Disclaimer: I own nothing Inuyasha. Ok, I own a couple DVDs, but that's
it. :p
I thought, since it is fall where I live, a nice fun leaf war would be entertaining. Enjoy.
Falling Leaves
Kagome ran to catch up with her friends. "Well," she thought, "If I'm going to be stuck taking tests all day, I might as well at least enjoy the walk to school." Things had been much easier with her friends after they had finally met Inuyasha. At least now they weren't continually trying to set her up with Hojo all the time. It was true that they almost mercilessly teased her about him, but she could handle that---she hoped.
"Kagome!" Arumi shouted a little too cheerfully, "Did your boyfriend come visit again?"
"No, he was 'too busy' to bother," she answered without thinking. "The jerk."
"Pay up, guys," Arumi gloated. "I told you she'd fall for it."
Kagome blushed, trying to think of a comeback, but it was too late: she'd already answered a question about her 'boyfriend,' and anything she said now would only make it worse. It was going to be a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha, meanwhile, was getting bored---very bored.
"Just go visit her, Inuyasha," Miroku said.
"Why bother? She'll just be at school, anyway," Inuyasha grumbled, unwittingly answering the question.
Miroku smiled: this was going to be easier than he'd thought. "I thought you might say something like that," he said. "Even if she is gone now, she'll be home later. Girls like it when you show how much you like them."
"Feh, whatever, monk," Inu growled back. "Like I care what she thinks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha jumped out of the well and headed for the house.
"What're you doing here, Inuyasha?" Gramps said.
"Feh. Just waiting for Kagome, old man," Inu answered.
"Now no need for bad manners. Just for that, you have to rake the yard," Gramps commanded.
"Rake? What is raking?" Inu asked, confused.
"Here," Gramps said, handing a leaf rake to Inuyasha, "take this and pull all the leaves into a big pile."
"Wha....," Inu stuttered.
"Just do it. If you hurry, you can be done before Kagome and Souta get home. I'll be back later with some bags to stuff them in." Gramps said, leaving.
"Stupid old man..." Inuyasha huffed, starting to rake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometime later at school, Eri called Kagome's home.
"Hello," Gramps said.
"Hi, this is Eri, one of Kagome's friends. She wanted me to call and see if Inuyasha had showed up."
"Oh, he got here a while ago. He's raking leaves around the shrine right now," Gramps answered.
"Thanks Mr. Higurahsi. I'll let her know," trying to contain a squeal of delight. This was just too cool! Kagome was going to have visitors tonight. She quickly went to tell Arumi and Yuka the good news.
"Kagome, can we come over for a while tonight?" Yuka asked for the girls. "We haven't had much time to talk lately, and I thought maybe tonight."
"You really shouldn't. I need to study for tests and all," Kagome answered without much conviction.
"Please, we won't stay long," she pleaded, demonstrating why she got tasked with asking.
"Well, I suppose." Kagome started.
"Great, I knew you'd understand!" she accepted before Kagome could finish. "Let's go!"
Kagome thought something seemed suspicious, but didn't have time to think of what it might be as they grabbed her hands and drug her along.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha had just finished raking the leaves into a big pile well over 1 m high and about 2 and a half wide. "Where did that old man go? He better hurry up with those bags, or the wind is going to scatter them back all over the yard." About this time, he heard Kagome taking excitedly with some other girls. He sniffed the breeze---it must be those silly friends of hers again. He waited.
Kagome came around the corner, saw the pile of leaves, Inuyasha holding the rake, and stopped, stunned. "What are you doing, Inuyasha," she asks, stupefied.
"What does it look like wench? The old man handed me this thing and told me to get to work putting the leaves into a pile," Inu answered.
Suddenly noticing the huge pile of leaves, Kagome turned quickly to the girls, throwing off her backpack. "Watch this," she whispered to her friends. "Inuyasha, sit."
Inuyasha landed on the ground face first. "Oi, bitch, what did you do that for?" he yelled as Kagome ran over and started burying him in the pile of leaves. He heard her friends coming, but they didn't seem in a hurry about it. Just as he felt the spell weakening, she did it again, "Sit," she said laughing as she stuffed his clothes with yet more leaves.
The girls walked over cautiously. What had Kagome just done to make him want to fall down on the ground like that? Actually, it looked more like he didn't have a choice in the matter. This was weird.
