Disclaimer- Not (mine mine mine mine).

AN- Enjoy!

Hidden Meanings

She was dreaming. No, there wasn't some big sign that said 'Welcome to Dreamland', but still, she was fairly certain she wasn't awake. The funny feeling that she wasn't supposed to be here gave her some clue to that. That and the fact the she was standing in the middle of a giant forest. But hey, she could have been sleepwalking. In the middle of the afternoon. In her school uniform… Maybe not. So. She was dreaming.

She was walking around, looking at her surroundings through that hazy almost-can't-see-it-but-kind-of-can dream vision. She got the feeling she was supposed to be looking for something, but couldn't remember what. It was tugging at the back of her head trying to get her attention, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was. As she came to a clearing, she suddenly recognized something.

'Hey! That's the Bone Eaters Well!' Hurrying toward the only familiar thing in sight, she was halfway there when she heard someone call out from somewhere behind her.

"Inuyasha!" Turning, she saw a girl dressed in old fashioned priestess robes making her way through the forest with a grimace on her face and one arm clutched to her side. She watched in morbid fascination as she suddenly raised a bow and arrow and took aim into the distance. "Die!"

The last thing she thought before waking, as she watched the arrow whiz off into the dense forest was, 'She looks just like me…'

"Kagome. Kagome!"

"Mmhhhrrrr."

"Wakey, wakey."

"Shhhmph."

"I let you sleep in, so now you have to get up."

Rolling her body to face the alarm clock, she saw that he had, in fact, let her sleep in as she had asked. It was quarter after nine, and while she would have normally enjoyed staying asleep as long as humanly possible on the weekends, she was nonetheless impressed Inuyasha had restrained himself from tossing her onto the floor already. He hadn't thus far impressed her with his astounding amount patients She threw back her blanket and swung her feet over the side of her bed, arching her back and stretching her arms above her head with a yawn.

"Ah! Thanks for that. You now, I had the strangest dream last night…"

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I can't really remember it. Just that it was weird."

"Maybe you dreamed you were looking in a mirror."

"Jerk!" she yelled, throwing her pillow at him.

"That was even farther off than yesterday. You sure it was aimed at me?"

"Ha ha, very funny." She made a shooing motion towards the door. "Now leave so I can dress."

"Pushy wench."

"And this time tell me if my mom is coming before I walk into her."

"I'm not your personal alert system," came the response form behind the door. "Besides, she already came up and dropped off your clothes."

"Oh, alright." And looking in her dresser, she saw he was right. Her clothes from yesterday were back in her drawer, washed and neatly folded. Remembering that the weather forecaster on TV had said there was going to be a dip in temperature today, she chose a pair of jeans and a light-weight lavender sweater to wear. She fiddled with her hair for a while, trying it up, half up, and in a bun before brushing it out and deciding to keep it down like she usually did. That was how she liked it best anyways. She gazed at her reflection for a moment more, tilting her head this way and that. Bringing her hands up to her hair once more, she lifted it into a low ponytail, letting two thick locks lay to either side of her face. Their was something familiar about the way she looked with her hair like that, but she couldn't remember having ever actually worn her hair like this before. Oh, wait a minute. Wasn't it-

"Oi! Aren't you done yet?"

Dropping her hands from her hair, she turned to the door and said, "Yeah, I'm done. Sorry." She looked back at the mirror, but whatever she had thought of a second ago had fled her mind, leaving her a little confused as to what she had been trying to remember in the first place. 'Oh well, couldn't have been that important.' She sniffed the air. 'Ooh! I smell omelets!' And with that innocent thought, she rushed to the door and flung it open, running full speed past a surprised hanyou.

"Hey!"

Half way down the stairs she called back, "Can't beat me this time."

Inuyasha smiled and leapt down the steps after her, taking one final jump to land in front of her. "Wanna bet?"

Hearing his voice from in front of her for the second time, Kagome gave a pretend frown. "No fair. I know you're cheating somehow."

"Like I said before; you're just too slow."

