YAAAAAY! Two reviews! I'm picking up!

To iy fuzzy ears: No, Tobias isn't perfect. He can fight well, but he's just a guy. He's just terribly mysterious. In fact...*heh heh heh*...he may just get his comeuppance in a few chapters...*BWAHAHAHA!!!*

Ahem. ON WITH THE STORY!!!

Chapter 3: What Is This Guy…Really?

They arrived at Kagome's house a few minutes later. They got out, then Tobias stepped out next to them.

"I don't normally hang around during the day…" Tobias cracked a smile. "But I'll make an exception for you. I'll meet you here tomorrow at noon on the dot. We can tour the city together. Hell, you'll probably see me get attacked and watch a grand ol' battle. What do you say?"

Kagome started to say something, but Inuyasha barged in. "Sure. We'll have lotsh of fun togezher. It'll be the greatest–" He fell asleep abruptly. Tobias smiled again and Kagome laughed out loud. "We'd better get him inside," she giggled.

The next morning, Inuyasha lay in bed. "Kagome…" he groaned. "My head hurts and I can barely remember anything. What happened?"

"You drank yourself stupid last night and now you're paying for it," Kagome said as she walked in. "This is what happens when you drink a lot of alcohol. It's called a hangover and there really isn't any way to get rid of it. It'll go away in a couple of hours."

After a lot more moaning and complaining, Inuyasha's hangover left him, and he came downstairs for breakfast with the whole Higurashi family. Mama had fixed him a pot of ramen and the rest of them had scrambled eggs. As they ate, Sota peppered Kagome and Inuyasha with questions.

"So whadja do last night? Was it real scary? Was it real fun? Didja find any demons? Didja do anything cool? Didja meet anyone cool? Didja–"

"Yeah!" said Inuyasha, mostly to shut him up. "We met this really cool guy called Tobias."

"Tobias?" Mama asked. "Who is this Tobias?"

"We-we're not sure ourselves," Kagome mumbled. "He dresses in these weird clothes and wears armor, and carries a huge sword, and can fight almost as well as Inuyasha. Other than that, there's not much we know about him."

"One more thing," Inuyasha said thickly through a mouthful of ramen. "He's a professional assassin."

Mama's fork clattered to her plate. "An…assassin?!" she hissed. "You're going out in the middle of the night and getting drunk-"

"MAMA!" Kagome yelled. "I didn't drink anything!"

"-and running around God-knows-where with an assassin??" Mama continued, undeterred by Kagome's interjection. "This guy could be a dangerous lunatic for all you know! He could've killed you both!"

"Assassins only kill for money. I don't have a job right now, so you're safe." The whole family whipped around to see none other than Tobias standing in the hallway. "You left your back door wide open. Extremely unsafe, especially if a 'dangerous lunatic' like myself could just slip in."

"I…umm…what I meant was…I don't want them going around with somebody who isn't entirely safe," Mama stuttered, going very red. Kagome glanced at her watch and saw that it was indeed 12:00 sharp. But what was most peculiar about him was that he was wearing normal clothes, instead of his armor. He really looked better before, Kagome decided to herself. Even without the fancy clothes, his sword still hung at his side.

"Entirely safe?!" Tobias roared. "Of course I'm not entirely safe! But neither is he," he added, clapping a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. Inuyasha looked up at him and growled. "There's no fun to be had just hanging around entirely safe people. You need adventure in your life!" He looked down at the table. "Hey, scrambled eggs! Are there any left?"

Soon Tobias was munching breakfast at the table with everyone else, sitting next to Kagome. She regarded him with puzzlement. He had undergone a complete change in personality since last they met. Whereas before he had been sullen and withdrawn, now he seemed lighthearted, open, and…fun. Even Mama seemed to like him. This was odd. What had caused this? She spoke up.

"Tobias, I notice that now you're a lot more…open than you were last night. What happened?"

He looked up. "Oh, that? No, I'm not really that low-key like I was in the bar. I'm a fun kinda guy. That's just an act I put on so every Joe Six-Pack doesn't come up to me and start with the yammerin' and the jibberin' and the jabberin'. It also keeps with the whole 'mysterious assassin' image."

"And one other thing," Kagome continued tentatively. "Last night you were wearing these weird clothes and armor, but today…"

"You think I wear that getup all the time? That's strictly for when I'm on the job. You wear that all the time and people really think you're mysterious. It's great for impressing targets, but lousy if you want to go to the movies without being stared at. You caught me just as I was resting from a job I'd done about two hours before." He gobbled more eggs.

"Well, I know now that you're a decent person, but I'm still not entirely comfortable with your…unusual occupation." Mama started to clear the plates. "What do you do in your spare time?"

"I don't have much spare time, what with hunting people down within a certain time limit and all; but between jobs I hang out at the bar or just electro-lounge around my house."

"Electro…lounge?" Inuyasha asked, puzzled.

