Inutori: Well, up with another chapter, since I'm figuring I'll be updating ALL of my stories that are ongoing this time.  (which is 8 of the 9)

Kagome: You are an idiot, you know that?

Inutori: Of course I do, if I weren't an idiot I'd own Inuyasha right now, having devised a way to successfully steal him without getting caught.  But Inutori no baka, therefore deducing that Inutori no own Inuyasha.

Inuyasha: OK…you lost me there, wench.

Kagome: She didn't loose me!

Inuyasha: Keh.

Inutori: And now, the question I've been posing in all of the chapters I'm posting today, should I change my penname to Torineko, or should I just keep it as Inutori.  One way it will remove confusion for me, the other might keep you as the readers out of confusion, so you need to tell me your opinion in your reviews.  The vote is: Torineko vs Inutori.

Chapter 4

Small Favor

Kagome pulled herself to a sitting position, noting that it wasn't nearly as painful as it had been a week ago.  Kikyou still wouldn't let Kagome out of bed, so she had been missing school for quite a bit now.  Normally she would have been grateful, but being as it was the beginning of the school year, she really didn't feel like it was right to miss so much.

A familiar aura was coming closer at a rapid speed and the fifteen-year-old girl smiled lightly to herself.  That boy with the silver hair must be on a guilt trip because he stopped by every night to check up on her.  She began to be accustomed to his visits and she enjoyed his company.  Kagome even put up with Inuyasha's constant questions about her elder sister and her boyfriend just so she could have the companionship.

She must be desperate.  With every one of Inuyasha's persistent questions about Kikyou, Kagome felt a twang of jealousy.  Why wasn't he asking about her?  Why Kikyou?  But beggars can't be choosers.

The sun was just about to set as the silver-haired boy jumped silently to sit in her window.

"Hey Inuyasha."  Kagome looked over to him to stare at his beautiful golden eyes.  "I'm sick of sitting here."  She let a smile tug at the edges of her mouth.

The boy's eye twitched slightly and he jumped down to sit on her floor.  "Keh, not my problem."

"I was wondering: could you do me a favor?  I'd pay you back when I could."  Her eyes seemed to brighten considerably and she swung her legs off of the bed.

"..."

"Could you take me outside?  I'm sure you've seen the park that's not too far from here; I just want to go there for a while.  Please?"  Kagome looked pleadingly at the boy with dog-ears that sat in her room.

"Keh."  Inuyasha stood up and walked to the bed, crouching down with his back to Kagome.

She took the hint and carefully climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and allowing him to wrap his arms under her knees to hold her up.  A smile crossed her face the minute Inuyasha stood up and walked to the window.  "Domo arigato, Inuyasha-kun."

Inuyasha didn't respond as he hopped onto the windowsill then onto the roof outside.  Kagome giggled lightly behind him and he attempted to turn and look at her with a questioning face.  "Nani?"

"Oh, it's nothing."  But Kagome continued to giggle as Inuyasha jumped to the ground and then took off through the forest.  She almost broke out into a full laugh just before Inuyasha stopped and slid her down to stand behind him.  Kagome leaned on him for support as she took in a deep breath of the cool night air.

Together, they watched the sun set on the horizon and Kagome noticed that Inuyasha was getting a little edgy. 

"Inuyasha-kun, daijabu ka?"  Kagome held onto his arm and looked at him with deep concern.

"Keh, just sit down wench.  I have other places to be."  He sent a glare at her just to make his point more clear and she quickly obeyed, slumping down onto the old wooden bench.

"Well, you don't have to be so rude about it."  Kagome huffed and glared at him, not wanting to be left alone in the park at night.

The silver-haired boy stomped down the dirt path away from her until she lost sight of him.  So Kagome tensed at his departure, listening for sounds of anything suspicious that would signal something approaching.  "So much for having a relaxing evening in the park…"

Through the darkness she spotted a lone figure walking towards from the opposite direction Inuyasha had gone.  Kagome tensed even more than before, if that were possible, and cautiously watched the figure draw nearer.

"Shouldn't a wench like you be snuggled in her cozy little bed back home?"

Kagome caught sight of the man's deep violet eyes under the light of one of the lampposts that was nearby.  "Probably, but I'm stuck here since I can't walk too well."

"Then how'd you get here in the first place?"  His voice sneered at her, and Kagome got the feeling she really didn't have to answer him in order for her to know the truth.

"A friend brought me, but then ditched me for unknown reasons."  Kagome scowled at the thought of Inuyasha just waving her off and leaving her here where rapists or serial killers could easily find her.

