

"Yeah, well that's Arashi for you. The going gets tough and the tough guys get going. Cowardly if you ask me."

Miroku sounded a little peeved right then… I guess he really didn't know where Inuyasha was. It must have annoyed the super spy… not knowing where his friend was…

"Ok, nevermind. Thanks anyway." I said as I prepared to hang up.

"Pleasure." He said, and I could just imagine him shrugging to go along with it. I ended the call and held the phone out before me. I could try calling Inuyasha's number again… but the last time I'd tried that I got the administrator telling me the number was no longer in use. Now that meant he'd either changed his number or destroyed his phone… or maybe even he'd gotten caught in one of those car crushing machines and him and his phone had met their pasty end among the spark plugs.

No, I liked my other theory better. The one where Inuyasha's been abducted – by an ancient breed of pterodactyls that have been frozen for sixty five million years, and only recently got thawed out to come and take him away to feed to their babies, so they can reproduce and try and take over the Earth again. Inuyasha may have unwittingly caused the human race's first steps into slavery by demon birds.

He couldn't have been abducted by aliens, that was just stupid.

I sighed as I stared softly at the phone. "Call me… you big lunkhead… show me you care… tell me you're ok… everything's ok…"

Out of miracle alone, the phone rung and vibrated in my hand. I dashed it to my ear in a split second. "Hello?!"

"Hi, Kagome, dear." My mother said cheerfully back. "While you're out would you mind picking up some Gerbil food for Souta. If we don't feed those poor darlings soon they'll all drop dead."

I groaned inwardly. "Sure thing."

"Catch you later, dear." She said before hanging up.

I stuffed my phone back into my pocket… but I kept it turned on just in case.

~Inuyasha~

You begin to take the easy things for granted when you live alone and have to live, work and provide for yourself. Before, the food was always set before me, whether I wanted it or not, and the shelter was always there whatever time of day and night. Well… usually… The accommodation had been much better than average, and the food was the same type that was served on Titanic. I'd never needed a job as much as I needed one now. And even then I wasn't sure it was enough. So what did I do in my spare time when I wasn't scrubbing puke off the hospital floors? Or lounging around in the luxury rented converted attic of a small house?

Well I was working in the docks helping transport the landed fish from the ship holds to the vans. And that was on a good day. On a bad day I would be gutting those fish.

The smells just kept getting better and better.

I probably permanently smelled like fish now. What a fine fall from grace (if I ever had been in grace that was). If only my dad could see me now… I'd be willing to bet he had a heart attack and died on the spot of shame. And what about Kagome… what would she say?

Kagome would probably have laughed in that perfectly feminine lilting laugh she had… and told me I'd found my calling.

Don't get me wrong, it was nice to live alone for a change. I didn't have parents hounding me to do this, and do that, or drop that job or drop that girlfriend. But it did mean that now I had to do everything by myself. I had to wash the dishes, clean the dingy little apartment, and hopefully make enough money out of the fish job so I could attend further Nurse education classes at the nearby college. That way I could move up the ranks in the hospital so much faster.

After all, the old bat Kaede had said that if I continued at the rate I was going, then I'd be chief nurse of the ICU in no time.

Would that make me a Sister like her…?

I shrugged that thought off as my attention was drawn back to present matters. My gaze flickered to the opening of the harbour where one of the ships was slowly chugging its way from sea to moor in docks. I waited patiently from where I sat at the edge of the concrete platform, swinging my legs over the edge and absently tapping out a catchy little rhythm with my claws on the metal pole that rested on my lap.

A few other Dockers were hanging around the platform around me, leaning or sitting on crates, waiting for the next ship to come along and be unloaded. That's why I didn't really notice the new guy who came and sat on a crate only a few metres behind me. It was only until he spoke that I realised he wasn't one of the workers.

"So you ran away, quit your easy white-collar job, abandoned your friends and family, forsook your name and privileges and picked up a blue-collar job."

I snapped my head around to glare at Miroku who was nodding slightly in appreciation. "And only moved two miles up the road." He said after a moment. "Not bad."

"Sometimes the best place to hide is right under your nose." I retorted. "Not that I'm hiding or anything…"

"When did you turn into such a girl?" he gave me a sour look. "A little problem with Daddy and you run for the hills… or the harbour even…"

"This has nothing to do with that wombat." I snapped, clenching the pole in my hands tightly.

"Oh, so the fact that he slugged you the day before you ran away was pure coincidence."

"Exactly." I nodded firmly. "And I didn't run away! I just… left home! It's sad that a guy my age is still at home."