"I made it up. Basically you slouch around and do all sorts of electronic things, like watching TV or going on the computer or stuff like that. It's a lot of fun if you don't have anything else to do." He finished his eggs and pushed his plate away. "By the way, Inuyasha. There's something I've been meaning to ask you about. It's your ears."

Inuyasha recoiled. "My ears?" His ears twitched.

"Yes, your ears. Not many people have ears like that. What's with them, anyway?"

"Well…" Inuyasha shifted in his seat. "I'm not…one hundred percent human."

Kagome broke in. "He's a half dog-demon, or hanyou." Inuyasha glared at her.

"Hanyou? Haven't heard of that before," Tobias remarked. "Where are you from anyway?" Kagome and Inuyasha sort of squirmed in their seats. "Don't want to tell me? That's fine. I'm not telling you anything about my past, so you don't have to say anything about yours." He stood up. "So. Ready to explore the city on $50,000 a day?" He pulled out another wad of bills. Everyone's jaw hit the ground.

"What?"

They arrived in the city. Once they left the limo, Tobias leaned close to Kagome.

"You asked before why I wasn't wearing my traditional clothes," he whispered. "Take a look." He stretched down his collar. A glint off of his black armor and the shoulder of his cape underneath his clothes caught Kagome's eye.

"Now you know." He straightened his collar and turned to Inuyasha. "Shall we? We have lots to do and only one day to do it."

They went to see a movie at the Apollo Googolplex Cinema. Tobias bought the tickets ("It's my favorite action flick," he told them) and the popcorn while Kagome and Inuyasha found good seats. About halfway through the movie, Kagome leaned over to Inuyasha.

"Just what is this guy? He seems too good to be true," she whispered.

"I'm not sure myself. One thing I know: there's more to him than meets the eye," Inuyasha whispered back.

"Ya think?!"

"Well...yeah. With the sword and the fancy acrobatics and the huge amounts of money-" Inuyasha paused to swallow a mouthful of popcorn. "I'm not even sure this guy is human."

"What do you mean?" she said, startled.

"Well, when we were at the bar, did he drink anything?"

She thought for a moment. "Yeah...almost as much as you did. But he didn't seem affected!"

"He wasn't?! That's weird. If even someone like ME can get drunk on that stuff, why isn't he?"

"Come to think of it," Kagome whispered, "he said he hadn't had that much fun in a decade. But he looks barely twenty-five years old! How is that possible?"

"And his reflexes are incredible. He's a mere human, and yet he can fight with his sword almost as well as I can. How does he do that?"

"Not to mention his sword." Kagome took a sip of soda. "The thing's four feet long, and yet he wields it like it weighs nothing."

"His sword's definitely not normal. Tetsusaiga would cut right through a normal metal sword, but just glances right off that one. What's the deal?"

Someone behind them hissed "Shut up! I can't hear the movie!"

Kagome blushed and lowered her voice. "Why does he have so much money? He can't get THAT much for killing people. He must be getting it from somewhere else."

"But where? Where would he get that kind of money? What do you humans do for money around here, besides go to buildings all day?"

"I don't know. I really don't know." She ate some popcorn. "You know what? Let's ask him all these questions after we leave. We'll ask him all at once and surprise him! What do you think?"

"Feh. You can do it if you want. I don't think he'll answer any of them."

Inuyasha's hand reached into the bucket of popcorn, but Kagome had just reached into it as well. By reflex, Inuyasha's hand grabbed Kagome's. She gave a frightened squeak of surprise and tried to withdraw, but Inuyasha stopped her. She looked up and noticed their faces were just inches apart. She looked into his deep golden eyes. He took his other hand and slowly slid it into the bucket until it clasped around her hand again. He lifted her hand out of the bucket and held it between them, in a supplicating sort of way.

"Inuyasha..." she whispered, so softly that only he could hear. "I..."

"Shh..." He brought her hand close to him. I can't believe I'm doing this. Correction: I can't believe she's letting me do this. Since when do I feel this way about her?

Kagome stared into his eyes. This is incredible. I thought he despised me. What's going on? Does he feel that way...about me?

"Kagome..." he whispered. She blinked, startled. Kagome? Not 'wench' or 'bitch' or 'girl', but 'Kagome'? I can't remember the last time he called me that... Slowly, she started to lower her head toward his.

Is she doing what I think she's doing?? Inuyasha wondered. If she is...that's just... He began to lower his head to meet hers.

Their faces were inches apart. Kagome closed her eyes. Oh gods, is he really going to do this?...I hope so. They were a millimeter apart –

"Guys! This is the best part. See, the hero just called down an orbital strike to demolish the evil villain's base, and now he has to outrun the tribe of headhunters without his plasma rifle because – Guys?" Tobias looked at a very blushing Kagome and a very angry Inuyasha.

"What?"

*A look in Kagome's head* We were so close...Tobias, you have the worst timing in the world.

*A look in Inuyasha's head* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!! I WAS THIS CLOSE!!!!

*A look in Tobias's head* What did I say?

Yeah. Tobias may be a good fighter, but he's a clod sometimes. Thanks for the two reviews. Review PLEEEASE!