"A friend, aye?  If this person was such a friend, why'd they ditch you?"  The guy just seemed to want to trap her in questions.

"I don't know, I didn't ask.  But friends do that sometimes, you know?"  Kagome just sighed and leaned back on the bench.

The black-haired boy sat down next to her with a huff.  "No, I don't know."

She looked over quickly at him with unblinking eyes before that comment registered in her head.  "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"

"Keh."  He looked away from her down the path.  "It doesn't matter."

Kagome didn't say anymore and she switched her gaze to looking at the small body of water in front of her.  She made note that there was no moon to reflect on the still waters, but still the lake managed to look beautiful.

The night drew on and Kagome became sleepy, yawning and nodding her head.  After a few minutes of this, the strange man wrapped one of his arms around Kagome's shoulders and closed the distance in between them.  In an instant Kagome fell asleep resting her head on the man's firm chest.

Inuyasha looked down at the girl tucked under his arm.  He had expected her to treat him different as when he was human; maybe be a little more open about answering his questions and such.  But she had acted the same to him as when he was in his normal form.

This kind of shocked him, but at the same time it put him a little at ease, knowing that this girl had put him on the same level as any human she knew.

It was around one in the morning when Inuyasha found himself drifting off to join Kagome, so he gathered her gently in his arms and began the trek back to her shrine home.

When he got there, he eyed the jump up to her second story window and then looked back at the sleeping form in his arms.  Shrugging, Inuyasha walked around the house until he found a window cracked open by the back door.

He shifted Kagome until he could hold her with just one arm, and then Inuyasha opened the window all of the way.  The human Inuyasha maneuvered carefully through the window then closed it to the same point as before.

Looking around to gain his bearings, Inuyasha silently walked toward the only door in the room and went through it.  He ended up in a hall that one direction of led to the staircase.

Figuring that the stairs were the way to go, Inuyasha stepped up them lightly, glancing down once again at the girl in his arms.

After finding Kagome's room, Inuyasha closed the door behind them without a sound and walked over to the bed where he gently set down the fifteen-year-old girl.  But, to Inuyasha's dismay, Kagome had latched onto his shirt extremely tightly and the hanyou couldn't pry off her fingers without waking her.

Sighing in defeat, Inuyasha crawled over Kagome and lay out in her twin-sized bed next to her.  He wrapped a protective arm around her and closed his eyes, allowing sleep to quickly take over his tired body.

Kikyou stormed up the stairs at dawn, when she sensed a demon's aura.  It was bad enough that he came to Kagome every night, but what was he doing there in the morning as well?

She wondered if Inuyasha planned to get Kagome to trust him and then use her against Kikyou when the time came that he wanted to kill her.  So that when Kikyou went to defend herself, Kagome would stop her from killing the demon.  The nineteen-year-old miko didn't know if she'd be able to handle Kagome defending the enemy; but she was such a trusting girl.  And she was so innocent and pure.

As Kikyou reached Kagome's door, she took a calming breath before drawing an arrow from her quiver and notching it.  She kicked open the wooden barrier and pointed the arrow at where she had sensed the demon's presence to be.  Which happened to be the bed…beside…Kagome…

A flicker of anger shone in her usually emotionless eyes at the thought of the demon trying to take advantage of Kagome in her sleep.  But that idea was shot down when both shot up to a sitting position and yanked their gaze to the door.  They had both been sleeping.

"Get away from my sister, hanyou."

The silver-haired demon blinked a few times, as if trying to remember where he was, then he looked down at the bed and over at Kagome.  Kikyou watched with a little shock as she saw his face turn bright red and he was out the window in an instant.

Kagome blinked a few times at the sudden breeze, and then realized what had probably just occurred.  "It's not…it's not what it looks like…"

Kikyou blinked at the red Kagome.  She was embarrassed?  But you should only be embarrassed if caught in that situation with someone you…like…

"Kagome, I don't want you to see that hanyou anymore, understood."

Kagome nodded nervously, and Kikyou looked down to see that her arrow was still notched and aimed at an area just above the bed.  Kikyou sweat dropped, amazingly, and lowered her bow.  This seemed to be a hint to her sister that she could relax.

"I see you're feeling better, are you up to going to school?"  Kikyou glanced at the open window and saw the hanyou perched in the Goshinboku and he had a perfect view of Kagome's room.  She glared at the silver-haired boy, and if she wasn't mistaken, he turned red again and bounded off through the trees.

Kagome nodded her head.  "I've been ready for a while now; I was just waiting for you to so kindly let me out of this stupid bed."

