Kagome woke up like usual, ridden with morning allergies, phlegm and all. She swore that the apartment above hers had cat hair seeping down into the carpet and somehow wiggled its way into Kagome's place. Her bare feet padded lightly against the floor boards as she sniffled into a tissue. She headed straight for the door that lead to the patio.

InuYasha was perched up on the balcony wall, seemingly lost in his thoughts. His balance in that stance was quite impressive.

"Good morning Spidey." Kagome teased. He glanced back at her briefly. Her nose was still red with irritation and her eyes were still reflating from their sleepy state.

"Good morning." He responded simply, going back to staring to the outside world. Kagome leaned against the door frame and folded her arms.

"Why do you always look like you know something I don't, InuYasha?"

He pondered on the question briefly and slid off the wall he was perched upon.

"I apologize."

Kagome sighed. His voice may have not sounded techy, but his responses were nothing but mundane.

"Anyways, I'm just letting you know that I'm going to run a few errands so it's fine if you do your bird-watching thing, just-don't leave like last time, okay?"

"Are you sure you wouldn't like my company?"

Kagome blinked a few times at that response. She hadn't considered risking taking him out in public again. But then again, that's why he was created. Perhaps if he came with her she wouldn't feel the need to have her thumb over her pepper spray constantly. After all, he so kindly had proven he could kick ass if needed. Let's not forget he was fun to look at.

"I'll go get ready." She smiled.

()()()()()()

"So me and Ayumi met in grade school," Kagome announced, before shoving a huge spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. InuYasha was walking beside her; they had just passed by a national park. For the record, he didn't ask about Ayumi. "I hated her, she hated me…It was the perfect friendship." She said in between bites. The way her cheeks puffed up at the too big of bites was kind of cute.

"Was this a part of your errands?" InuYasha pointed at the chocolate Sundae. Kagome swallowed the melted ice cream and blushed.

"I mean…not necessarily-but…" She stirred the ice cream a little and scooped up some and held the spoon up to his mouth. "Want some?"

There wasn't a being on Earth that could have said no to an innocent face like that. He allowed Kagome to spoon-feed him and the act alone caused her to combust on the inside in delight.

The park was pretty packed, considering the time of day. People had picnics set out, kids were chasing each other with random things scattered in the grass. There was a street band that caught Kagome's attention as well. They were situation in the center of the action of the ambient park.

"I love this song!" Kagome screamed, donating the rest of her sundae to InuYasha whether he wanted it or not.

Kagome joined the few people who had circled around the singers and began snapping her fingers to the beat. InuYasha looked down at the chocolate sundae and shrugged, taking in a mouthful as he watched Kagome lose herself in the music. Unbeknownst to him, his own head was bopping to the beat- or perhaps it was the treat.

Kagome giggled at the sight, making her way back to InuYasha. "I knew you knew how to dance!"

"I hardly call that dancing." He insisted with a raise of his eyebrows, putting his head bopping to a stop and rubbed at the acute onset of discomfort coming from his torso.

Kagome blew up at her bangs and sighed. "We'll work on it another time. Come on!" She laced her arm through his and tugged him away from the dance scene.

Kagome led him to the crosswalk, she was aiming for a store she spotted during their slight intermission at the park. Her chest was pressed firmly against his arm as she clung to him. Something about having him near just screamed 'Don't fuck with me, I got a Shikon and he aint afraid to kick ass.'

Unknown to the duo, a woman had been watching them from afar in aw-shock. She almost missed her opportunity to use the cross-walk had it not been for her co-worker. Her eyes remained glued onto the silver hair until they disappeared into a building.

"Is this your errand?" InuYasha asked, noticing that she finally broke away from him to explore the new building they had entered.

She just gave him a cold stare and continued scraping the hangers across the rack. She was glad that he talking now, but she didn't appreciate being called out.

"I noticed you threw away that shirt you were wearing that night. Is it because of what I said?"

"You looked in my trash can?" Kagome's eye was squinting, putting a halt to her browsing of clothes.

