Chapter 1

Modern Inconvenience

Lifting her head from the textbook, Kagome groaned in exasperation.

"Why do I have to learn all this crap! I'm not even a priestess!"

The little seven-year old girl pushed herself away from her desk, and the little eight-year old boy watching from her doorframe, rolled his eyes.

"Who cares if you're not one! You have to learn it, so just shut up and get to studying, wench!"

Pouting, the girl walked over to him and tugged on his arm.

"Come on, InuYasha! Play with me!"

Yanking his arm away from her, he watched her fall to the ground.

"Look! It ain't my job to play with you! All I'm supposed to do is protect you, so do your studying and stop pestering me!"

Looking up at the silver-haired boy, tears welled in her eyes as her chin shook. She didn't know why he started hating her so much, but all she ever wanted was to be his friend again.

"Why do you have to be so mean to me? All I want is to be friends again, Inu."

"Don't call me that!"

"Why?! We used to play with each other all the time and I've always called you that!"

He was irritated beyond belief, but a small part of him wished he would play with her like they did before.

"Your job is to learn all there is to know about being a priestess, and my job is to protect you. End of story."

His cool demeanor did nothing to squelch the sobs of little Kagome. Slamming the door on his face, she ran over and hurled herself on the bed.

"Stupid, InuYasha! We used to be friends, and he was so kind. I liked being with him so much! Now, he's just a mean jerk!"

…..

The hanyou in question could hear every word and felt his eye twitch. Stupid girl! She needed to get over this and get on with her duties!

Walking down the long hallway, InuYasha ran right into Rin, Kagome's nine-year old sister and the oldest Higurashi sibling. However, he didn't get a chance to apologize before his oldest brother, Sesshomaru had him by the neck.

"What do you think you're doing, half-breed? Shouldn't you be guarding Kagome?"

Rin lightly touched his arm, "come on, Sessh. Let him go, you know it was an accident."

Turning to her, Sesshomaru's cold eyes warmed slightly and he dropped his littlest brother on the floor.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again."

He walked off, but paused when Rin wasn't by his side. Instead, she knelt beside InuYasha.

"You know, Kagome has always called you her best friend. She holds you dear to her heart. Whatever it is, I'm sure you can make up."

Getting up off the ground, he hid his face from her. Rin and Sesshomaru can play the 'friend' game all they want, but InYasha didn't want to pretend like they had a choice anymore.

"It's best for her to think of me as a wall ornament, because I'm not her friend."

Oh, the joys of timing, for none other than his second older brother, Miroku, and the eight-year old Higurashi sibling, Sango, came trapesing up.

"Rin, is everything okay, Sis?"

Shaking her head, she smiled at her second youngest sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sesshomaru and I were just about to take a stroll in the garden. Would you two like to join us?"

Sango side glanced at Miroku who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Sure! Why not?"

The four left InuYasha to walk back to Kagome's room. Leaning against the wall, he closed his eyes and hated his father for telling him the real reason for their existence. Everything was fine before, perfect even… then reality came crashing down. How could his brothers still act so happy about everything?! Didn't they feel the world caving in?! The chain on the leash tightening?!

….

(ten years later)

"Kagome! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

InuYasha leaned on the outside palace wall in his red t-shirt and jeans looking at his charge, from the garden, walking the balcony ledge. Of all the hair-brained things she could be doing! And in a spaghetti strap mini-dress that left nothing to the imagination. He could even see her light pink lacey panties.

She rolled her eyes as she scaled the balcony. Stupid InuYasha, why did he always have to ruin everything?

"I'm enjoying myself! Maybe you should try it sometime!"

Balancing precariously, she aimed her bow at the farthest tree in the garden and focused all her power into the arrow. Taking a deep breath in, she exhaled and let it fly. Kagome watched her arrow, awash with purple light, buzz through the sky, hit the tree, and light it up before the purple hue faded.

"Made it."

Feeling proud, she made her way off the balcony wall, but didn't realize how far off balance her left foot was, and started to fall.

InuYasha sneered in annoyance as his charge fell. Quicker than Kagome knew he could move, InuYasha swiped her up and threw her on the grassy floor, ignoring her dress riding up to her hips in the process.

"Ow! Why can't you be nice for once?!"

