2.13.04 -- Okie, I was BEYOND bored. Chapter 37 of 2bwu and chapter 10 of Inuki were just driving me nuts, not mention revising the entire 2bwu series AND I'm fricking catching a damned cold~ ::sigh:: So I wrote this.

Bored beyond bored, I tell you. And sick. Fevers do wonders for screwed-up ideas.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha wo shoyuu shitenai ze. Ba~~ka. ^_~V

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My Job

She didn't know I was there.

She was at her desk, studying, so engulfed with her math that she hadn't noticed me. But then, she usually doesn't, even when she's not doing something that involves her undivided attention. That is okay with me.

I like to watch her, the way I used to. Watch her sleep, watch her study. I watch my Kagome do whatever, simply because I like to look at her. It had been a lonely few lifetimes before I finally caught up to her.

I was once a strong and brave hanyou. I used to run across the open fields of Japan when they were still free to run in. I slept in the old trees that are now, mostly, gone. Replaced by steel mountains and valleys of asphalt.

I watched this Japan change as no one else could-- through every era.

The first real life I can remember was in old Japan. In the Sengoku-jidai, I traveled with an unlikely crew of friends who shared the same fate as me. Miroku, Sango, myself and even Kagome trekked the old world to gather the shards of the Shikon no Tama, to defeat Naraku.

My life was taken from me in that battle, and I died in the arms of she whom I treasure so much.

I was reincarnated several times through the years. Always, the thought that I would make my way back to Kagome was the one thing that kept me going, and I waited. Waited, waited and waited through innumerable lives and five centuries.

When I was reborn this last time, it was a surprise. Not to mention I was pretty pissed off with the cards I'd been dealt this time around.

Of ALL living beings in Kagome's era, I had to be HIM.

I remembered him well from when I was Inuyasha. Back when I was a hanyou, and I would travel back with her, he was always near her.

He drove me nuts. He was a vocal creature, always pestering me with mindless noise that I didn't understand. He hung around me constantly regardless of the fact I disliked him and his kind. And I tortured him endlessly.

But now "he" was me. And it bothered me greatly when I was born into this life and realized what I would go through in this life.

But the look on Kagome's face the day I was given to her… It made up for it all. She was all of 3 years old. It was her birthday-- ironically the same day we met the first time, when she released me from Kikyou's spell. Her mother opened the door and when her little face lit up, I realized I wouldn't have it so bad off after all.

She had the same scent that I remembered, just younger and fresher. Her pudgy little arms wrapped around me and she cuddled me to her chest. I remember letting out a squeal because I could hardly breathe.

But everything was okay. I had Kagome back.

I watched her grow up, which fills me with an odd and different feeling of love than I had for her as a hanyou. Instead of the lover I never had the guts to tell my feelings to, she was more like a daughter. Or a ward I had to protect. And I watched as she passed the milestones that would shape her future, shape her personality as a young woman --and drive me insane once she reached that point in her life.

I watched her go off to her first day of school, fully aware of the fact that ten years from that day, she would argue with me about needing to study. I watched her learn to ride a bicycle, remembering almost fondly the time I accidentally broke it and then tried to fix it.

I watched as she grew up with a little brother, becoming both annoyed with him and protective at the same time and seeing similarities between that relationship and the one she would eventually have with Shippou.

I stayed with her in her room sometimes, watching her sleep, trying to avoid looking at her when she undressed. It was hard, pushing down the feelings of guilt and the last tendrils of love for her as her boyfriend.

But I have to. I'm not Inuyasha anymore, at least not as she knows me.

Another difficulty I've run into in this life is my past self, Inuyasha. I hate seeing now how much I hurt her as Inuyasha. The nights when she comes home, and does nothing but sit on her bed and cry, all I can do is be there for her. I can't say that it'll be alright, nor can I apologize for what I did.

It almost makes me regret going down into the wellhouse that morning. I led her there, knowing Mukade-jorou would take her to my past self.

But then I remember how happy she made me and it's okay.

It's okay, even though I often see how my past self comes barging in, angry and offensive as usual, and they argue. How he often tortures the hell out of me. But things will always blow over and she will return with him. And I will stay.

And when she comes back, I'm always here to comfort her. It's my job now.

Kagome cursed under her breath and threw down her pencil. "Stupid math," she muttered, as if these words would make it go away. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she grit her teeth. "That stupid Inuyasha… making me come back all the time… I can't even do my algebra anymore!"

I hate it when she cries. Mentally I sighed and walked over, curling around her legs affectionately, purring. She made a soft "eep!" of surprise and looked down at me as I meowed. "Buyo…"

Her brow furrowed in frustration and she wiped her eyes before picking me up and hugging me. "Buyo, what should I do? I'm so confused…"

I look helplessly at her. I wish she wouldn't do that. Ask me a damned question when she knows --as does any human being with common sense-- that I can't answer! I'm a cat for Chrissake. So I lick her cheek gently and rub my face into her, giving a soft meow. She smiled at me then, as if I've now washed away all her ailments. "Arigatou ne, Buyo."

I only meowed in response, settling against her belly to fall asleep in her lap, as I've done so many times, both as Buyo the cat and Inuyasha the hanyou. I've comforted her, she's happy again-- time to sleep.

That's my job now, after all.

~*~ To be continued ~*~

a/n :: Okie, this IS just a joke so don't kill me. lol~ I can't wait to see what you guys have to say about this one…

~*~ V^-^V ~*~

~Tessen