This time, Kagome decided not to 'sit' Inuyasha again. It wasn't going to be fun if he couldn't even move. Still in play mode, she was shocked at what he did next.
Inu got up and immediately headed for the well. "What did you that for, you stupid bitch? I spent all afternoon 'raking' the leaves up for this? Take all the time you want with your tests---I won't be waiting."
The girls trailed along as Inuyasha ran over, jumped into the well, and disappeared. They surrounded the still dazed Kagome and demanded answers. "All right, spill. We've thought something weird was going on for a long time, and this proves it. We want answers---now."
"Uh---um---I have to study." Kagome sputtered helplessly.
"Oh, no, you're not getting away with that this time, Higurashi. We're going over to my place, and you're going to tell us everything, even if it takes all night," Yuka commanded.
"But."
"No buts. We'll call your mom from my place to let her know where you're at. Now move," Yuka said, pointing to the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha jumped out of the well in a very bad mood. He wasn't really mad, but he was hurt and depressed. Stupid girl, anyway. He goes to visit, even helps the old man, and what does he get? Feh. She comes home, sits him into the ground, scatters the pile he made all over, stuff his clothes with leaves---right in front of her friends. The nerve of the bitch, anyway! Whether he should have or not, he felt like a little kid getting bullied. If it had been anyone other than Kagome, it wouldn't have bothered him much, but her. Curse the stupid wretched rosary, anyway. Fortunately or not, he ran into Miroku as he retreated.
Miroku, not preoccupied with such thoughts, made the mistake of commenting first. "What happened to you, Inuyasha? Are you trying out a new form of camouflage so that maybe Naraku won't see you?"
"Out of my way, you stupid monk. The stupid bitch decided to redecorate me. None of this would have happened if you hadn't tricked me into visiting her," Inuyasha shouted, not slowing down.
Miroku wisely dived out of the way. It wasn't clear in the slightest what had really happened, but it looked bad. They'd all seen Kagome go home really upset, but this was the first time he'd seen it the other way around. Judging from the way he looked, it would be best to wait until Kagome came back so they could as questions then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was after 3 in the morning when the girls were finally satisfied with what Kagome had told them. It wasn't that they were through with getting details from her (they promised that they would get more sometime soon) but it was enough to satisfy their curiosity for the night. At that point, they escorted her back home and wouldn't leave until she went back down the well. "You are going to go talk to Inuyasha, and that is final. We still don't understand what made him so upset, but he looked really hurt when he left, and you have to go deal with it," Eri said, speaking for the group.
"But."
"No buts. Get moving, or we'll have to throw you down," Eri said, pushing her toward the well by her shoulders.
"Ok, I'm going, but guys, I'm scared. I've never seen him act like that, and I don't even know what I did to cause it. What if he hates me now?" Kagome whimpered.
"He doesn't hate you," Arumi said, "But something is really bothering him. Maybe the guy, Miroku was it, would have an idea what is bothering him."
"Thanks, guys. See you later," Kagome smiled and jumped into the well.
Kagome trudged slowly toward Kaede's hut, and not just because she had been up for almost 24 hours. What was she going to do? She hoped someone would have a clue what to do, because she had no idea why Inuyasha was so upset. After all, she was just playing with him, wasn't she? Well, maybe she could sneak in and no one would notice.
She didn't get away with it. Sango was sleeping very lightly since Miroku had come back and mentioned Inuyasha's strange entrance. Even though she didn't understand it, she was worried, and, unfortunately for Kagome, that meant she was alert that night. "Kagome, what are you doing here so late?" Sango asked sleepily.
Kagome plopped down, exhausted. She thought about coming up with an answer to avoid the situation, but if Sango was this restless, that meant they already had some idea about it, anyway. "I just got done talking to my friends at home. They convinced me that I had to come talk to Inuyasha, but I really have no idea what to say. I don't even know what the problem is."
Sango got up and stepped around Miroku to put her arms around Kagome, who had started to cry. There wasn't anything to say for the moment. By the time she had stopped crying, Miroku was awake.
"Oh, good, you did come, Kagome. I was wondering what we would do if you didn't. Would you mind telling me what happened from your point of view? Inuyasha didn't say more than a few sentences as he ran right over the top of me," Miroku asked.
