A/N: Hello everyone! As always, thanks so much for your reviews! I love getting feedback from everyone. So, here is the next chapter. I know updates have been slow lately (school seems to be kicking my ass) but I'm trying! Anyhow, I am not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I figured instead of tinkering with it for ages, I would just put it up. It's a little bit of a filler chapter, but I needed this stuff to happen before I could get on to the rest of my plot. Plus I tried to put just a touch of waff in, but I'm not sure if it worked out. But in any case, enough of my rambling, on with the story!

Disclaimer: In case you missed the last eleven, I would just like to say, for the twelfth time, that Inuyasha and all characters are not mine. I know this will surprise us all.

Chapter 12: Errands

"What the hell is this place," Inuyasha growled, peering over Kagome's shoulder as they descended the stairs. His ears were twitching like crazy as all around them he could hear the sound of small feet scampering.

"What the…?" he said as a shadow darted out in front of them. He grabbed the back of Kagome's shirt as she stumbled a little.

Kagome pin-wheeled her arms through the air, trying not to lose her balance. She was thankful for Inuyasha's firm grasp on the back of her shirt. That was, until she heard him say, "What's this?"

Kagome gasped as her bra strap snapped against her back.

"Ouch, you moron. What do you think you're doing?" She stepped onto the landing then turned around to face him. She just knew her cheeks were flushed.

"Nothing," Inuyasha growled. "I just wanted to know what that was."

"My bra," now it was Kagome's turn to growl. "And that hurt."

Inuyasha peered at her. Her face was turning a rather interesting shade of red. "Oh," he said. "Kagome," he called as she began to descend the stairs again, "What's a bra?"

Kagome slapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. "Ask Miroku," she muttered, "Honestly, didn't you have TV? Now hurry up."

"TV? Oh, wait a minute, now I remember! It's one of those things…" Inuyasha stopped, "Kagome? Kagome? Where'd you go?" He looked up just in time to see the ends of Kagome's long dark hair whisk out of sight around a corner. "Damn," he said to himself, "She's pretty fast." He followed her at a more sedate pace.

Shippo looked up as the girl he had met earlier burst into the kitchen. "Hello!" he cried, leaping up to go to her. "Kagome," he stopped a few feet a way from her, "Why are you so red?"

Inuyasha stepped into the kitchen. Great, there was that brat from earlier. He scowled at the small boy.

Kaede was standing in the corner. Turning, she smiled at her two newest guests. "I hope the two of you slept well," she said.

Inuyasha hoped it was his imagination, but he could have sworn the old woman's right eyelid descended just a little. Was that a wink? Oh god.

"Hey, what is this place?" he asked instead. "I keep hearing noises."

Kagome settled at the table, and looked up as well, curiosity plainly written across her face.

"Oh," smiled Kaede, "I suppose you could say I've picked up a few strays who needed a home."

Inuyasha scowled at her. He hoped that wasn't a bad dog joke, because it sure wasn't an answer, but before he could say anything, Kaede was inquiring about their plans for the day.

"Well," Kagome said, with a sidelong glance at the boy scowling in the doorway, "I think we're going to go to the mall and outfit Inuyasha here. Then we need to meet up with my friend and call my mother. Then we need to get in touch with Miroku and Sango and do some planning."

"Sounds good," Kaede replied. "I'll get you a bus schedule."

"Thank you," called Kagome.

"What about food?" asked Inuyasha.

The old woman chuckled. "Help yourself to the contents of the kitchen." Despite his demanding manner, she had a feeling he was going to be fun.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

An hour later, the two teenagers were almost ready to leave the house. "Just one last thing," Kagome said, grabbing hold of Inuyasha. "We need to do something about your ears."

"My ears?" he said, automatically reaching his hands up to cover them. "What's wrong with my ears?"

Kagome stared at him. "Come on, you know that they're going to cause comment."

"Okay, okay."

"Good, now just hold still."

"What're you going to do?" He looked down at her.

"Stop being such a baby," Kagome scolded. She pulled out a black hat that she had brought with them and set it on the reluctant boy's head. "Now, maybe we should do something about this hair," she murmured, standing on tiptoe to try and tuck his long silver hair up into the hat.