"Well, today's Sunday, but you can start back up in school tomorrow."  Kikyou turned and left the room, leaving the door open behind her.  At the bottom of the staircase, Kikyou looked up and yelled, "Oh, and I'm going to go spend the day with Onigumo, so don't worry about me!  And if I catch that hanyou in this house he will wish he were never born."

At that Kikyou slipped on her shoes and walked out to the well house where Sango and Miroku were.  Her light footsteps went undetected by the sleeping pair, and Kikyou ended having to jab them ever so lightly with Miroku's staff that he had been holding in his sitting position.

"Wake up you two, I have a job for you."

One of Miroku's eyes popped open and looked up at Kikyou.  "If it's to monitor your sister while the hanyou's around again, forget it.  We stayed up until way past midnight and she didn't even-"

Sango hit him over the head with her Hairakotsu.  The army general gave her companion a good glare.  "Kikyou, what he means is-"

"I know what he means.  I found that foul creature in Kagome's bed this morning."  Kikyou gave both Sango and Miroku a deathly glare.  "I had left it in your hands to make sure those two didn't get too close.  Obviously you weren't very successful."

"Well, they didn't seem that close to us, they only talked.  And they didn't normally go within a few feet of each other.  The hanyou most often sits in the windowsill and Kagome on her bed."  Sango looked at the nearly fuming Kikyou.  This was the closest in the three years she had been here to seeing the shrine maiden loose her temper.

"Apparently talking hasn't been all they've been doing.  So I want you two to keep that lowly fiend away from the shrine.  It is not to get within a mile of Kagome, understood?"

Sango and Miroku nodded and stood from their positions against the wall of the small structure.  "Will do."

Kikyou nodded to them and turned to leave for her date with Onigumo.  Her steps were quick as she made her way across the shrine grounds and down the lengthy steps to the street below.  There she met the charming man that had been courting, or at least trying to court her, for the last several years.

The two people walked hand-in-hand to a nearby restaurant where so often they would sit down and get a bite to eat.

Glancing over at her companion, Kikyou's mind began to wander.  'It's only a little more than two months away now.  Onigumo isn't that bad looking, but I don't really know anything about him.  Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever asked.  I really should get to know him better before I have to give myself entirely to him.'

They arrived at the café before Kikyou recollected her thoughts and Onigumo had to guide her into the small building.

"So, what do you want, Kikyou-chan?"  Onigumo gave her a toothy grin and looked down at his own menu again.

"I'll probably just get my usual fried rice and chicken."  Kikyou didn't look up at the man now sitting across from her in the small booth.  'This is harder than I thought it would be.  It feels so awkward to ask him questions about himself.'

"That's fine with me, I think I'll have it too."  Onigumo signaled to one of the waitresses and she came over when she finished up cleaning another table.  "Yes, we're ready to order our meals."

The woman smiled at both of them, having seen them before eating here.  She pulled out her note pad and waited expectantly for them to order.

"We'll have to bowls of fried rice and chicken."

"Please."  Kikyou mumbled under her breath: Onigumo's cocky way of ordering the waitress to do his bidding making her feel slightly guilty. 

"It'll be out in a few minutes."  The waitress smiled and bowed her head to them respectably before turning and walking away.

"Kikyou, I want to ask you something." 

Kikyou looked up from her hands resting lightly on the table.  'What does he want?  We're already on a date.'

Onigumo slid off of the booth's cushioned bench and knelt down on one knee beside Kikyou's side of table.  He pulled a small black, velvet box from his pocket and held it out to her, opening it.  "Kikyou, will you marry me?"

~

Inutori: And I leave it there, just because.

Miroku: Yay!  I'm back in the story!

Inutori: You never really left, you just weren't mentioned.  I was feeling like I was seriously leaving Sango, Miroku, AND Kikyou out of the story too much.  Guess I was having too much fun playing with Inuyasha and Kagome.  *evil grin*  Don't worry, I absolutely adore that couple, and normally I can't stand them being paired with anyone else.  Though as I was thinking about it, I realized that the real Inuyasha is too stubborn to admit anything to Kagome, and they have known each other for at least for months, since I know of four human-Inuyasha-times.  They won't be making any romantic progress any time soon.  And then there's Miroku and Sango-

Sango: *bright red* Inutori, you're rambling, shut up.

Inutori: Well, mmm~mmm *sticking out tongue*  Now then, if anyone has any other suggestions besides Kagome meeting Inuyasha on the new moon, please tell me.  And don't forget to vote on whether I should change my penname or not!