"Hmph, well like I said before…," and here she stuck out her tongue.

"That's very mature Kagome. Real sportsman like."

She grinned over her shoulder as she made to step into the kitchen. "Whatever," and left Inuyasha with his own grin at having had his favorite answer thrown back at him.

Dusk found Kagome on the sidewalk after dinner. The sun had just set and the first evening star was twinkling its merry way into view. After having eaten way too much if her mother's cooking, Kagome had decided to take a walk to the park down the street, figuring there would be few enough people around that she and Inuyasha talking wouldn't be a problem.

"Ah!" she exhaled loudly, rubbing her stomach. "I need to stop eating so much. But it's so good!"

"I have no idea where you manage to put it all. You should weigh at least three hundred pounds by now if that's how you always eat."

"Guess I just have good genes."

"What the hell do your pants have to do with anything?"

"No silly!" she laughed. "I mean it's in my family to be small."

"Oh."

"Having been around five hundred years, you think you would have picked up a few brain cells along the way."

"Now wait just a minute wench! I know plenty of stuff okay. Just cause you know more about pants than I do-"

"Genes."

"Whatever, just cause you know more about one thing, doesn't make you smarter."

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, you're right."

"And I- What?"

"I said you're right. I shouldn't have said that, it was rude."

"Yeah, well… forget it. Not like I never teased you about anything."

"Ain't that the truth."

"Isn't."

"Huh?"

"What you meant to say was, 'Isn't that the truth." You're sentence was grammatically incorrect. And to be precise, it was a question and should have had an inflection at the end+."

"Er…"

Suddenly she heard a burst of laughter. Instead of feeling put out though, she laughed along with him. Reaching the park entrance, she looked around and saw that with the exception of one elderly couple and a man walking his dog, it was completely empty. "Okay, you win. I'll never doubt your intelligence again."

"Damn straight."

She made her way over to one of the giant colorful boxes that was full of holes for children to climb through and pulled herself to the top. Sitting down, facing the direction of the last dying light, she wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them close to rest her chin on top.

"What a pretty sunset."

There was a pause as Inuyasha looked, confused, to the direction she was staring at. "Uh, Kagome? The sun set a while ago. It's dark now."

"I know. It's still pretty though."

"Feh."

"Oh look, the moon's out early tonight. I love it when it's just a crescent like that. Makes me think the sky is smiling at me." She laid down on her back to look at the whole sky. Slowly, as the minutes ticked by, more and more stars filled the darkness above. She mentally ticked off the few constellations she knew, making up a few of her own in the process. "Look over there Inuyasha," she whispered, pointing to a cluster of stars in the vague shape of a cat, "That constellation is the Fat Feline."

"I've never heard of that one before."

"And over there," she pointed to the stars a little bit above and to the right, "is the Un-openable Pickle Jar."

"I definitely haven't heard of that one…"

She moved her had to the opposite side of the sky. "There's my favorite though. Butterfly of Destruction. See how its wings are blowing all the other stars away?"

There was no response to this for a while. She began to think maybe he was biting his tongue to keep from calling her a complete nitwit, when he said, "What about that one on the left. Doesn't it look like a bloated frog?"

She shook her head. "I can't see where you're pointing remember?" Suddenly she felt her head being gently turned to the left and tilted up.

"There, below your Chubby Cat."

She blushed as his hands stayed on the sides of her face as she corrected, "Fat Feline…" She quickly found the group he was talking about. "Oh yeah I see it."

A minute went by.

"Uh, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…you're still holding my head."

"Oh." And he quickly released her; glad she was unable to see his cheeks turn red.

Kagome sat up and gave a little shiver as a breeze swept through the park. Seeing this, he said, "You should probably go home now."

"You're right. I'll probably catch a cold if I stay out much longer." Turning her body, she put her foot into one of the big hole to lower herself down. On the second hole down however (and still about five feet from the ground) her foot slipped on the already dewy plastic, probably due to the drop in temperature.