Inuyasha stood absolutely still, as her breath brushed over his neck. She was standing awfully…close. He jumped when she put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself.

"There," she leaned back and smiled up at the teenager. Something in his expression looked different. His eyes were peering down at her intently, the stillness of his face making him look almost…vulnerable? Belatedly, she realized that she still had a hand on his shoulder. His nice, muscular shoulder. She snatched it away. As she did so, Inuyasha's expression changed again, returned to his normal mixture of arrogance and impatience.

"Keh," he said, "Whatever. Are you ready to go yet?"

Mutely, Kagome nodded and followed him out the door. What was that?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Are we almost there yet?" Inuyasha asked for what felt like the five hundredth time.

Kagome shot him an annoyed glance, "We're getting off at the next stop."

"About bloody time," Inuyasha muttered, "Drag me all over a million stupid stores and now we have to meet this friend of yours? Why couldn't you just have called her from Kaede's?"

"I already told you, Eri is my cover for being here. I need to talk to her in person and use her phone. And I couldn't call my mom from Kaede's, her caller id would tell her I was calling from the wrong number."

As Kagome finished her explanation, the bus doors slid open.

"Come on," she called over her shoulder, "We're meeting her at this great little café. It's only like a block or two away."

Sighing, Inuyasha followed. A hand strayed up to toy with his hat, as he moved faster to catch up to Kagome. Not that he would ever admit it, but the idea of meeting an unknown human was somewhat unnerving.

"Oh, and there's something I should tell you," Kagome said as they climbed up the stairs.

"Yeah?" said Inuyasha, curious. Her face appeared to be turning just the slightest bit pink.

"She…ummm…see I couldn't tell her the real reason why I needed her to cover for me, so I kind of told her…ummm…" Her face was definitely red now; she could feel her cheeks burning.

"Told her what?"

"Thatwe'reacouple."

"That we're what?" Inuyasha's voice rose a little.

"A couple," said Kagome. "I hope you don't mind, it was just the only explanation I could think of on such a short notice. And I knew she wouldn't question it."

Inuyasha stared at her. A couple, huh? Suddenly a small smirk touched his lips, "I always knew you wanted me."

Kagome stopped in her tracks and looked up. Yep, he was doing it again. "Why you arrogant little…" Her voice trailed off as one of Inuyasha's arms settled around her waist.

"What're you doing?" she squeaked.

"Just getting into character," Inuyasha replied. "Now come along…honey."

Kagome groaned. Why? Why? Although, a small voice in the back of her mind noted, the feel of his arm around her waist was very warm and somehow reassuring. But she ignored it in favor of hitting him. "Don't be an ass," she said. "And make sure not to drop those packages."

Inuyasha paused a moment to settle the bags he was holding. A couple, huh? From the way Kagome had acted, it seemed like it was a pretty loaded term. Maybe he would have that talk with Miroku after all. After all, soap operas and romance novels were no substitute for experience, and Miroku acted like he had lots of that. That decided, he hurried to catch up with the rapidly disappearing Kagome.

"You're bright red," he observed, just to watch her get a little more red.

That's it, Kagome thought, she was just going to have to kill him. Her thoughts trailed off as they came in sight of a little café. A high school girl was sitting at one of the outside tables.

"Eri!" called Kagome, abruptly speeding up. Inuyasha hung back a little as the two girls went into a frenzy of greeting and hugging.

"Oh," said Kagome, finally remembering him, "This is Inuyasha. Inuyasha this is Eri."

"Hi," said Inuyasha. The girl was staring at him.

"Hot," said Eri. Kagome rolled her eyes. "So, you're the one, huh?" The strange girl circled him.

"Just ignore her," Kagome told him, feeling quite gleeful about the panicky expression that the dogboy was currently wearing.

"Yeah right."

"Eri," said Kagome, "Can I borrow your phone? I need to call my mom now."

"Oh sure," said Eri, "Inuyasha and I will just sit here and get to know each other." Her smile was almost predatory.

"Kagome…?" said Inuyasha.

"Great!" said Kagome, "You two just sit here, I'll be back in a minute." Taking Eri's phone she wandered a few feet away. "Mom?" Inuyasha heard her say, "It's me."

