A/N: I rarely dedicate stories to people, because I always feel like they are too bad to actually assign someone's name to it, but... Whatever this short is worth it's a gift for Cstorm86

The Boy Who Was Overcame

Kagome exited the well and took a deep breath. It wasn't the first time she went through the time portal, but it always felt so extraordinary to go through it. It was hard to even try and describe the feeling of slipping through the time portal.

She put her bag on the grass by the well and walked slowly towards the Sacred Tree. No one was at the well to greet her and the Sacred Tree was a place she could find her favorite dog-eared boy.

Just as she predicted she found Inuyasha at the Sacred Tree. Or rather on the tree.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed and ran towards him.

Inuyasha lifted his head and gave her a weak smile. A dozen arrows was pinning him to the tree. From what she could see none pierced his flesh, but each had a sacred paper tied to it, so he couldn't free himself. No arrow was charged, so it was obvious it wasn't a miko doing, but who could do this to him?

"Hello," Inuyasha said when she stopped in front of him and reached for the first arrow to release him. "My name is Inuyasha, I am an inu hanyou."

"What?" Kagome breathed out and looked into his unfocused eyes and a bit dopey smile.

"See? I have the ears," he pointed to the twitching appendages. "I like to eat, but not spicy stuff. And I like to doze in the sunlight and things that smell nice. But don't tell anyone."

"Eh... Inuyasha?" Kagome stared at the hanyou, who gave her an even wider smile. She felt his arms moving around her and holding her close to him. His nose pressed against the side of her face as he sniffed her like a curious puppy.

"Hey, you smell nice. Can I keep you?" he asked, looking intently in her eyes.

Kagome gripped the red fabric covering his chest to keep herself steady. A part of her - the tiny part that wasn't shrieking in her mind right now - was thankful for the support of his embrace, because her knees went limp.

"Kagome!" she heard Sango calling her name, but wasn't able to look back at the exterminator running her way.

"Keep me?" she breathed out. Inuyasha grinned at her and nodded.

"We could do all sorts of fun things together," he said. At the same time Miroku, Sango and Shippou ran out of the forest.

"Kagome! Get away from him!" As soon as they did so, Inuyasha's grip on Kagome tightened and the hanyou looked at the newcomers.

"Hey! Go away and find your own nice smelling person! She's mine!" Kagome shivered at the bold declaration.

"Oh, no, he has her!" Shippou gasped/

"Hm, she doesn't seem to mind," Miroku chuckled and winked at the miko blushing with her cheek pressed against Inuyasha's chest.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. I was working on a batch of new smell pellets and Inuyasha got too close to the smoke..." Sango approached them slowly. Inuyasha, instead of growling or screaming profanities, just held the miko tightly. "He got pretty... Agitated for a while. We pinned him here hoping the effects would wear off before you came back..."

"Uh, it's fine, Sango," Kagome tried to move, but it was impossible in his grip. She glanced up to see Inuyasha looking at her with his head cocked to the side. "He's calm now..." she reached up and caressed one of the fuzzy ears, causing Inuyasha to close his eyes in bliss.

"Oh," Sango suddenly smiled and gave a small nod. "I guess if you don't mind and aren't in any danger here, then we will probably take our leave, right, boys?"

"Most definitely!" Miroku grabbed Shippou. "Inuyasha, don't do anything I wouldn't!"

"And that would be?" the kit looked up at the monk, who smiled brilliantly.

"Don't you dare explaining this to him before he gets his second tail, monk!" Sango yelled and ran after them, casting one last glance at the pair under the Sacred Tree. She smiled briefly, maybe this mishap was going to have good outcomes?"

"Uh..." Kagome was petrified by the implications of all that their friends said and by the fact that Inuyasha's nose was now pressing against the side of her neck. "Inu..."

Inuyasha snored softly.