DISCLAIMER.
Evening Lilacs does not own Inuyasha (though she wishes she did... -drool-).

xdXbx

"Miss Higurashi, Inuyasha. Inuyasha... Kagome."

Miyatsu stepped back from the two with a strained smile, wringing his hands nervously. He waited for some sign from Inuyasha that he had recognized the girl's existence.

Snort.

That was good enough.

"So, um... I'll leave you two to it, then... um... Inuyasha... yes. Well, I do hope you're able to make yourself quite at home here, Miss Higurashi! A good and... productive day to you both!" He left with a backhanded wave, the two teens standing next to a wide tree marked with two chipped-in rings, a completely carved-out circle in their center. The demon sighed in frustration.

"At least I get to skip those worthless survival lessons because of you," he muttered breathily.

"Um... It really is nice of you to do this for me... I've never even held a weapon before... heh." She looked uncertainly into his eyes, searching for an indication that what she had said was acceptable. No response came, however. He merely stared at her. Skinny, average proportions, black hair, pale skin. Never held a weapon.

Hell, this was MIROKU'S kind of girl. What was HE doing with her? Obviously, Miyatsu was trying to set her up with the wrong person.

The WRONG person.

Of course. After all, what else would he be?

A very small voice at the back of his head that had appeared there when he was about ten, and only grown in volume since, ventured forward. 'The right person?'

Ridiculous. Completely and totally ridiculous.

"Uh, um..."

"Here." He shoved a bow into her hands, boxing his ears with somewhat confused and slightly off-center fists. "PLEASE tell me you at least know how the thing's supposed to go, girl."

Her eyes were large and liquid, like birds' eye views of steaming cups of coffee. They widened at this statement, taking in the device of death that had been thrown into her grasp like a commoner's rake.

"I-I-"

The dog-demon rolled his eyes. "Geez, where are you FROM?" he asked, gazing upon her garb. The Elmsmagick girls uniform of a long red skirt, a white under blouse, and a red shift seemed to float, cloudlike, upon her body. Where WAS she from? Certainly not the same place any of the other girls there were.

He hadn't just thought that. It was all the voice's fault.

"A bit north of here. My family owns a... a shrine, I guess you could call it..." The timid girl's expression wavered into a gentler form for a second, then assumed its previous blank smile. "Oh, I'm sorry for spacing out on you like that."

"Tch. You think I care?" He turned his back to her, taking fifty lanky strides from their tree target. To Kagome, the bow and arrow seemed to raise at their own will, zinging to life not at his command, but of that accord. Snapping back, the slingy wooden contraption launched its brother forward into a perfectly executed bull's-eye on the tree.

"How did you...?"

Another roll of the eyes. "That was nothing. That's 'our goal,' according to Miroku."

"Our... goal?"

"For the future, of course." He snorted. "You think we expect a human to get this right in any semblance of quickly? Don't make me laugh." He folded his arms across a thin chest, dropping down into a cross-legged position on the grass.

Twenty-five feet above the field on which the two stood, another teenager, this one of medium height and short black hair, pounded a fist into the ground.

"Inuyasha, you idiot! The girl of my dreams comes here, and you not only steal her from me, but you scare her out of her mind—ON HER FIRST DAY! Have you no experience, you big buffoon? ARG!"

"I thought that pretty one named Sango was 'the girl of your dreams' just a few days ago, Miroku."

"Ah- Oh, grandfather."

"Well, which one is it?"

"Kagome..." He drifted off, eyes falling back onto the two and their archery. "And you've forbidden me make any moves for her affections," he added with a sneer.

"Of course I have. That girl is out of your league, and in Inuyasha's."

"W-W-WHAT? Since WHEN?"

"Since I said so."

Miroku looked utterly defeated.

xdXbx

Utterly defeated. If there were two words to describe Inuyasha's position at the moment, those would be them. HOW in the SEVEN HELLS was he supposed to get this chick to shoot the damn arrow right?

Seeing the half-demon's irritated expression, Kagome took a passive step backwards. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I stink at this."

"Feh. Suck at this is what you do."

"Yes... I suppose you're right." She lowered her head, oak orbs falling into the slightest of shadow.

"H-Hey, are you crying?"

"O-Oh, I'm-m sorry. I'm so dumb."

