"Alright guys, we'll rest here for tonight," Inuyasha said gruffly. Turning around to face the others he hid his hands in his sleeves. "Get some rest because we're leaving early in the morning. We've got a lot of ground to cover."
Giving a silent relieved sigh, Kagome lifted her foot to put down the kick-stand of her bike only to find it missing. Oh yeah...it'd been knocked off in a fight one week prior. Rolling her eyes she propped the thing up against a tree and dragged her backpack off the back, grunting against the effort of keeping her balance with the extra weight.
"Why does this thing always have to be so darn heavy?" She complained to herself after dropping it down on the ground a few feet away.
"Because you're always carrying those stupid books around that's why." Inuyasha answered bitterly from behind her.
"They're not stupid Inuyasha, they're important! I need them to study so that I can pass my classes," she argued while digging through her bag for her math book.
"Why?" Inuyasha sniffed. He turned his head away disapprovingly, but kept his attention on the girl.
"We've had this discussion before," she answered curtly, "you know why. If I don't pass, I don't graduate. If I don't graduate I can't support myself in the future and if I can't support myself..." she paused, "let's just say if I can't support myself, it won't be good."
"Why would you need to support yourself if I—we're supporting you?" Inuyasha corrected himself.
Pausing in her book hunt Kagome looked up at the hanyou a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "It's not really needing to support myself," she spoke thoughtfully, choosing her words carefully, "I just want to be able to support myself. It's a matter of feeling independent. Y'know?"
"Keh, whatever." Spinning on his heel, he took a few steps before crouching and leaping up into a tree branch suspended over their campsite. (Miroku, Sango, and Shippo had managed to get a fire started already) Kagome looked up at him, or at least where he was sitting as he was hidden by the leafs. Then, turning her attention away she cracked her math book open.
The words swam before her eyes and meshed together in a blurry mess. Blinking a few times she looked up and studied the campsite. Shippo was playing with Kirara, Sango was polishing Hiraikotsu, Miroku was nursing a red and stinging cheek (she shook her head here), and Inuyasha was, as previously noted, up in a tree as usual.
Turning back to the text book she tried to focus on the equations again, but they continued to swim before her eyes. Propping her head up on her hand, she let her thoughts wander and found them wandering to the subject of a certain silver-haired half demon. She just couldn't get what he'd said, or rather what he'd almost said before he corrected himself, out of her head. Sometimes he was just so cute! Especially when he tried to play it tough afterwards. And his ears...his ears were adorable!
Shaking her head, she pulled her notebook out to do her homework, but when she raised her pencil to the paper it wasn't numbers that appeared, it was a rough sketch of Inuyasha. Frustrated with herself, Kagome glared at nothing in particular. Tapping her lips with her forefinger thoughtfully she grinned when an idea struck her and she started to number the paper.
She was going to make a list of the things she liked about Inuyasha. Maybe after words she would be able to concentrate...
1. The way he smells
2. The way his shoulder feels when he offers it to her
3. The way his arms fit perfectly around her
4. Because he's warm no matter how cold the weather is
5. He protects her
6. How cute he looks when he's irritated
7. How cute he looks when they argue
8. How immature he acts with Shippo
9. His ears!!
10. The way she misses him when she's in her time
11. His heart and how big it is, even if he tries to hide it
12. The way he cares for his friends
13. The way he watches out for her
14. The way he gets jealous whenever Kouga's around
15. The way his eyes light up when she brings him ramen
16. His eyes
17. The way he caresses her hair
18. The way his hair feels
19. The way he looks when he's sleeping
20. The way he braces himself right before he's about to be sat
21. The way he calls out her name in battle
22. The way he says her name
23. The way he trusts her
24. The way he holds her tightly but gently when he carries her
25. The disapproving look he gives her homework
26. His expression when he's sorry
27. When he actually says he's sorry
28. The way he almost says he missed her when she comes back
29. The few times he does say he missed her
30. How he always comes to fetch her from her time
31. How he waits for her on those rare occasions when he doesn't come to get her
32. His stubbornness
33. His strength
34. His courage
35. The way he watches her when he thinks she isn't looking
36. The way her heart jumps when she thinks he got hurt
37. The way he smirks victoriously when he didn't get hurt
38. His smirk
39. The way he smiles for her
40. The way he smiles
41. How he looks when he eats
42. How arrogant he is (no matter how annoying the trait)
43. The way he yells at her to cover up the fact that he was worried sick
44. The way he always saves her when she's in trouble
45. How he always catches her when she falls (physically and metaphorically speaking)
46. How he checks her temperature when she's sick
47. How he gives her his coat when it's cold
48. The way he scolds her when she does or says something stupid
49. The way his ears twitch when he's embarrassed
50. The way he defends and fights for those who can't fight for themselves
51. The way he tosses his head when his hair is in the way
52. The way he worries about her
53. How much fun he has when she teaches everyone a new game
54. The way he torments Buyo
55. He looks out for Sota
56. He cares for her family
57. The curious expression he has when they walk through the city
58. That he is her best friend
59. The way he looks when he's relaxed
60. How he plays "though guy"
61. How he's really a softy deep down
62. How he thinks he's her big protector when she is really his
63. The way he looks when he's frustrated
64. His laugh when she gets to hear it
65. How important his opinion is to her
66. The way he is always there for her
67. How he fights with Tetsusaiga
68. How he looks when she does something to surprise him
69. How he always seems to make her blush even if it was unintentionally
70. How he says something to comfort her when she's feeling down and ends up saying something that makes it worse
71. How it actually cheers her up when he comforts her and makes it worse because he was trying
72. The way he hugs her
73. How safe and warm she feels when he's close by
74. The way her hand fits perfectly in his
75. How he listens to her when she needs to be heard
76. The way he worries about her
77. The way he keeps watch over her and their friends
78. The way he won't let anyone, but him pick on Shippo
79. The way he rolls his eyes when Miroku acts perverted
80. His warmth
81. How cute he looks when he's smug about something
82. How he tilts his head slightly when he's confused
83. How his ears flatten to his head when he feels guilty
84. His persistence
85. His loyalty
86. The way her heart leaps when she climbs out of the well and sees him
87. The sound of his voice
88. The way she can tell his footsteps apart from everybody else's
89. He understands her when other people can't
90. The way he relaxes under her touch
91. The way he relaxes when she bandages his wounds
92. How he never hurts her, even when he's full demon
93. The way he can comfort her, just by being there
94. How he's interested when she talks about the future (when it's not school, Hojo, or homework)
95. How stupid he can be at times
96. How annoyingly cute it is when he complains
97. How annoying he can be
98. The way he knows when she needs him even if she doesn't say anything
99. That he is Inuyasha
100. That Inuyasha is everything to her
Rereading the list and then rereading it again, Kagome smiled to herself. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't have to be and that's why she liked it so much. This paper was for her and her alone...at least until she decided other wise. She glanced over her math homework again and deciding that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on it at all that week, she tucked her list away safely, still smiling.
Closing the book with a snap, she stretched her arms above her head and stretched the kinks out of her muscles at the same time. "Finally, I'm done!" Pushing the book aside, she looked up at Inuyasha curiously, head titled slightly to the right in curiosity. "Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha grunted, "what is it?"
Smoothing the non-existent wrinkles out of her skirt, she got to her feet and walked over to him until she stood at the base of his tree. "What are you thinking about?"
"Something important...Kagome..." he answered absentmindedly.
Turning, Kagome leaned her back against the tree. She smiled. "Yeah...me too."
A/N: The End! That's all folks! No more! Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading!!