"Well, I came home with my friends Arumi, Eri, and Yuka. Somehow, they had found out Inuyasha was there and wanted to see more of him. Anyway, I walked around the house, and Inuyasha had apparently just finished raking the leaves into a big pile. I was shocked, and I asked him what he was doing. He said something about jii-chan asking him to rake the leaves. About then, it hit me that there was a huge pile of leaves to play in---I love to play in the leaves---and Inuyasha was standing right by the pile. I quickly dumped my pack and had him 'sit' a couple times so that I would have a little advantage it the leaf fight. As soon as the sit---no, second sit---released, he ran off and jumped in the well while cursing at me," Kagome related.
"Shit," Miroku said, surprising them with his language, "This is worse than I thought. No wonder he's so upset."
"What do you mean? It didn't sound that bad to me," Sango offered.
"That's because I know a few things you don't, and because, unlike you, I have a little better idea how men think. First, though, I have a few more questions. Did you let him know you were glad to see him?" Miroku continued.
"Uh, I guess not," Kagome said.
"Did you let him know that you were glad he helped out?"
"No."
"Did you tell him you wanted to play in the leaves?"
"No."
"You said your friends were right there and saw all this?"
"Yes."
"Ok, now let me lay this out like Inuyasha probably saw it. First, unbeknownst to you, I convinced Inuyasha that it might be nice to visit you today---girls like it when their boyfriends show interest in them. So sometime this afternoon, after being bored and not wanting it to appear like he listened to me, he goes to visit. Apparently sometime after he arrived, you grandfather convinced him to---what is it?---'rake' the yard. About the time he gets done with this, you and you friends arrive. Does this sound about right so far?" Miroku asked, starting his layout.
"Yea, that's probably about right," Kagome answered with a sinking feeling.
"Good. About that time, you dump your pack, sit him into the ground, and proceed to trash the pile he had just made, stuff him with leaves---which looked pretty funny, by the way---and humiliate him in front of your friends," he continued.
"But I just wanted to play with him," Kagome protested.
"I'm sure you did. I'm sure you were glad to see him, and I have no doubt you were rather proud of the fact that he had helped with the leaves. The problem is that he didn't see any of that. All he saw was you trashing his work and inflicting pain and embarrassment on him. I cannot think of any time when you had him 'sit' for any pleasurable reason, and he most certainly won't. What is worse, you showed him to be weak in the eyes of your friends. More than anyone, he trusts you to be his friend, and, in his eyes, you broke that trust," Miroku continued mercilessly.
"But I didn't mean any of that," Kagome protested.
"Of course you didn't, but the problem is that he doesn't know that. He would really like to believe that, but he just doesn't see it at the moment."
Kagome turned and started crying on Sango again. She had just wanted to have fun! How could it have turned out so badly? Finally, she stopped, wiped her tears, and asked, "What do you think I should do?"
"You have to go make him believe what you really intended. I don't know what that will take," he said, "but you can do it."
"I'd better be going, then. This won't get any easier if I wait," Kagome said getting up to leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kagome headed slowly to the sacred tree. If Inuyasha wasn't there, there was no way she could find him. Fortunately, as she arrived, she could feel his presence. "Inuyasha, I know you're there. Please come down and talk to me."
Silence.
"Inuyasha, please come down. I'm not going to say the word, but I really need to talk to you. I'm sorry about what happened yesterday; it was all a misunderstanding," Kagome pleaded.
"Feh. Why should I talk to you?" the answer came back.
Silence
"Oh, fine, if you're going to be that way about it," he said, jumping down. "Just say what you want so I can go back to sleep."
"When I got home, I was really surprised to find you there. I was even more surprised to see you had raked the leaves. Of course, I was happy about both, but when I saw that huge pile of leaves, I just couldn't resist the temptation: I love playing in the leaves. I wanted to have fun with you. Especially with my friends there, I didn't think. The first thing that came to my mind was to 'sit' you so I would have some advantage in a leaf fight. I'm sorry, I didn't think about it from your point of view," she blurted out quickly.
Inuyasha just stared for a moment. Kagome was back explaining what had happened, and, if he thought about it honestly, most of it made sense now. Still, those 'sits' had hurt and were incredibly embarrassing. "Those 'sits' hurt wench," was all he could think of.
Kagome stalled. How important was this to her, anyway? "Hold still," she commanded, reaching for him.