Growling low in his throat, he glared at the girl, no, woman before him. All the years they spent together and she still didn't get it.

"It's not my job to be nice! It's my job to keep you breathing! Nothing more and nothing less!"

Standing up, she glared just as hard at him as she brushed off her mini-dress.

"Well you can take your 'job' and shove it up your ass!"

Stomping away from him, she screamed out her frustrations as she entered the great hall of their palace. She didn't want to see the smiling faces of her sisters and their protectors, but there they all were.

Sango jumped up immediately, Miroku in tow.

"Kagome! What happened?! Is everything alright?"

She swore to herself, that day long ago, that InuYasha would never again see her cry. Now away from him, she let out the tears of frustration.

"That InuYasha is such a jerk! Okay so I was scaling the balcony and he had to catch me, but why does he have to be so mean about everything?!"

Sesshomaru walked up to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"For some reason, InuYasha took it rather hard when he discovered his purpose in life. Miroku and I can't understand why, but this is how he's chosen to act because of it."

"But I'm not responsible for this! Why is he blaming me?!"

No one knew what to say and Rin came up to hold her baby sister. That half-demon had a way of getting under Kagome's skin more than anyone else ever could.

"There, there. It will be alright. He'll calm down and be his usual self in no time."

Kagome stilled at that. She didn't want him to be his 'usual self'. She wanted the old InuYasha that would smile and swing her around, the one that was happy before finding out he was stuck… with… her.

"Oh, God! I know why he acts the way he does."

Everyone stared as Kagome lifted a shaky hand to her mouth. The realization hit her like a giant mac truck, and her heart broke.

"He hates knowing that he's stuck with me. He can't stand me so much, because he hates living out his life protecting me. I-I-I can't take this."

With that, Kagome sprinted off to her room and slammed the door shut. Sliding down the wood, she allowed herself to weep. It felt like all she did sometimes, but that's how deep InuYasha wedged himself in her heart before his 'talk' with his dad.

"I release you, InuYasha. I don't want you to protect me anymore."

…

A few hours later, InuYasha walked into the great hall, and proceeded to get glares from everyone. He keh'd, rolled his eyes, and took a seat on the big couch.

His brothers went back to taking care of Rin and Sango. Sesshomaru had Rin sitting between his legs as she read a book while he rubbed her back, Miroku had an arm wrapped around Sango as she leaned into him while eating a small dinner.

It was official, he lived in a crazy house where nothing made sense to him. Shaking his head, he went for some steak and began chowing down.

"InuYasha?"

Rin looked up from her book, fully aware of the way he was staring at them a moment ago.

"Would you mind terribly bringing a plate to Kagome? She didn't come down for dinner."

Crossing his arms, he turned his head, "why do I have to be the one to bring it?"

This time it was Miroku who piped up, but not before hitting his little brother upside the head.

"Because she's your responsibility so stop being an idiot!"

Getting up, he grabbed the premade plate and made his way up the stairs to Kagome's room. Knocking, he waited for the beautifully irritating girl to open it, but she didn't come. Again, he rapt on the door a little harder…still no Kagome.

Setting the food down on the floor, he kicked the door in and stared in shock at the empty room. Looking from one corner to the other, he couldn't see her anywhere!

"Kagome? Where are you, wench? Don't play games, with me. Come on out!"

Walking around, InuYasha inhaled her intoxicating aroma, mixed with the smell of tears, and sighed. That day, ten years ago, was the last time he was allowed in her room and so much had changed. Her bedding was no longer flowers, but a deep violet with light pink and aqua colored accent pillows. Her walls were still the natural stone, but drawings adorned a good portion of space. Did she do these?

He came to one that was quite unexpected. It was a drawing of him with a small smirk on his face, something Kagome never saw, something he couldn't remember the last time ever doing. Walking around some more, he got to her closet and a lump formed in his throat as his gut lurched. She had taken most of her clothes and, jerking his head to the window, he looked down to see a sheet rope. Real original, Kagome.

Without speaking to anyone, InuYasha ran through the palace and out the door. He had to find her, right? Slowing his pace, he looked around at the many stores and something occurred to him, this was the one and only time he'd been out of the palace without Kagome, and the first time he felt the leash around his neck loosen some. Maybe he could enjoy himself before finding her.