"I didn't mean what I said." He continued.

Kagome rolled her eyes and continued her shopping for nothing in particular.

He made no further comment, figuring it was best to just let her be. He scanned the room and found a place to sit amongst other people who also didn't find dragging hangers back and forth across a rack amusing.

Kagome glanced over at him every so often, taking notice of the odd looks he would get. In the bigger provinces, it was more common to see youkais mixed in with humans, and since he looked as such, here it was kind of an odd sight, like a youkai tourist-a brave one at that.

"Or maybe they can tell he's not fucking real, Kagome." Kagome mumbled to herself with a roll of her eyes. But how would they? Even she found it hard to tell. A loud banging on one of the dressing room doors startled her out of her thoughts.

The store manager petulantly unlocked the dressing room door, pulling out an embarrassed couple whose clothes were disheveled.

Kagome recognized both of them and immediately she didn't feel well in the pit of her stomach. Her heart felt like it was being strangled.

"Get the hell out of my store!" The manager barked as the couple ran for the exit, all eyes in the store were on them. Kagome locked eyes with one of them briefly before they escaped. The only sound emanating the room was the background shopping music.

Kagome pressed her fingers against her brow-line in an effort to stop the flow of oncoming tears. Her sundae threatened to come back up from the sudden coughing Kagome had induced.

InuYasha was at her side now. A general look of concern graced his face.

"Kagome? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She didn't sound convincing. She brushed past him and headed for the exit, an obvious storm cloud over her. "Let's just go home."

()()()()()()

InuYasha heard a wail come from the other side of Kagome's bedroom door which his ear was currently pressed up against. He reached for the doorknob, but it was locked.

On the other side, Kagome could not stop crying no matter how hard she tried. Something about angry tears consisted of a higher volume. She was in hero-pose in the middle of her bed. She felt restless and nauseous at the same time.

She heard InuYasha call for her on the other side of the door which only irritated her further. She picked up the nearest pillow and chucked it at the door.

InuYasha jolted back, a growl escaped his lips and his fist clenched. He braced himself before lifting his leg and kicking open the door, busting it off its hinges.

The destruction scared Kagome out of her incontrollable sobbing.

"Did you just fucking break my door?!" Her face was beat red and sloppy with tears. He looked at her like that wasn't the biggest issue right now. Kagome sprung off her bed angrily and reached up in an attempt to press down InuYasha's ears to shut him off. She was not in the mood to deal with artificial intelligence or whatever the hell he was. He grabbed her wrists away from his ears which disgruntled her and forcefully pressed her against his chest.

"Kick me, punch me, scream at me. Whatever helps, Kagome, but I will not leave you in this state alone." He said sternly.

His words confused her swirl of emotions. She contemplated making him subdue with the sit command, but her body disobeyed her and she clung onto him for dear life. Yet again, a fresh batch of tears commenced.

"My best friend." She hiccupped into his chest. "He's with my best friend."

InuYasha's shirt was soaked but he held his stance and gently brushed over Kagome's hair with the palm of his hand.

()()()

Kagome managed to cry herself to sleep, exhaustion taking over more than anything- but that was hours ago. About twenty minutes from her apartment, a figure straddled over another in the middle of the night, nothing seen but a sinister flash of red and blue eyes.

The man on the ground, expectorated blood. His eye was swollen nearly three times its normal size. Chips of his teeth rested beside him on the cool tar of the road.

"Who are you?" He gargled through the viscous blood-saliva mixture spilling from his mouth. "Why did you do this to me?"

The figure stood, rotating his right arm at the elbow. He attempted to speak but held out his pointer finger. He clutched at his stomach and vomited on the ground, chunks of it getting onto the brown-haired victim's shoes. He regained his composure and cleared his throat. That queasy feeling finally went away, it had been there since Kagome fed him that treat.

InuYasha winced at the splatter of his upchuck on the man's shoes, almost wanting to apologize. Clearly that had not been a part of his original plan.

Next Update: 11/09/18