"Seventeen years old isn't exactly the sad thirty year old man at home cliché thing." Miroku told me dryly. "So if it wasn't for your Dad, why did you run away."

"I told you, I didn't run away."

"Then you fled. You burned rubber. High-tailed it. Whatever, I don't care, I just want to know why you left." He said in that stern fatherly like voice he acquires sometimes, making me feel like a stubborn bratty child. Which I think was the desired effect he wanted.

But I couldn't tell him I left because of Kagome…

"A mixture of things." I said. It wasn't a lie. "I'm sick of being in the spotlight because of Dad. I'm sick of being watched every time I go out. If not by the paparazzi – then by you. And don't deny that you sometimes follow me on Dad's orders to make sure I wasn't meeting up with Kagome, cause I see you, ya know."

"I know. That's why I always lost you." He sighed.

"Well… I'm sick of it. I have to always watch my step, say the right things in public, and if I'm seen with the wrong person then I get hounded repeatedly for it. By the press and by my family. I never asked to be a part of this, so I think I'll just sit a pitiful life like that out, thank you very much."

Miroku contemplated this quietly as I stood up, the ship that was planning to moor was getting closer and slowing down further.

"Your Dad wants you to come back home. He says he's sorry, and he hopes that you can forgive him. He's worried about you…" Miroku said evenly.

"Bull. How much did he pay you to make that stuff up on your way over?" he snapped.

"That's what he said, I swear it on my mother's grave." He held a hand over his heart. "I even got it on tape. You want to hear?"

I turned and stared at him as he pulled out a small tape recorder and rewound it to play from the beginning. He pressed play and held it up. "Just tell him to come home… god knows what kind of trouble he's up to on his own. The boy's an idiot, he wouldn't last five days without someone there to pamper him…"

That made me scowl. But my father's tone of voice had been unusually subdued. Almost as if he was worried. Miroku stopped the tape and raised his eyebrows at me. I snorted and turned back to watch the oncoming ship. "So what? He knew you were recording."

"He's your father. He may not be the loving kind father everyone else has, but he is Youkai, so what do you expect?" Miroku hopped off the crate he was sitting on. "He's really sorry for what he did. You should see him, it's eating at him little by little, every day. He really does want you home."

"No, he wants me home so that the press don't pick up the story of how he kicked his youngest son out of the house to live in Skanky town." I shook my head. "I ain't coming back. You of all people should know how much Dad's words mean to me."

He came up beside me I glanced warily at him. When we were younger, this would be the point where he pushed me over the edge into the water to reinforce his side of the argument. Thankfully, I was glad to see that at least one of us had grown up.

"If you won't come back for him… then what about Kagome?" he asked, without looking at me as he eyed up the old ship heading towards the moorings. "She called me when I was on my way over. She asked about you… she's worried too, ya know."

"I know."

"Remember when I once told you that you were the scum of the universe?"

"Yeah…"

"Well now I really mean it." He folded his arms. "Kagome's human like me, so maybe that's why I feel more strongly about this but… she hasn't done anything wrong to you, other than be your friend and helped you… and probably comforted you when you cried among other things she did to comfort you." He coughed. I glared at him, obviously he had his own ideas about what happened the night I slept in her room. "Girls like that are special, I should know. You can't just dump them and pretend they don't exist."

"I couldn't help it." I tried lamely.

He skewed me a shrewd look. "Wow, never heard that excuse before."

"I mean it… you wouldn't understand." I growled, moving a few paces away to put some distance between him and me. "Things were complicated. We were two different people…"

"Inuyasha… every couple is two different people." He sighed. "Damn, you really don't date many ladies do you."

"Shut up! At least I'm not a slut like you!"

"Venting you anger on me is only attempting to detract from the matter at hand. The point is, you dumped Kagome, she's hurt, and if you two don't reconcile then either me, Sango, or Kagome, is going to push you off this dock right now."

I glared at him whilst trying to search for the true answer inside of me. I left Kagome for a reason, a good reason… but I couldn't identify the reason. No matter how much I tried, I didn't understand what it was I was feeling. "We had secrets… I felt I didn't know her anymore…" I grumbled, a small feeling of relief told me I was on the right tracks. "She didn't tell me her secrets and it's come between us… seriously…"

"Everyone has secrets. It isn't relationship law to tell your partner everything." Miroku told me bluntly. "I bet you keep secrets from her as well, right? I bet you didn't tell her yours either? I bet you still haven't told her yours."