Reluctantly he turned his head towards the girl now facing him. "Well now," she said, "I have a few questions…"

That was it, Inuyasha decided. Kagome had the scariest friends ever. Five minutes of attempting to fend off Eri's questions had given him a new appreciation for the stubbornness of the female sex. Also he was beginning to wish that he and Kagome had discussed their back-story before she had abandoned him with her nosy friend.

"How did we meet? …Umm, well…" Inuyasha rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hey guys, I'm done!"

Inuyasha sighed in relief at the sound of Kagome's approaching voice.

"Kagome," said Eri, "You're boyfriend is totally uncommunicative. I could barely get two words out of him. He wouldn't even tell me how the two of you met." Eri pouted.

"Oh!" Kagome could have hit herself for her stupidity. She had forgotten that Eri was going to want all the details. She glanced at Inuyasha; she hoped that he had not had too much trouble with Eri, although judging by the scowl on his face he certainly hadn't enjoyed himself. She sighed.

"Well, since we're here, let's just grab something to eat, then Inuyasha and I have to go."

The two sitting in front of her nodded.

"So, how was your mom?" asked Eri. The talk became more general, and Inuyasha relaxed, fully prepared to allow Kagome to take care of the conversation. He'd done his part, dammit.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Things at headquarters were not going well for Kouga. He was working on a weekend, he had been up all night, and he had definitely missed his cartoons. And now he was being called back into the office of his supervisor. Kouga groaned. Damned subtlety. See if he ever tried that again. From now on, his policy was going to be shoot first, cover up later.

When he wandered into the room, he was surprised to Sango and Miroku already sitting there.

"Hey guys," he said sullenly.

Sango gave him a sympathetic smile, "You look tired."

"Yeah."

"Hey, I'm tired too," Miroku said.

Sango rolled her eyes. "Poor baby."

"If the pleasantries are over," Naraku's voice drifted across his desk. No one said anything. "Very well, I've called you all together because, Miroku, Sango, as the last ones to watch over Inuyasha, you know him best. I would like the two of you to help Kouga with his investigation. And don't think that I won't be looking into the…negligence…that allowed him to escape."

Miroku gulped. Shit. He saw Sango stiffen up.

"Of course, sir."

"Good." Naraku placed the tips of his fingers together. "Now, Kouga, you are in charge here. Try not to be too foolish. He has no money and very limited knowledge of the outside world. If we don't find him within the next twenty-four hours, we're going to have to look into the possibility that some outside person is helping him. Look into possible connections he might have. Ask his doctors and nurses." He paused, "Oh, and try and come up with something on your own, too. I don't want to spoon feed you this entire investigation. I have other…things…I have to take care of." Naraku's hand reached up to straighten his tie.

"Any questions?" he looked around. "No? No? Okay, good. I'll meet with you again tomorrow."

Silently the trio filed out the door. At the threshold, Sango glanced up into Miroku's eyes.

In response, he put an arm around her waist. "See you later Kouga," he called. "Sango and I have things to do." Miroku winked at the younger man.

"You know," Sango grumbled, "I'm pretty sure you could have gotten us out of there without damaging my reputation."

"Maybe," said Miroku, "But this way is so much more fun." He tightened his hold on her.

Sango elbowed him in the ribs and walked over to his car. "Come on," she called. "We've got places to go!"

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Bye Eri, see you soon!" called Kagome, waving to her friend.

"Bye," said Inuyasha.

"See you guys later," said Eri. "Oh, and one more thing, Inuyasha." She beckoned him closer. "If you hurt her in any way, I will personally hunt you down and rip out your guts." She smiled.

Inuyasha backed up from her hurriedly. Scary.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Kags," said Eri

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," replied Kagome.

"Okay. I trust your judgement. And if your mom calls, I'll let you know as soon as possible."

"Don't call me, I'll call you," Kagome joked. With that, she touched Inuyasha on the arm and walked off. As they left, Inuyasha threw one last glance over his shoulder at Eri. The girl was still standing there, watching them walk off. He shook his head. Somehow, she made him nervous.

As Eri watched them go, she frowned. There was definitely something wrong with that pair. She wasn't sure what it was yet, but there was something Kagome wasn't telling her, she was sure of it.