"Wha."
Her hand closed around the rosary, and she yanked, sending beads flying all over. "There, that should settle it," she said.
Inuyasha gawked, speechless. Finally, he sputtered, "What'd you do that for?"
"I believe 'Thank you, Kagome,' would be a better response," she said, ignoring his question.
Inuyasha recovered enough, for once, to be somewhat polite. "Thank you Kagome."
"You're welcome, Inuyasha," she replied cheerfully. "I took it off because you don't need it any more. So, do you forgive me for yesterday?"
"Yea," Inuyasha mumbled.
Kagome wrapped her arms around him and suddenly felt very tired.
"Oi, Kagome, climb on," Inuyasha prodded.
"Why?"
"So I can take you back home. You need sleep after being up all night worrying about this."
"You're taking me home?"
"That's what I said, isn't it. Hurry up and get on, you're wasting time."
Kagome complied without any further questioning. She sighed. She loved her Inuyasha.
Author's notes: I don't remember for sure, but I think Kagome's friends are named Arumi, Eri, and Yuka. If not, they are for this. :p I really don't know if they have to rake leaves in Japan, but it seems like a reasonable guess unless someone tells me otherwise. Besides, it gives some of the gang a chance to have some fun. It turned out to have plenty of fluff at the end, but the middle didn't go like I had thought it would. I was thinking it would be nice to have a little fun with the leaves, but it ended up better than that.
As a personal note, I thought it was time that somewhere in here to get rid of the stupid rosary. From my perspective (this is a guy talking here, so you can take that into consideration) I felt that it was doing more to hurt the relationship than help it. There is no doubt that early on, it was necessary to protect those involved. By this time (I am roughly using the current manga as the base for events, even though I am totally disregarding what it shows as the season) Inuyasha is no danger to anyone who doesn't need to be dealt with, anyway. All the necklace would do is give Kagome leverage over Inuyasha in ways that would create tension. Kagome is a clever young woman, and I am confident she will be able to handle our young hanyou without the now defunct hardware. In fact, I suspect (and since I am the author, I have a little influence here) that they will get along a little better after this. ( Ok, that's the end of my rant. Email me if you still don't understand ,or if you have differences with me.
Junyortrakr
I thought, since it is fall where I live, a nice fun leaf war would be entertaining. Enjoy.
Falling Leaves
Kagome ran to catch up with her friends. "Well," she thought, "If I'm going to be stuck taking tests all day, I might as well at least enjoy the walk to school." Things had been much easier with her friends after they had finally met Inuyasha. At least now they weren't continually trying to set her up with Hojo all the time. It was true that they almost mercilessly teased her about him, but she could handle that---she hoped.
"Kagome!" Arumi shouted a little too cheerfully, "Did your boyfriend come visit again?"
"No, he was 'too busy' to bother," she answered without thinking. "The jerk."
"Pay up, guys," Arumi gloated. "I told you she'd fall for it."
Kagome blushed, trying to think of a comeback, but it was too late: she'd already answered a question about her 'boyfriend,' and anything she said now would only make it worse. It was going to be a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha, meanwhile, was getting bored---very bored.
"Just go visit her, Inuyasha," Miroku said.
"Why bother? She'll just be at school, anyway," Inuyasha grumbled, unwittingly answering the question.
Miroku smiled: this was going to be easier than he'd thought. "I thought you might say something like that," he said. "Even if she is gone now, she'll be home later. Girls like it when you show how much you like them."
"Feh, whatever, monk," Inu growled back. "Like I care what she thinks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha jumped out of the well and headed for the house.
"What're you doing here, Inuyasha?" Gramps said.
"Feh. Just waiting for Kagome, old man," Inu answered.
"Now no need for bad manners. Just for that, you have to rake the yard," Gramps commanded.
"Rake? What is raking?" Inu asked, confused.
"Here," Gramps said, handing a leaf rake to Inuyasha, "take this and pull all the leaves into a big pile."
"Wha....," Inu stuttered.
"Just do it. If you hurry, you can be done before Kagome and Souta get home. I'll be back later with some bags to stuff them in." Gramps said, leaving.
"Stupid old man..." Inuyasha huffed, starting to rake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometime later at school, Eri called Kagome's home.
"Hello," Gramps said.