"If you don't back off and go home and tell everyone you couldn't find me then I might just have to be forced to push you off this platform." At least I hadn't grown up yet.

"Whatever." He shrugged and walked away from the edge. "I'll go home and tell them you leapt onto the nearest boat sailing to Africa… it won't be a lie if you take it literally."

Good, he got the idea… but why didn't I feel so relieved anymore.

"Remember, I'm not trying to force you to move back into the Arashi's household. I just want you to pay us a visit… or at least pay Kagome a visit."

"Why do you care so much about her?!" I snapped, a little suspicious of his motives.

"Why else?" he flashed me one of his grins. "Upset Kagome means an upset Sango, and upset Sango wants stupid Inuyasha guts. When stupid Inuyasha isn't around, upset Sango wants to take a piece out of available Miroku instead. It's my neck on the line here, not yours. See ya."

He turned and walked away with his hands stuffed in his pockets, dodging between the manual labourers along the docks. I shook my head at him and turned in time to catch the heavy rope that was thrown from the crew on the ship at me. I bent down and began to knot it around the mooring ring to keep the ship from drifting off.

Maybe Miroku had a point here…

~Kagome~

I sat on the wall behind the bus stop, half-heartedly glaring at the cracked pave stones on the sidewalk before me. I sighed and began counting the number of cracks on average for every nine slabs…

God I was so bored.

There was only one other person waiting for the bus besides me – An old woman who kept giving me long slanted looks, probably having recognised my face. I just kept my patience and ignored her… I got those kinds of looks from people all the time. A bus came, but it wasn't my ride, so the old woman left and I was on my own again.

After a while someone else came along and sat on the wall beside me. Once more I kept my patience and just averted my attention to the shrubs growing on my other side, hoping the guy would catch a hint. He smelled kinda familiar… like Sushi…

And pine trees… and washing powder…

I turned to him so quickly I nearly got whiplash, and then nearly swooned dead away when I realised it was Inuyasha.

"I am…" Inuyasha looked like he was counting cracks in paving stones too. "… a complete idiot…"

I stared at him, totally thunderstruck. My mouth moved of it's own will. "And…?"

"And I hope you can forgive me?" he glanced at me.

The anger hit me full force, I'd expected it, and I'd told myself to control it if I didn't want to ruin things… but right then I was too angry to care. I wanted to make him hurt as much as he'd hurt me.

"You think everything's that simple with me don't you?" I snapped harshly, folding my arms and turning away. "Just apologise and Kagome will come running back? I gave you your chance and you just threw it in my face… well you don't get third chances round here!"

I heard him shift slightly behind him. "I don't know how else to start telling you how sorry I am…"

I turned sharply to give him a frosty glare. "Didn't you get Miroku to give you your speech?"

"I'm not giving you any speeches." He frowned. "The human language just isn't broad enough to tell you how really stupid I was… I wasn't thinking… but I've been going to pieces on my own…"

I looked him over. "You look fine to me… except you kinda smell like my lunch."

"I'm a Docker for landed fish stocks." I told her bluntly.

"I guess you found your calling then." I said curtly, noticing the slightly amused expression that quirked the corner of his lips. I hadn't intended that to be funny, more sarcastic and cutting.

"I didn't leave because of you." I told her. "If anything, the only reason I was staying was because of you."

That touched something inside… and I shifted uncomfortably. "But you dumped me…"

"I didn't want to… it's just…" he trailed off.

"Just what?" I asked sharply.

"For a moment, I thought you were someone else."

I narrowed my eyes. "What? You thought I was Kikyo? Try again Inuyasha, that was a lame one!"

"No… I just realised something about you… and it scared me… but I'm not worried about that anymore."

"Realised what about me?" I asked cautiously.

"That you're way out of my league." He shrugged with a small smile.

I stared at him a moment before shaking me had. "You don't know me at all. You think you do, but you don't."

"I know you. I know everything about you." He said quickly.

He didn't know about what I did at night… he didn't know me at all. "You don't know me." I repeated, firmly. "If you think I'll forgive you so easily, you don't know me."

"I know you won't forgive me so easily. But ask me something, anything, and I'll prove I know you."

"Ok then…" I looked him in the eye, trying to see if he was joking around. "What's my favourite colour?"

He froze, completely stumped by the question. Damn… if he didn't even know my favourite colour then it was hopeless.

"I don't know…" he said slowly. "But I know that your favourite food is Oden… you always order it when we go to cafés and whenever you smell it you start to drool… just a guess."

A bang on guess.

