Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Seven: Shop 'Til You Drop

Day Ten –

Babies are expensive. Who knew! And not just the food and diapers either, which cost a small fortune themselves. But all that other stuff! Cribs, play pens, walkers, toys, clothes, and a million other things!

Was it luck of the draw that I got single mother with low paying job or are you trying to tell me something?

Kagome looked up from the table where she was working on her diary entry and budget over at the blue backpack sitting next to her yellow one. She almost felt silly at how giddy she felt looking at them side by side. I'm just being stupid.

But she continued smiling.

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"Jail?"

Kagome sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "No, Inuyasha, this isn't a jail. It's a playpen."

Squatting down for closer inspection, Inuyasha poked at the playpen with a clawed finger. Then he rattled it a bit. Glancing up at his friend he said, "I dunno, it looks like a baby jail to me."

The twinkle in his eyes made Kagome break out in helpless giggles. He's actually making a joke! She ignored the looks of the other customers in the store and sat next to the dog demon and gave him a happy grin. For the first time in a very long time, homework was actually fun.

"I guess from a baby's point of view it sort of is like jail."

"Told ya," smirked the hanyou.

With a laugh Kagome bumped him with her shoulder before standing up. She pulled out her checklist and found the word 'playpen'. She scribbled down the prices of some of the playpens on display and frowned. They are so expensive!

"Now what are you doing, wench?"

Kagome looked up to find herself almost nose to nose with a pair of curious golden eyes. Her personal space radar went off, but she happily ignored it. If he wasn't going to complain about being so close than she sure wasn't! Of course, being in a store full of bustling people was keeping her dog demon friend a lot closer than usual. He was reluctant to stray far from her. She wasn't sure if it was for her protection or for his. Either way, it worked for her!

"Part of this assignment is on finances, you know, money. I have to find out how expensive all the baby items on this list are and see which ones I can afford. That's part of it," she explained as she showed him the list.

"What's the other part?"

"Well, I have a budget that I was given based on the income I'll be making as a single mother with a high school education. Most of the others are married. Some have two incomes and some have only one. The teacher decided who was getting what income." She hoped she didn't sound as bitter as she felt. On the plus side, not having a partner meant that she didn't have to work with anyone on this assignment. Anyone but her current companion that was.

"And income is based on education?"

"Mostly." She nodded. "Definitely in this project. Most of the things on this list I won't be able to buy with my income."

Inuyasha frowned. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. "We don't need most of this junk anyhow. I'm not putting the baby in jail."

Kagome giggled. "It's to keep the baby from crawling away and getting injured while you are doing something else. It's not a punishment, you know."

"We have Shippo for that." He thought for a moment. "And Kaede. So no baby jail. I don't want the pup in a cage."

"Okay, no playpen."

Inuyasha peeked at her papers again. "What other things do you need?"

Kagome looked at her list, flipping the pages of her notebook. "Well, I'll need money so I can find a place to live, find a day care for the baby so I can go to work, groceries, electricity and water, money for a car or public transportation…"

"You need money for all that?"

Kagome nodded. "Which is why I keep telling you it's so important that I go to school."

"Feh, you don't need it. You already have a place to live and people to take care of the baby. I can find us food, and I can find water anywhere," he bragged while pointing to his nose. "So, what is on that list that you want?"

Blushing Kagome looked down at her list. He is taking this so seriously. It's almost as if he's talking about…Don't be stupid, Kagome. Think about something else! "Ummm… how about a stroller? We'll need one of those to push the baby around in." Knowing Inuyasha would be behind her, Kagome nearly sprinted to the strollers.

Gasping in delight at a frilly pink stroller, Kagome pointed and declared that she wanted THAT stroller. It was Inuyasha's turn to roll his eyes to the ceiling.

Inuyasha went over to the stroller and studied it. He looked at the straps and the wheels. He tipped it from side to side and gave it an experimental push. Then he looked at the other strollers before glaring at the stroller Kagome chose.

"Keh, that's a puny stroller. It wouldn't last one day on the road. The wheels would be useless by the end of the day. Besides, it doesn't have room to carry junk like some of those others. And the straps wouldn't keep the baby in. If a demon attacked we'd practically be ASKING it to eat our baby. The other one might work though."

Kagome's eyes followed the direction Inuyasha was pointing, but her brain had momentarily stopped working. OUR baby?

"THIS is a good stroller."

Blinking quickly and shoving the word 'OUR' to the back of her mind, the girl focused on what her friend was pointing at. "Inuyasha, this isn't a stroller, this is a miniature sports utility vehicle!" Kagome stared at the stroller Inuyasha chose with her mouth wide open. It was HUGE!

"The wheels can take a beating on this one," Inuyasha explained as he proceeded to bang the stroller up and down rather violently. Some of the customers looked a little scared, all of them kept their distance. Kagome would have complained, but it was kind of nice having so much space when shopping. "And the frame is tough. Plus look at all the room it has to put things in. Do you know how much ramen this would hold?"

"You mean how much baby stuff it would hold?"

"And ramen! There's room for all of it!"

Kagome snickered. Next time we go shopping we should probably eat first. "Are you sure this is THE one we want?"

Inuyasha nodded, giving his find a pat.

With a sigh Kagome wrote down the model and the price of the chosen vehicle. "We'll just have to spend less on other stuff."

Very little time was spent looking at the highchairs, which Inuyasha hated. After all, they ate nearly all their meals sitting on the ground or on logs, right? He also felt it was a safety risk. The chair made the pup too easy of a target for flying demons. Besides that, on uneven ground it would be falling over every two seconds.

