Chapter 1

Kagome. Sigh. She's stupid, bold, agressive,... yet smart, shy, and gentle at the same time. And beautiful,... stop that . I love Kikyo. Sigh. But ... Kagome...

-reasonings of a lovesick hanyou.

"Inu-Yasha?"

"Huh?"

"You spaced off again. I don't like you doing this deep thinking stuff. It's kinda creepy."

Inu-Yasha was sitting in the crook of a tree overlooking their camp. He was on scout duty because earlier on they came across a deomn tracks. Looking back at the camp Inu-Yasha saw Shippou helping Miroku boil some stew. Sango and Kilala went off hunting a while ago.

"Inu-Yasha! Sit!"

"Wha-" slam, Inu-Yasha quickly found himself getting aquanted with the ground.

As Inu-Yasha extracted himself from the pit -"Why does she do this?"- Kagome curcumvented the tree, looking for the best handholds. When she found a sturdy hold she expertly picked her way from branch to branch, climbing to the spot Inu-Yasha had just so kindly left.

Back on the ground Inu-Yasha stared at Kagome. 'Where' she learn to climb like that?' then he realised Kagome had been able to do more stuff since coming here, she had to battle youkais practically everyday. With a start Inu-Yasha realised Kagome was calling him.

"Inu-Yasha! Get up here now!" yelled Kagome.

"Keep your skirt on!" Inu-Yasha called back. 'Then again, it is a short skirt'

Berating himself for the thought, Inu-Yasha leapt straight up the tree to Kagome's crook.

If Kagome was startled by Inu-Yasha's sudden appearance, she didn't show it. She just calmly set branches between the two branches that currently served as her seat.. She then set about the task of putting food on the branchs, quickly filling up space with delicious food.

"What are you doing?" asked Inu-Yasha, suddenly suspicious.

"I'm making a picnic for us. What does it look like i'm doing?" was her heated reply. "Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Kilala are setting up a meal so I figured since you had guard duty we could eat together."

"O.. kay."stammered Inu-Yasha, slightly taken aback. "do you have any noodles?"

"Yep." answered Kagome.

"And are any of those egg rolls?" furthered the dog-demon.

"What do you think?" snapped Kagome.

With a sly smile Inu-Yasha jumped out of the tree.and ran off.

"Inu-Yasha!" cried Kagome, "Oh well, he'll be back."

Within a minute Inu-Yasha was back with a bunch of wild flowers.

"Here." At Kagome's startled expression he added, "You said flowers made a meal better soooo..."

Suddenly a tremor shook the tree and a crash resounded through the clearing, knocking Kagome off the tree. Inu-Yasha's Quick reflexes saved her from a nasty fall, but she did tear the arm of her blouse away and cut herself. A small river of blood trickled its way down her arm.

Inu-Yasha saw this at a glance before seeing the reason for the tremor, a gigantic beetle youkai. It was huge with an enormous T-shaped horn and six spindly legs.

"Heriakotsu!"

A six foot boomerang shot out, ripping away tree and stone, aimed at the beetle's carpace, coming closer and closer untill.. bing.. it hit but did nothing. Sango entered the scene just intime to catch her beloved weapon before it was crushed.

Inu-Yasha drew Tetsiega, the thin, worn sword turning into the thick bone blade. Swinging the Tetsiega, Inu-Yasha caused an enormous amout of energy to form into five waves, each cutting into a different part of the youkai.

With the beast dispatched Inu-Yasha turned to tend to Kagome. She was sitting upright against the broken tree that once held their lunch, trying to clumsily stem the bleeding.Inu-Yasha knelt down and retied the badage while Kagome wiped the blood off her arm. Picking her up, Inu-Yasha and Kagome made their way back to the camp.

five minutes later, back at the camp, Inu-Yasha finished refitting the bandages. "Are you sure you're alright?" inquired the hanyou, for like the tenth time.

"What do you think, you ask me that so much you'd think i'm important to you." A hurt expression ran across his face. He stood upright and turned away, leaving Kagome with the dstinct impression that he mumbled, "Maybe you are..."

Later that day, Miroku and Sango were busy clearing away the the camp. Sango had scavanged some youkai bones to make simple repairs, while Miroku used the Wind Tunnle in his hand to remove the flesh of the youkai. They currently had the camp half packed, with only the oversized bag to fill.

"Miroku! Why does Inu-Yasha and Kagome act like they do? They love each other, so why don't they say it?"

"Inu-Yasha is proud and stubborn and will only admit it when he's ready. The same, I guess, goes with Kagome. She's admitted it already but she can't do anything unless Inu-Yasha allows it. Plus, there is still Kikyou."

"How did you get so wise?" Demanded Sango, staring in disbelief and amazement at the young monk.

"Inu-Yasha talks to me." Miroku stuffed a can into Kagome's bag, sliding his way closer to Sango. "He finds it useful, in his human form, to tell me what going on in his hanyou from."

"You? You persue every girl you meet, how can you understand how he feels?" cried Sango, walking up to the monk.

Close enough.

Miroku stepped to Sango's side and pointed out the couple, "See, Inu-Yasha is looking at Kagome, Ass soon as Kagome looks at him, he looks away, letting Kagome think he never looked at him, then the other way around." Miroku's hand hovered behind Sango, just before. SLAP! "Miroku! Not now you Baka!"

With that done, Sango stormed off before the monk got himself killed.