"Hi, this is Eri, one of Kagome's friends. She wanted me to call and see if Inuyasha had showed up."
"Oh, he got here a while ago. He's raking leaves around the shrine right now," Gramps answered.
"Thanks Mr. Higurahsi. I'll let her know," trying to contain a squeal of delight. This was just too cool! Kagome was going to have visitors tonight. She quickly went to tell Arumi and Yuka the good news.
"Kagome, can we come over for a while tonight?" Yuka asked for the girls. "We haven't had much time to talk lately, and I thought maybe tonight."
"You really shouldn't. I need to study for tests and all," Kagome answered without much conviction.
"Please, we won't stay long," she pleaded, demonstrating why she got tasked with asking.
"Well, I suppose." Kagome started.
"Great, I knew you'd understand!" she accepted before Kagome could finish. "Let's go!"
Kagome thought something seemed suspicious, but didn't have time to think of what it might be as they grabbed her hands and drug her along.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha had just finished raking the leaves into a big pile well over 1 m high and about 2 and a half wide. "Where did that old man go? He better hurry up with those bags, or the wind is going to scatter them back all over the yard." About this time, he heard Kagome taking excitedly with some other girls. He sniffed the breeze---it must be those silly friends of hers again. He waited.
Kagome came around the corner, saw the pile of leaves, Inuyasha holding the rake, and stopped, stunned. "What are you doing, Inuyasha," she asks, stupefied.
"What does it look like wench? The old man handed me this thing and told me to get to work putting the leaves into a pile," Inu answered.
Suddenly noticing the huge pile of leaves, Kagome turned quickly to the girls, throwing off her backpack. "Watch this," she whispered to her friends. "Inuyasha, sit."
Inuyasha landed on the ground face first. "Oi, bitch, what did you do that for?" he yelled as Kagome ran over and started burying him in the pile of leaves. He heard her friends coming, but they didn't seem in a hurry about it. Just as he felt the spell weakening, she did it again, "Sit," she said laughing as she stuffed his clothes with yet more leaves.
The girls walked over cautiously. What had Kagome just done to make him want to fall down on the ground like that? Actually, it looked more like he didn't have a choice in the matter. This was weird.
This time, Kagome decided not to 'sit' Inuyasha again. It wasn't going to be fun if he couldn't even move. Still in play mode, she was shocked at what he did next.
Inu got up and immediately headed for the well. "What did you that for, you stupid bitch? I spent all afternoon 'raking' the leaves up for this? Take all the time you want with your tests---I won't be waiting."
The girls trailed along as Inuyasha ran over, jumped into the well, and disappeared. They surrounded the still dazed Kagome and demanded answers. "All right, spill. We've thought something weird was going on for a long time, and this proves it. We want answers---now."
"Uh---um---I have to study." Kagome sputtered helplessly.
"Oh, no, you're not getting away with that this time, Higurashi. We're going over to my place, and you're going to tell us everything, even if it takes all night," Yuka commanded.
"But."
"No buts. We'll call your mom from my place to let her know where you're at. Now move," Yuka said, pointing to the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inuyasha jumped out of the well in a very bad mood. He wasn't really mad, but he was hurt and depressed. Stupid girl, anyway. He goes to visit, even helps the old man, and what does he get? Feh. She comes home, sits him into the ground, scatters the pile he made all over, stuff his clothes with leaves---right in front of her friends. The nerve of the bitch, anyway! Whether he should have or not, he felt like a little kid getting bullied. If it had been anyone other than Kagome, it wouldn't have bothered him much, but her. Curse the stupid wretched rosary, anyway. Fortunately or not, he ran into Miroku as he retreated.
Miroku, not preoccupied with such thoughts, made the mistake of commenting first. "What happened to you, Inuyasha? Are you trying out a new form of camouflage so that maybe Naraku won't see you?"
"Out of my way, you stupid monk. The stupid bitch decided to redecorate me. None of this would have happened if you hadn't tricked me into visiting her," Inuyasha shouted, not slowing down.
Miroku wisely dived out of the way. It wasn't clear in the slightest what had really happened, but it looked bad. They'd all seen Kagome go home really upset, but this was the first time he'd seen it the other way around. Judging from the way he looked, it would be best to wait until Kagome came back so they could as questions then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was after 3 in the morning when the girls were finally satisfied with what Kagome had told them. It wasn't that they were through with getting details from her (they promised that they would get more sometime soon) but it was enough to satisfy their curiosity for the night. At that point, they escorted her back home and wouldn't leave until she went back down the well. "You are going to go talk to Inuyasha, and that is final. We still don't understand what made him so upset, but he looked really hurt when he left, and you have to go deal with it," Eri said, speaking for the group.
