CHAPTER EIGHT

*

"... I don't know, maybe Miroku's rubbing off on him."

Miroku's ears pricked at the sound of the girls' voices. Inuyasha, on the other hand, seemed to shrivel slightly, as if he was afraid of what they were planning for him. A look of distinct pain crossed his face at being compared to Miroku.

"... he comes running into the hot springs and almost falls in, for crying out loud -- no subtlety. His eyes got huge, right before I said that word. He's not that good at it, if you think about it."

If he were, Miroku thought, I doubt he would still be a virgin.

Inuyasha crawled into a tree as the girls walked into the camp, laughing amongst themselves. "Where's Inuyasha?" Sango asked.

Miroku pointed up into the tree leaves.

"He's embarrassed," Shippo elaborated further, turning his lava lamp upside down.

The rest of the evening was spent roasting a pig caught earlier, and Kagome trying to coax Inuyasha out of the tree. Miroku settled back on a patch of thick grass, watching the stars twinkle through the branches and around Inuyasha's body. There was a brief commotion that ended with "Sit!", a horrified howl and the sound of Inuyasha crashing to the ground.

"Would you STOP that?" Inuyasha snapped. "If I wanna be alone, that's MY business."

"Not if you're trying to avoid apologizing," Kagome retorted, wiping the dirt from his face.

"Apologizing for WHAT?"

"For taking a peek at me. Actually, it was more than a peek. I haven't seen that expression on your face since you set off the camera flash in your own eyes."

"I DID NOT PEEK! I WAS TRYING TO TALK TO YOU!"

Miroku sighed heavily as the sound of the two launching into another ridiculous argument rose over the crackle of the fire. They never stopped. Or rather, it just seemed that way. He suspected that it was their odd way of showing attention to one another without getting too close.

Miroku sat up and stretched.

I should give Inuyasha a little time to make up with Kagome, he thought. He patted the bag of supplies and smiled.

*

The small group packed up camp the next morning and set off again in search of more jewel shards. Miroku kept an eye on Kagome and Inuyasha, who bickered all throughout the next day. It was useless to try to make peace between them, and so no one tried.

"Do you sense any jewel shards, Kagome?" Sango asked on the third night, as she stoked the fire.

"No, none," Kagome said over the sound of Inuyasha slurping ramen. "Should we head for that village? You said you had been there before?"

"Yes, I exterminated a demon spider from there a year or two ago," Sango said. "Why are you making that face, Inuyasha?"

"We had a bad experience with demon spiders awhile back," Kagome said, patting Inuyasha's shoulder. "Anyway, once we get there I'm going to unpack something and we're going to have fun, just us girls."

"Doing what?"

"I am going to introduce you to the joy of manicures."

"Of what?"

Inuyasha made a garbled "feh" noise and resumed eating. When Kagome opened one of the tiny bottles of nail polish, he flinched and reseated himself upwind.

Miroku patted Shippo's little head and went off by himself. He had been carrying the food supplies for the past few days, just to make sure nothing happened to them. This time, I'm sure Inuyasha will be able to get past his insecurities, he thought, taking one of the bottles out of the bag. All it took was the right timing near Kagome...

TO BE CONTINUED