Cribs looked too much like cages for Inuyasha as well. Cradles looked too bulky to carry around and the baby would outgrow it too fast. Kagome pointed at the baby harnesses and he gave her an evil look. She shrugged and they moved on.

"Look! Baby monitors!"

Unimpressed, Inuyasha looked at the box Kagome was holding. "What does it do?"

"Stop poking it. If you break it we have to buy it. I don't think Mama would appreciate that too much. A baby monitor is like an intercom system." He gave her a blank look. "Or a walkie-talkie." His expression didn't change. "Umm… it's an electronic device that lets you hear the baby in the other room. That way if the baby cries you'll be able to hear it."

Inuyasha snorted. "What do you think THESE are for."

"Not everyone has cute puppy dog ears, Inuyasha. Some of us need a little help to hear if the baby cries."

"Keh, I'll just wake you up when I hear the pup. We don't need a baby monitor." He couldn't turn fast enough to hide his blush.

"Ooookay." Quickly Kagome jotted down the price of the monitor for the assignment. The prices still had to be written down even if they decided not to buy them.

On the next aisle was the bottles. After a short, not to mention embarrassing, discussion on bottles and if they would need them (they decided they didn't), the friends moved on to baby clothes.

Even though his ears were covered by the red baseball cap, Inuyasha still cringed at the squeals Kagome was making.

"They are just CLOTHES! What are you getting so worked up about, wench?"

With sparkling eyes Kagome turned around, holding a little purple lacy dress. "But they are so cuuuute! Aren't they adorable?"

"Whatever. Are any of those made out of fire rat hide?"

Kagome wrinkled her nose. "I doubt it."

Inuyasha took the purple dress from Kagome's fingers. "This thing wouldn't protect the baby from ANYTHING! What good is it?"

"It's pretty."

"It's pretty stupid."

Grrrrrrrrrr.

Inuyasha blinked at the growling girl. Then he smirked. "Stooooopid."

Quickly the girl snatched the dress away from his fingers. "It's cute! It doesn't have to be indestructible armor you know."

"Uh huh. When a demon attacks and breathes fire all over the pup I'll remind you that you said that."

Snarling Kagome turned away from him and took out her notebook, determined to ignore him. But as soon as she set eyes on the next cute outfit her anger was completely forgotten as she let out another squeal of delight.

As she wandered around the clothes area jotting down prices and holding up cute clothes every few seconds for Inuyasha to look at, the dog demon sat on the floor next to the baby shoes. Out of boredom he began fiddling with one of the pairs of shoes. Kagome almost didn't hear him when he spoke.

"They are so small…"

But she did hear him, so she turned curiously to him. "What is?"

"The shoes are so small."

Kagome giggled. "Of course they are. Baby feet are small after all." She watched as he measured the shoe against his finger. She hung up the overalls she was looking at and went to sit next to him. Once more the dog demon was becoming serious.

"They break easy too, don't they?"

"Shoes?"

Inuyasha gave her an unamused glance. "Pups, idiot."

Kagome nodded. "Yes, they can be very fragile. But if you protect them and provide for them well, then they can grow up strong." She punched him in the shoulder. "And don't call me an idiot, you jerk."

They sat together in silence for a few minutes before Kagome went back to looking at clothes. Though after her conversation with Inuyasha, she felt a bit restless. Does he worry about being a good parent too? Does he even think about being a parent at all? She watched as he studied the shoes. From behind a rack of little dresses she noticed the hanyou's gaze go from the shoes to the area where the stroller was located. Then he looked towards the baby backpacks they had seen earlier. She watched in silence as his eyes sought out each item that they had decided they wanted. For a moment he glared down at the shoes, lost in thought.

"Come on, dog boy. I'm famished, let's go get something to eat."

She didn't have to tell Inuyasha twice. He dropped the shoes and started leaping towards the door. However, in mid leap he paused and came crashing to the ground. Something caught his eye.

"Hey Kagome?"

"Yes?"

Inuyasha started walking over to the older children's area. He picked up a small green backpack almost identical to Kagome's and began inspecting it. After a moment he threw it over his shoulder, discarding it. After a bit more searching he came up with a blue pack. Apparently satisfied he turned smugly back to his shopping companion.

"Shippo needs a pack too." He looked slightly nervous over at Kagome before shoving the pack at her. "He's getting older and needs to start pulling his weight."

"Inuyasha…" Kagome took the pack, trying to control her temper. "He's still so young. He doesn't need to be pulling his weight yet."

"He's not THAT young. He needs it." Before Kagome could respond she felt his hands over hers, keeping the pack in her grasp. His golden eyes were boring into her eys with earnest. "He needs it."

Thoughts of Shippo came to her. Yes, he was young. But every since she brought Mikomi to the other side of the well, the kit had been acting differently. He was seeking responsibility. Inuyasha's right… he does need it. He needs to feel like he's growing up. He needs to feel like he is making a difference. He needs to help.

"You're right."

Although she was expecting him to be surprised at hearing her declare he was actually right about something, she wasn't expecting to actually fall over in shock. She shook her head at him and carried the pack to the register to pay for it. "Talk about overly dramatic," she mumbled to herself.

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Shopping has never been more interesting than when you go shopping with a guy for baby things. They have more opinions than they want you to know. Sure it embarrasses them, especially looking at frilly girly things, but it can still be fun.

Not to mention the fact that you find out that they think more about stuff than you think the do.

Though it would be more fun shopping if I had a bigger budget.

Kagome Higurashi