"And your favourite hot drink is hot chocolate… you always put sugar in it and make it too sweet, and always put too much cream on top. You'd put marshmallows in as well if the Café sold it that way." He smiled and looked away from me. "Your favourite book is 'Gone with the Wind' I caught you reading it once in the Library, even though you have a copy in you bookshelf in your room. You must have read it a hundred times, it's practically coming apart and bent and ripped…"

I stared at him… how did he know all this?

"Your favourite film is 'The Ring', you dragged Sango off to see it twice. I reckon you like giving yourself a good scare from now and then, because you still read horror novels and Point crime books. Either that, or the romantic comedy ones. You don't think a story, action or adventure, is complete without a romantic plot. That's just a typical girl thing."

"How…?"

"Your favourite song is the theme tune to 'Lost Spirits' It must be on every Wednesday and Saturday night, because on Thursday and Sunday mornings, you're always humming the tune. And you sing it out loud when you shower."

"How did you know I-"

"You love Ben And Jerry's ice cream. Whenever you pass a stall of the stuff you always look hungry." He smiled again. "And you've never told anyone before, but you want to be Song-writer when you grow up."

My blood ran cold. Now I know I'd never told anyone that before… not even my closest and dearest friends… "How?!"

"You make up tunes all the time. You hum things I've never heard of, and they're always catchy. You make them up yourself, right? But you always forget them and the next day you make up something new and start singing that. You even make up words to go along with the tunes you make up."

I nearly had to turn away I was blushing so hard.

"But in all seriousness, you'll probably do a job which helps people… a doctor… a day care centre… animal shelter… because that's what you like to do. You like to help people." He reclined back slightly. "But you'd never work with worms. You hate worms. But you love cats. Mostly because you prefer that fat cat Buyo over Souta's gerbils. Plus, you practically purr whenever I hold you in my lap."

And I thought I was blushing enough before…

"And… your favourite colour is yellow." He said, almost as if realising it. "You always wear it and your room has a yellow theme. And you hate trousers because every time we go you always wear skirts. And the last time you wore trousers you were always scratching behind your knees. I'm guessing they chafe your skin."

I stared at him as he finished and suddenly looked slightly peeved. "And your crush is the lead singer in that band called 'Stolen'. Not only do you have his poster on your bedroom door, but you also always stare at the billboard advertising his new album outside the tube station. Just because it has his face plastered over half the picture…"

I stared at him in complete silence for a long time before I finally found my voice. "How do you know all that… I never told you any of that!"

He shrugged. "It's hard to miss all these things about you. And even you do it. You can look at a total stranger and determine whether they are nice or nasty, just by looking at them. I look at you every day… and I talk to you… and I start to know you better than I know myself."

Damn… now I felt a little guilty that the only thing I could be certain about him was that he liked the colour red. And only because he told me so.

"So…" he nudged me slightly. "Do you accept my apology."

I was impressed… and I couldn't seem to really remember why I had been angry at him. "Um… I guess… you're forgiven… but I'm still kinda mad at you."

He looked very relieved, and I realised he must have been quite tense, I only just saw it leave his expression. "Good." He smiled gratefully.

"Are you… moving back here?"

"I'm not moving back in with Dad." He said shortly. "I don't live very far away anyway… only a mile or two."

"Ok."

For a long time I just sat there, absorbing his presence again before he slowly reached across and placed a hand on my thigh. I looked down at the hand before looking up at him expectantly.

"I was going insane without you…" he said so earnestly that it tugged at my heart.

"I did go a little insane." I responded sheepishly, placing my own hand over his and giving it a squeeze. I glanced up at him to see he was looking at me in a way that made my heart pound.

He leaned towards me, and I started to lean towards him as well… until I suddenly pulled back sharply. He looked confused. "What? Don't you want to-"

"No – I do!" I wrinkled my nose. "It's just I want you to take a shower before we try that again."

"I still stink of fish?" he sniffed his hand and grimaced. "Better not do any cat impressions for a while, Kagome."

I laughed lightly as he dropped down from the wall and looked back at me seriously. "We have to be more careful now."

"I know…" I said, with an internal sigh.

"Miroku and Sango can't know." He told me strictly.

"Alright."

"Which means we have to pretend to still be at war with one another. Ok?"

"Ok." I nodded obediently and waved as he walked away.

Don't tell Sango? I could do that. But I was sure she would notice my mood had been miraculously lifted in the space of an afternoon. Maybe I should just tell her I got together with Kouga at last.

I grinned evilly. Yep. That would make Inuyasha squirm like bait on a hook.

AN: Well, not overly sappy but there you go…