"Iiee!" she squeaked, as her footing skidded from beneath her, sending her to the sand below. The impact never came though, as Inuyasha deftly caught her in his invisible arms. She gave a shaky laugh and said, "My hero. Thanks Inuya- oof! What the heck was that for?" At her statement of gratitude he had promptly dropped her the last foot and a half onto her behind.

"Sorry, you're heavy. Maybe you should lay off the dumplings."

"What! Why you obnoxious, insulting-"

"Compliments will only get you on my good side."

"-bullying jerk. See if I ever thank you again."

"Whatever. Get up and let's go home. Try not to trip on anything will you?"

Grumbling to herself about annoying hanyous and foul mistreatment, she got to her feet, brushing off her backside. With a few more choice phrases muttered under her breath, she started off towards the park's entrance. Another wind blew past her, making her shiver once more. She picked up her pace now, eager to get home and into a warm bath.

"Well, well. Now who are you young lady? And why are you out here all by yourself?" Kagome spun around the new, unfamiliar voice behind her. There she saw two young men, probably around eighteen or nineteen, walking towards her. One was wearing a zipped up leather coat and torn blue jeans, the other a long-sleeved black sweatshirt with some band she didn't recognize over very dark (probably black), pants.

"Could you be looking for some company?" the boy with the jacket asked and she recognized him as the one who had spoken before.

"Um, actually my, uh, boyfriend is with me, he just ran back to get his jacket he left behind. He'll be back any minute now…" God she hoped that didn't sound as fake to them as it did to her.

"I think you're lying." Guess it had. "There's no one back there is there?" This from the other boy with the heavy metal band shirt on her left.

"Kagome, don't panic." When she heard Inuyasha's voice from in front of her, she felt an incredible wave of gratitude flow over her. Her heart was still beating like it would leap from her chest at any second, but now she didn't feel as completely paralyzed with fear.

'Leather jacket' took a few steps towards her and smiled confidently. "I think you're right. Are you all by yourself sweet thing? Well don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." And he started to reach out to grab her.

"Kagome, run!" As soon as she heard those words, she knew she had been waiting for them. Turning to the side she broke into a dead run and sprinted as if her life depended on it. And it just might have at that moment, but she wasn't sticking around to find out. Not wanting to, but unable to resist, Kagome looked back over her shoulder to see if she was being followed. And skidded to a halt. Her mouth hung open in shock as she saw one figure lying on the ground, moaning and holding his stomach, while the other one was getting tossed into the wall and banged repeatedly against it. He too finally dropped to the ground in an untidy heap.

"Dammit Kagome! I told you to get away from here! What the hell are you doing still hanging around!" She backed up a step at the fury in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I uh…"

"Get your ass home! Now!" he roared.

Practically tripping over her own feet in order to do just that, she ran the rest of the way to the shrine without stopping. By the time she reached the top of the steps, she was out of breath and shaking from the shock of what just happened. Finding her way to the nearest bench, she plopped down and put her head between her knees to calm her racing pulse. She saw that she was next to the sacred tree and looked up into its branches, trying to find what peace she could there. What had just happened? What could have just happened? 'If Inuyasha hadn't been there…' She might have found herself in big trouble. Speaking of…

"Inuyasha…?"

No response. She happened to glance down and caught her breath at what she saw. There, behind the small fence that surrounded the God Tree and sitting on the base of the tree with his back against it, was Inuyasha. His head was lowered in his hands and his knees were drawn up to his chest, much like she had been sitting before in the park. He looked…upset. Getting up from her seat, she stepped over the fence and knelt down beside him. Cautiously she reached out a hand and tried to place it on him. Slightly rough fabric and warm body heat met her palm. She gave a little gasp of surprise. Inuyasha jerked his head up at her touch and his golden eyes met her in the semi-darkness. She noticed the worry and pain etched in his features. "Inuyasha, are you alright?"

"Kagome…" Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her arm that rested on his shoulder. For a moment she thought he was going to push her away, but instead her jerked her into an embrace and held on tightly.