A sort of chilly shock ran through the white-haired teen's body, and he shivered in the cool shade of the tree they'd been targeting for nearly two weeks now.

"Wait, don't say... Don't say that!"

"But it's-s true! I haven't even hit the tree y-yet!" She drew further away from him, numbly collapsing on the ground. He gasped to see her pure tears freely watering the grass around her.

"You think I expected you to? I was only telling the truth! It wasn't meant as an insult or anything." Someone happening to overlook this scene might in fact find it quite a comical one, what with all the directions such a powerful demon's arms could flail in. It was not, however, very funny for a certain hanyou.

"Don't CRY! I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"Shut UP! It's true, and you know it!"

"But it hasn't even been-"

"I don't CARE! I want to be strong, so I can-" She gasped, clamping a hand over her mouth. Her eyes grew fierce.

"So you can what?" Inuyasha knelt uncertainly next to the girl, despairing as his hands gently rested themselves on her knees. Stupid things, making a soft fool of him like that.

'Oh, it's your hands' fault, is it? It's not like YOUR brain controls them, or anything like that.'

Damn right not.

She looked up to his face, streaming eyes giving away her surprise.

"You...care?"

"Tch. Just calm down, all right? It's impossible for me to teach you if you're crying all over the place, you know. Girls, you're all like this."

She smiled slightly, softly. "Yeah, I guess. But... do you really mind it that much? Don't boys cry, ever?"

"W-What?"

"Don't tell me YOU don't cry sometimes, Mr. Macho. Don't you have someone or something you love enough to cry about if anything went wrong with them or it? Don't you care about something like that?"

"This... really means that much to you?"

She nodded, more tears rolling placidly down from the corners of her eyes. "A lot... It means a lot."

Why did it surprise him so? Sango went on and on about someday avenging her village after it had been attacked by evil demons, Miroku chased after girls as if they were his lifeline, Shippou practiced his fox fire obsessively 'to show his daddy when he reached heaven.' So what was it about this passion of hers that had such an effect on him? Why was his blood racing as though on wheels, his chest aching, his cheeks... flushing?

No.

YES.

What was going on?

"Uh..." He was rendered speechless by the embrace he had unknowingly pulled her into, feeling her cool forehead on his shoulder. Uh. That was all he could manage to gasp out.

He was getting sick, no doubt about it. He needed to rest. Yes, that was it.

"Here..." Careful not to cut her skin with his claws, he swiped the tears from her cheeks. "Come on. I don't think Miyatsu would mind too much if we went inside a little early tonight. You don't want anyone to see you like this, from what I know about girls when they cry. I'll get you back to your dorm..."

Kagome, stunned, took the hand he offered to her. They walked inside the academy up the hill from their field.

To be greeted at the door by Miyatsu. Holding hands. What luck.

"Oh, are the two of you done for the day? Isn't it a bit early?"

Kagome hid slightly behind the other teen's broader shoulders.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Erm... nothing, I suppose-"

"Good. Then we'll continue."

"Could I have a word after you two are finished with whatever you're doing? Inuyasha?"

Kagome's light voice seemed out of place as she spoke, "You can talk to him now. I'll be fine getting back... but thank you very much."

"Are you sure you'll be all right? I don't want you cutting us short like this tomorrow too, you know, so don't you go and get used to it!"

She smiled faintly. "I won't. Thank you."

And she was gone.

And, for some inexplicable reason, he wished she'd stayed there, clawing slightly at the back of his kimono.

xdXbx

xPhantomChick – I have! Thanks for the review!
xTara – Thankies!
xinu-dog-dem – You too!
xTouchofPixieDust – Thanks, and I love your pen name, too. XD
xJess-chan of the Nya Nya Neko – I try, that I do. -coughOBSESSEDWITHKENSHINcough- Mmph... Kawaii Kenshin... -comes back from daydreaming- Thanks!
xDivineRoseKeeper – That name sounds so mystic and sophisticated... yeah. Thanks to you as well!
xAlex – Mucho thanks to you! I'm glad you thought it was funny!
xkiwiTNT – Thanks, and I do plan on updating this one often.
xElectric Fire – Oh yeshyesh, Miyatsu ish quite naughty, that he is. XDXDXD You're definitely right on that one; I adore that smiley!

Please review?