"But."
"No buts. Get moving, or we'll have to throw you down," Eri said, pushing her toward the well by her shoulders.
"Ok, I'm going, but guys, I'm scared. I've never seen him act like that, and I don't even know what I did to cause it. What if he hates me now?" Kagome whimpered.
"He doesn't hate you," Arumi said, "But something is really bothering him. Maybe the guy, Miroku was it, would have an idea what is bothering him."
"Thanks, guys. See you later," Kagome smiled and jumped into the well.
Kagome trudged slowly toward Kaede's hut, and not just because she had been up for almost 24 hours. What was she going to do? She hoped someone would have a clue what to do, because she had no idea why Inuyasha was so upset. After all, she was just playing with him, wasn't she? Well, maybe she could sneak in and no one would notice.
She didn't get away with it. Sango was sleeping very lightly since Miroku had come back and mentioned Inuyasha's strange entrance. Even though she didn't understand it, she was worried, and, unfortunately for Kagome, that meant she was alert that night. "Kagome, what are you doing here so late?" Sango asked sleepily.
Kagome plopped down, exhausted. She thought about coming up with an answer to avoid the situation, but if Sango was this restless, that meant they already had some idea about it, anyway. "I just got done talking to my friends at home. They convinced me that I had to come talk to Inuyasha, but I really have no idea what to say. I don't even know what the problem is."
Sango got up and stepped around Miroku to put her arms around Kagome, who had started to cry. There wasn't anything to say for the moment. By the time she had stopped crying, Miroku was awake.
"Oh, good, you did come, Kagome. I was wondering what we would do if you didn't. Would you mind telling me what happened from your point of view? Inuyasha didn't say more than a few sentences as he ran right over the top of me," Miroku asked.
"Well, I came home with my friends Arumi, Eri, and Yuka. Somehow, they had found out Inuyasha was there and wanted to see more of him. Anyway, I walked around the house, and Inuyasha had apparently just finished raking the leaves into a big pile. I was shocked, and I asked him what he was doing. He said something about jii-chan asking him to rake the leaves. About then, it hit me that there was a huge pile of leaves to play in---I love to play in the leaves---and Inuyasha was standing right by the pile. I quickly dumped my pack and had him 'sit' a couple times so that I would have a little advantage it the leaf fight. As soon as the sit---no, second sit---released, he ran off and jumped in the well while cursing at me," Kagome related.
"Shit," Miroku said, surprising them with his language, "This is worse than I thought. No wonder he's so upset."
"What do you mean? It didn't sound that bad to me," Sango offered.
"That's because I know a few things you don't, and because, unlike you, I have a little better idea how men think. First, though, I have a few more questions. Did you let him know you were glad to see him?" Miroku continued.
"Uh, I guess not," Kagome said.
"Did you let him know that you were glad he helped out?"
"No."
"Did you tell him you wanted to play in the leaves?"
"No."
"You said your friends were right there and saw all this?"
"Yes."
"Ok, now let me lay this out like Inuyasha probably saw it. First, unbeknownst to you, I convinced Inuyasha that it might be nice to visit you today---girls like it when their boyfriends show interest in them. So sometime this afternoon, after being bored and not wanting it to appear like he listened to me, he goes to visit. Apparently sometime after he arrived, you grandfather convinced him to---what is it?---'rake' the yard. About the time he gets done with this, you and you friends arrive. Does this sound about right so far?" Miroku asked, starting his layout.
"Yea, that's probably about right," Kagome answered with a sinking feeling.
"Good. About that time, you dump your pack, sit him into the ground, and proceed to trash the pile he had just made, stuff him with leaves---which looked pretty funny, by the way---and humiliate him in front of your friends," he continued.
"But I just wanted to play with him," Kagome protested.