"Um, Inuyasha? What's the matter?" she asked after a slightly shocked minute on her part, though her voice was slightly muffled by his coat. She was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable in this position, being half sprawled over his lap with her knees on the cold ground. She tried to maneuver into a more comfortable spot, trying not to disturb him at the same time. It felt kind of nice, being held by him like this. He smelled really good too. Kind of like warm fur and earth after a good rain pour, plus one other thing she couldn't put a name to. She figured that was just his own personal scent though. If only that stupid rock would quit poking her knee now…

Just as abruptly as he grabbed her, Inuyasha pushed her away, leaving her a little cold and mildly disappointed. "Next time I tell you to run, wench, you better run. And don't turn around to gawk!"

Feeling as though she were being wrongly accused of something she felt her defensive level rise. "There was no one coming after me, I was watching to make sure you were okay."

"Well next time don't! That's my job, not yours! Okay?" His legs had moved to the tailor position when he was hugging her and now he put his hands on each knee and leaned in to yell at her some more. "Just listen to me before you get hurt or something!"

She crossed her arms over her stomach angrily. "I don't see why you're so upset about this. I wasn't hurt."

"This time!"

"And you'll protect me next time too, so quit harping already would you!"

"I might not always be here to protect you stupid girl! I'm no hero, don't you realize that?"

"Well you're here now, doesn't that count!"

"Kagome is that you?"

Kagome looked up at the sound of her mother calling her. "Yeah mom, I'm over here." She saw a bouncing beam of light come closer from the flashlight in her mom's hand.

"Oh good. I was getting worried. I had just come out to look for you too." She got a little closer to the tree and pointed the flashlight to the ground so she wouldn't be blinding her daughter. "What are you doing out here? It's getting late and it's very cold- oh, hello. I'm sorry; I didn't see she had company." Kagome looked up to her mother in shock, as did Inuyasha. Was it possible?

Mrs. Higurashi raised the flashlight a little higher and took a step closer. "Ah, you must be Inuyasha."

Well that answered that. Inuyasha shook his head in disbelief and turned his head to look at Kagome. "What is it with your family?"

Kagome just shrugged her shoulders and smiled. Unfortunately her mother didn't seem to have heard the question. "Oh dear. I still don't seem to be able to hear you I'm afraid. Ah well, at least I know for sure you exist now. As much as I love my daughter, I did still have my doubts." She turned to Kagome and gave her a little wink and leaned in to whisper, "You're right dear, he is very handsome. And what adorable ears. They are real, aren't they?"

Kagome nodded and whispered back, "As far as I know, but he won't let me near them."

Inuyasha managed to pick up their comments despite the hushed voices and flushed slightly at them, shooting a little glare at Kagome as if it were her fault his ears were adorable.

Seeing Inuyasha going back to his regular grumpy self, Kagome stood up and stepped over the fence to stand near her mother. "Let's go inside now. I'm getting pretty tired and I have school tomorrow anyways."

"Don't think we're done discussing this wench."

Kagome waved her hand at him innocently. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"I'll bet." He grumbled as he got up to follow them back to the house. He definitely wasn't going to let the subject drop, he decided. And she would hear him out even if he had to hold her down to get her to listen. Remembering the feel of her hand on his shoulder and the warmth of her small body as he had embraced her, he thought maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Shaking his head at that thought, he continued on in the dark after the two strange women.

AN- Big yawn. Time for bed.

Thanks to all the lovely comments I've been receiving. They keep me going when I feel like quitting. Hence all the fast updates you love so much. LoL I swear I check my email every fifteen minute. I'm such a sucker for praise. :-)

To answer angel-tears-16; although I have read Bottle Genius (a great story, I highly recommend it also), I didn't get my actual inspiration from it. Though the author herself did (metaphorically) motivate me into writing with her unique style. I swear that girl is absolutely hilarious sometimes and just plain funny the rest of it.

(+AN- This technically isn't true in the Japanese language, but for the sake of fun I'll just say it is.)

Bye for now.