A/N: Hey guys! Thank you all so so much for all of the wonderful reviews! You all are too kind!  I wanted to say a special thank you to Kagomesjewel (you really are the best!), animebaby08060, and RAPluvsDBZ for giving me some constructive criticism and suggestions! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Disclaimer: Whoever decided that these things needed to be put on every single fanfiction ever written really wanted to lower the world's self-esteem…(I don't own Inuyasha!)

On with the story!

Mistaken Identity

Chapter 9

The Chicken Murderer

            The storm had finally ended, allowing the sun to shine and dry the world again. The birds sang and the grass shone with morning dew. Kagome squirmed closer to Inuyasha who wrapped his arms around her.

            "I'll always protect you, Kagome," he promised in an emotional voice.

            "Oh, Inuyasha!" she cooed and hugged him tightly. The two lovebirds gazed into each others eyes, their lips growing closer to each other. Closer…closer…closer…

            "GAAAAH!!!" came a muffled shriek from one of the two pillows on the couch…connected to a young girl's body. Kagome would've shot straight upwards after that vivid dream had there not been a strong arm holding her waist protectively and that same someone's head resting on the pillow cutting off her air supply. With difficulty, she inched out from under the offending pillow and, using her own head, shoved Inuyasha's off her pillow and onto his.

            Unfortunately for her, Inuyasha didn't like his cold, unused pillow as much as the nice comfy warm one he had been sleeping on all night. So with a quiet growl, he rolled back over onto the better of the two pillows. Kagome squeaked at his sudden movement and pushed herself as far away from him as possible, resulting in her becoming a Kagome sandwich. With the back of the couch on one side and a sound-asleep hanyou on the other, Kagome was in quite a situation.

            Turning her head so that it could rest slightly on the couch, she strained her neck at an odd angle and gazed upwards at the ceiling. 'One…two….three…' Kagome idly counted the boards making up the roof of the house. '…four…five…six...'.

            After several minutes of this fun-filled activity, her neck became stiff from being tensed up for so long. So with a disgruntled sigh, Kagome abandoned the ceiling boards and laid her head back down onto the closest resemblance to a pillow she could find: the crook of Inuyasha's neck.

            'Oooh, what a muscular pillow!' a little voice inside her head sighed happily.

            Kagome mentally glared at this unwanted part of her mind, "It is not!" she hastily replied

            'Is too! I'm lying on him just like you are!' retorted the annoying little voice.

            "Where did you even come from?!" snapped Kagome.

            'I'm your conscience!'

            Kagome snorted. "Yah right."

            'Fine…but I am the little voice inside your head!'

            "Congratulations," Kagome replied sarcastically. Meanwhile...Inuyasha had woken from his little slumber and was staring at Kagome in worried amazement.

            "Not to interrupt or anything," Inuyasha began, "but do you always have random conversation with yourself in the morning?"

            Kagome blushed. "Uh…yes…it…brings a…uh…healthier start to the day!" Kagome mentally slapped herself. 'Way to go…' Inuyasha just backed up from her a little bit. Kagome sweat dropped.

            "Anyways!" she clapped her hands and sat up. "You need to help me catch the murderer!"

Inuyasha moved a little farther from her. "I am not going after any murderers. Especially with a psycho freak like you," he blatantly declared.

Kagome flicked his twitching ear. "The one who's been eating the chickens dummy!" Inuyasha's mouth formed an 'o' in realization. Kagome flicked his other ear to even it out and quickly jumped off the couch before Inuyasha could flick her own ear with his rather sharp claws. Goodness knows those things could cause more damage than her own puny nails could.

            Grimacing, Inuyasha rolled off the couch and ran a finger through his tangled hair. 'How can she be so bouncy after just waking up?' he thought to himself, eyeing the bubbly girl. "And the hell does her hair look so friggin' perfect after sleeping on it all night?!" he grumbled aloud.

            "All men wonder, but we shall never know any of the lovely females' secrets," a manly voice explained from the open window. Inuyasha jumped and turned his now-wide-awake eyes to the window.

            "Miroku! Don't sneak up on me like that…"

            Miroku grinned and pulled himself up through the window and into the room.

            "Did Sango tag along?" Inuyasha questioned. Before Miroku could answer, however, he heard the girl's voice from the kitchen, happily chatting to Kagome as if they were old friends. Miroku grinned sheepishly. "And…what's the status with the police?" Inuyasha asked with an edge to his voice.

            "Aw, common man! You know I'm takin' care o' them!" Miroku slapped his friend on the back. Inuyasha let out a sigh in relief. All was going well…

            Meanwhile…Kagome and Sango were quickly becoming fast friends. "So what's the deal with you and Miroku?" Kagome asked with a wink and a nudge.

            Sango averted her gaze and suddenly found the toaster to be very interesting. "Nothing! That moron's just my partner at work."

            "Uh-hu~uh," Kagome drawled out the last syllable with a huge, smug grin plastered to her face.

            A vein popped in Sango's forehead.

            Kagome made her eyes double in size. "Sooooo, when are you guys getting married?" She blinked innocently.

            A few more veins popped on poor Sango's head and her eye began twitching.

            Kagome cocked her head. "Can I be a bridesmaid?"

            Sango slammed her hand onto the table and leapt to her feet. "YOU BETTER RUN YOU SOON-TO-BE-DEAD…THING YOU!!!" Sango threatened.

            Kagome shrieked and fled to the neighboring room and quickly slammed the door behind her, clicking the lock into place.

"I'LL GET YOU YET!!!" shrieked a crazed Sango.

Miroku and Inuyasha sweat-dropped.

