Dyum, dyum, dyum.

Well, I took a quick break from my long, serious fics to write a short little Halloween ditty. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I couldn't just let it go by without writing something scary, now could I?

MWAHAHAHAAA! (Akito laughter)

By the way, I don't own Inuyasha or related characters. And if you think I do… well, I won't even bother insulting you, you probably wouldn't understand me anyway.

Oh, and this story is dedicated to David Wagar and his Gatorade bottle. Thanks for allthe laughs.


Shippo swung his fox legs dejectedly back and forth, observing the somber scene before him. Maybe it wasn't 'somber' though, so much as it was 'typical.'

Inuyasha was cursing at Kagome as he picked himself up off the ground, and Kagome was threatening to go back to her own time. On the other side of him, Miroku was rubbing a softly throbbing bump on his head, and Sango was returning the hiraikotsu to it's accustomed place in her back. Everyone was pissed at each other.

Yeah, typical pretty much sums it up. Shippo sighed. Things would be so much easier if the two pairs would quit bickering and just admit they liked each other. But THAT would never happen… or would it?

"There's gotta be a way," he muttered to himself. And he began to start to think of a plan.

Most of his ideas weren't worth much. They fell apart almost the moment he tried to get them to work. Nothing romantic happened at all. Nothing, that is, until he remembered a game Kagome had told him teens played in her era.


(the next day)


"That's one good thing about the feudal era," Kagome remarked, tossing a long, straight stick into the fire. "There's no dishes."

The others declined to comment, as they weren't exactly sure what she meant. Kagome was like that when she talked about her own time.

"Let's play a game," Shippo announced.

"What game is it, Shippo?" Kagome asked. Shippo grinned. She would always play with him.

"We all have to play or it won't work," he told her. Miroku and Sango looked over, their interests captured.

"Keh. It's probably something stupid," Inuyasha scoffed.

"No, you'll love it," Shippo said in a veiled voice.

"Oh, come on and play," Kagome ordered. Inuyasha keh'd again, but complied.

Shippo retrieved a half- empty water bottle from Kagome's packed bag.

"Well, first we sit in a circle, with this bottle in the middle," Shippo explained. The group moved away from the fire and sat in a tight circle.

"We start by spinning the bottle," Shippo demonstrated. With every revolution Kagome got paler. When it finally landed on her, she was totally white.

"And whoever it lands on, you have to kiss," Shippo finished. He bounded over the bottle and kissed Kagome on the cheek. Said girl turned from white to red instantly.

"I'm in," Miroku spoke up.

"Where the hell did you learn this game from?" Inuyasha exploded at the kitsune.

"Kagome taught me," Shippo squeaked.

"Well, hell if I'm gonna let this little runt get a kiss, if I don't," Inuyasha thought, carefully not looking at Shippo.

"Well, hell if I'm leaving Miroku alone with Kagome," Sango thought, carefully not looking at the monk.

"Well, hell if I can leave now," Kagome thought, carefully not looking at Inuyasha.

"This might just work to my benefit," Miroku thought, staring pointedly at Sango.

"So… who's turn next?" Kagome said waveringly.

No one volunteered.

"Inuyasha's next," Shippo piped up. "He's on my left."

The hanyou reached out one clawed hand and forcefully spun the bottle around. Everyone watched anxiously as it turned, really fast at first, but then slower and slower until finally coming to a stop… dead center between Shippo and Sango. The two of them leaned outward, avoiding the bottle's threatening point. Kagome's red color stayed where it was. Miroku pouted.

"Um… you have to pick," Shippo said, making up a new rule.

"Can I hit you instead?" Inuyasha asked Shippo, sounding honestly curious.

"No!"

"Um… then… Sango?"

Sango offered her hand, and Inuyasha kissed it really lightly, trying to make as little physical contact as possible.

Everyone in the circle cleared their throats in unison, except for Shippo, who pointed at Kagome.

"Your turn!"

Kagome spun the bottle. It rotated around about three times, inching along until it finally came to a stop. Miroku had to poke Kagome's shoulder and tell her to open her eyes. It took her another thirty seconds to actually look.

The bottle pointed directly at Inuyasha, who was looking at it like he'd like to introduce it to tessaiga. This was a cleverly constructed ruse, but it fooled Kagome. The excessive blushing had made a lot of blood rush to her head.

Slowly, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was his turn to blush, but even with all the practice, he couldn't conceal a grin. Everyone saw, and marked it down on the list of weird things Inuyasha had been doing lately.

"I'll go next," Sango volunteered. She spun the bottle around, and it went around a good dozen times before coming to a stop pointing to herself.

"Um… what do I do?" She asked Shippo.

"I think you get to pick, too," Shippo said, making up another rule.

"I pick Miroku," she said almost instantly, not to anyone's surprise. Talking a leaf out of Kagome's book, she tried to kiss him on the cheek… but he moved at the last second, which meant they accidentally ended up kissing on the lips.

Shippo didn't laugh maniacally, but he came incredibly close. Kagome and Inuyasha looked away, but then they ended up looking at each other. Which meant they ended up blushing furiously and looking away.

"Miroku, you're last," Shippo told him. Miroku turned from the slightly dazed Sango to the bottle. It waited expectantly, as if fortelling the doom that would shortly occur.

The prayer beads on his right hand clicked as they hit the plastic. The bottle spun around again and again.

SangoShippoInuyashaKagomeMirokuSangoShippo Inuyasha Kagome Miroku Sango Shippo Inuyasha Kagome Miroku Sango Shippo…

"He gets to pick, too, right?" Inuyasha yelped, looking frantically at Shippo. "Tell me he gets to pick too."

"Nope. No same- sex picking rule," Shippo said smugly. Inuyasha turned desperately to Miroku, who was looking completely neutral.

"Rules are rules," he said, shrugging it off.

"Like hell they are!" Inuyasha said, backing up. "I quit!"

His retreat was cut off abruptly when Miroku grabbed his hand, pulling him back. The hanyou closed his eyes tight. Getting kissed, or even touched, by another guy meant demon cooties and a slow painful death.

The second ticked by. They took to damn long.

"It's over," Sango whispered to the stricken boy. He looked fearfully at his hand, which Miroku had let go of.

"I'm going to have to cut it off now, you know," he said levelly.

Everyone but him exploded into laughter.

Grumbling, he retreated to his sleeping place high in a tree.

"I hate you all!" he called down to them.

Still giggling as they found their own sleeping positions, the other four agreed.

They'd have to play this again sometime.


Happy Halloween! Were you scared?

Yes, wasn't that fun? Yup. I wrote that all at once. It's two in the morning, how bout that, huh?

R&R!