"I'm sure you did. I'm sure you were glad to see him, and I have no doubt you were rather proud of the fact that he had helped with the leaves. The problem is that he didn't see any of that. All he saw was you trashing his work and inflicting pain and embarrassment on him. I cannot think of any time when you had him 'sit' for any pleasurable reason, and he most certainly won't. What is worse, you showed him to be weak in the eyes of your friends. More than anyone, he trusts you to be his friend, and, in his eyes, you broke that trust," Miroku continued mercilessly.
"But I didn't mean any of that," Kagome protested.
"Of course you didn't, but the problem is that he doesn't know that. He would really like to believe that, but he just doesn't see it at the moment."
Kagome turned and started crying on Sango again. She had just wanted to have fun! How could it have turned out so badly? Finally, she stopped, wiped her tears, and asked, "What do you think I should do?"
"You have to go make him believe what you really intended. I don't know what that will take," he said, "but you can do it."
"I'd better be going, then. This won't get any easier if I wait," Kagome said getting up to leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kagome headed slowly to the sacred tree. If Inuyasha wasn't there, there was no way she could find him. Fortunately, as she arrived, she could feel his presence. "Inuyasha, I know you're there. Please come down and talk to me."
Silence.
"Inuyasha, please come down. I'm not going to say the word, but I really need to talk to you. I'm sorry about what happened yesterday; it was all a misunderstanding," Kagome pleaded.
"Feh. Why should I talk to you?" the answer came back.
Silence
"Oh, fine, if you're going to be that way about it," he said, jumping down. "Just say what you want so I can go back to sleep."
"When I got home, I was really surprised to find you there. I was even more surprised to see you had raked the leaves. Of course, I was happy about both, but when I saw that huge pile of leaves, I just couldn't resist the temptation: I love playing in the leaves. I wanted to have fun with you. Especially with my friends there, I didn't think. The first thing that came to my mind was to 'sit' you so I would have some advantage in a leaf fight. I'm sorry, I didn't think about it from your point of view," she blurted out quickly.
Inuyasha just stared for a moment. Kagome was back explaining what had happened, and, if he thought about it honestly, most of it made sense now. Still, those 'sits' had hurt and were incredibly embarrassing. "Those 'sits' hurt wench," was all he could think of.
Kagome stalled. How important was this to her, anyway? "Hold still," she commanded, reaching for him.
"Wha."
Her hand closed around the rosary, and she yanked, sending beads flying all over. "There, that should settle it," she said.
Inuyasha gawked, speechless. Finally, he sputtered, "What'd you do that for?"
"I believe 'Thank you, Kagome,' would be a better response," she said, ignoring his question.
Inuyasha recovered enough, for once, to be somewhat polite. "Thank you Kagome."
"You're welcome, Inuyasha," she replied cheerfully. "I took it off because you don't need it any more. So, do you forgive me for yesterday?"
"Yea," Inuyasha mumbled.
Kagome wrapped her arms around him and suddenly felt very tired.
"Oi, Kagome, climb on," Inuyasha prodded.
"Why?"
"So I can take you back home. You need sleep after being up all night worrying about this."
"You're taking me home?"
"That's what I said, isn't it. Hurry up and get on, you're wasting time."
Kagome complied without any further questioning. She sighed. She loved her Inuyasha.
Author's notes: I don't remember for sure, but I think Kagome's friends are named Arumi, Eri, and Yuka. If not, they are for this. :p I really don't know if they have to rake leaves in Japan, but it seems like a reasonable guess unless someone tells me otherwise. Besides, it gives some of the gang a chance to have some fun. It turned out to have plenty of fluff at the end, but the middle didn't go like I had thought it would. I was thinking it would be nice to have a little fun with the leaves, but it ended up better than that.
As a personal note, I thought it was time that somewhere in here to get rid of the stupid rosary. From my perspective (this is a guy talking here, so you can take that into consideration) I felt that it was doing more to hurt the relationship than help it. There is no doubt that early on, it was necessary to protect those involved. By this time (I am roughly using the current manga as the base for events, even though I am totally disregarding what it shows as the season) Inuyasha is no danger to anyone who doesn't need to be dealt with, anyway. All the necklace would do is give Kagome leverage over Inuyasha in ways that would create tension. Kagome is a clever young woman, and I am confident she will be able to handle our young hanyou without the now defunct hardware. In fact, I suspect (and since I am the author, I have a little influence here) that they will get along a little better after this. ( Ok, that's the end of my rant. Email me if you still don't understand ,or if you have differences with me.
Junyortrakr