"Hide me! Hide me!!" Kagome squealed, leaping into the open hallway closet. She promptly slipped on a vacuum cord and grabbed at some hanging coats, pulling them off of their hangers and landing in a heap on the floor. "Owww…" Kagome moaned, clutching her head which had hit the wall. She soon grew silent, however, upon hearing Sango barge through the still-open window and crash into the room.

"WHERE…IS…SHE???" Sango demanded of the two stunned boys.

"Erm…we don't know?" supplied Inuyasha confusedly.

"You lie!" Sango hissed, an evil glint shining in her eye. "Teeeeell meeeeee," she whispered in a dangerously quiet voice. Miroku and Inuyasha pointed to the closet and slowly backed away from the scary girl.

Sango slunk to the closet and pressed herself up against the wall next to the door. Suddenly, she flung open the door. "AHA-ACK!" Sango's shout of triumph was transformed into a shriek quite like Kagome's as she, too, slipped on the strategically placed vacuum cord.

Kagome crawled out, laughing hysterically, and collapsed next to Sango with a happy grin on her face.

"So…are you still gonna kill me?" Kagome asked.

"Maybe some other time…" Sango suggested ruefully.

Miroku and Inuyasha just stood where they were, quietly wondering to themselves whether or not these two girls were crazy.

With a final giggle, Kagome stood up and helped Sango up too. "Well! Shall we go see to those chickens?" she asked Inuyasha.

"As long as you two don't…go all maniacal again…or whatever it is you just did…" he trailed off. Kagome smirked and cackled to herself. This of course, did nothing to ease poor Inuyasha's mounting fear of her.

"She's cute when she's creepy," Miroku whispered to Inuyasha in an undertone. Inuyasha just looked incredulously at him before following the two girls outside to the chicken coop.

Kagome ducked her head to look in the little square door. Thankfully, there was no blood or loose feathers. "Good! We can still catch it!" Grabbing Sango's arm, she brought her around to the far side of the chicken coop. "This will be your station! Keep an eye out for any…unusual behavior."

Sango mock-saluted, "Yes, ma'am!"

"Miroku! You can go…" Kagome looked the chicken coop over. However, Kagome made the mistake of turning her back on the police officer. Big mistake. "YEEEEEEEEEK!!! PERVERT!" screamed an offended Kagome, slapping Miroku's hands away from her behind. Sango poked her head around the corner of the tiny building.

"D'you see it?" she asked curiously.

"HE TOUCHED ME!" Kagome glared daggers at Miroku before pounding her fist into his head and shoving him in with the chickens. "YOU JUST STAY IN THERE…DON'T YOU DARE COME OUT!!!" Not that he could have, seeing as Kagome had knocked him unconscious.

            Sango shook her head knowingly before retreating back to her post.

            "Humph…Inuyasha! You take the left side, and I'll stay on the right."

            Kagome marched over to the right side and slid down onto the wet ground.

            Five minutes went by.

            "The itsy bitsy spider, went up the water spout…down came the rain and washed the water out!" Kagome sang with a sweeping motion of her hands.

            Ten minutes.

            Inuyasha sighed and squished another ant, burying it in his growing buggy graveyard.

            Fifteen minutes.

            Sango finished braiding a flower necklace with the surrounding buttercups.

            Twenty minutes.

            Miroku was still knocked out in the chicken coop.

            It was then that Inuyasha caught a new scent. Moving into a crouch, he hissed towards to Kagome, "I think something's coming!"

            Kagome craned her neck in Inuyasha's directions. "Where?!"

            Before Inuyasha could point, a small, furry auburn thing ran up from the woods. Kagome and Inuyasha quickly hid behind the coop so as not to be seen. The thing leaped along, coming to a halt in front of the little door. Creeping up, it was just about to enter when a strong hand came down from above and picked it up.

            "SHIT!!" cursed Inuyasha as sharp teeth sunk into his hand, but he didn't drop the fuzzy package.

            "Lemmego!! Lemmego!!" whined what looked like a young fox, kicking and flailing his arms and legs in an attempt to get free. Kagome and Sango crouched down in front of it, their faces hidden beneath their bangs. Suddenly they grabbed the little fox and hugged it tightly.

            "KAWAII!! SO KAWAII!!!" they squealed happily, petting his fluffy tail and cuddling his hair.

            "What's your name little foxy-woxy?" Sango asked in a baby voice. The fox glared at her and wriggled out of their grasp.

            "My name is Shippou! I'm a fox demon, so watch out!" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles menacingly.

            "So you're the little bugger who's been eating our chickens!" he accused.

            Shippou shrugged. "I gotta eat ya know…"

            "Shouldn't your parents be feeding you?" Inuyasha pointed out.

            "They're dead…but I can take care of myself!"

            Kagome and Sango still had little hearts in their eyes. "Can I keep him Inuyasha?" Kagome begged of the hanyou on her knees.

            Looking into those big, puppy-dog eyes of hers, how could he say no?

            "Keh…"

            "WHEEEEEE!!" Kagome squealed and threw her arms in the air. Grabbing Shippou, she began to happily dance around with him.

            "Hey!! Put me down!!" cried Shippou indignantly.

            "But we've got yummy…ramen!!" Kagome pulled a package out of her pocket.

            Shippou thought for a moment. "Okay!"

            "Wait! That's my ramen!! You can't give it to that little brat!" Inuyasha ranted.

            "Inuyasha…be nice!" Kagome warned. "I'll make some for you too!"

            Sango laughed and the four ran inside to make ramen for everyone.

            Meanwhile…poor Miroku lay forgotten with the five remaining chickens.

Author's Note: ^_^ Well, it certainly took awhile for me to get out to you guys, but what'd you think? A plot will start in the next chapter and we'll actually see some action! Please review and I'll get a chapter out ASAP! Remember, the more reviews I get, the more encouraged I feel and the faster I write! Love ya guys!