Inuyasha drummed his fingers impatiently against his thigh, his other hand currently busy at keeping his chin propped up. He looked around with a half-interested look.
Miroku was preoccupied with his meditating and Shippo was currently play-wrestling with a travel sized Kirara. For a split second Inuyasha considered throwing a rock at the kitsune to start a little argument, but decided against it. He'd just have to pay for it when Kagome got back from bathing with Sango and he really didn't feel like being sat if he could avoid it.
Casting a longing look at the girl's giant backpack he growled and pushed himself up to his feet, growling about girls and their stupid girly habits like bathing and brushing their hair all the time.
"Where are you going Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, his eyes still closed and his hands resting neatly on his knees.
"No where."
"You're going to check on Kagome," it was not a question. Inuyasha grunted in reply, already leaving the campsite.
"I'll go with you," Miroku answered a little too quickly for Inuyasha's taste.
"Not a chance!" The hanyou barked and waited until the monk returned to his former position.
Miroku brought a hand to cover his heart. "I'm offended that you think so little of me."
Inuyasha snorted and pinned a hard look on the dark-haired human. "Stay." Glancing over at Shippo and Kirara, who'd ceased in their play-fight, he instructed them to keep a close watch on Miroku before leaving.
It wasn't long until the fruity smells of Kagome's bathing supplies reached his nose. He kept walking until he could hear their words clearly and stopped walking when he could pick out the individual scents of both girls despite the strong scent of the hot-spring water.
"Oi! Kagome!" He called out, his back to a tree. The talking stopped abruptly and he could clearly hear them splashing around. He smirked. They'd probably sunk deeper into the water and had their arms clasped tightly over their chests.
Pfft, as if I'd stoop so low as to peep in on them.
"What is it Inuyasha!?" Kagome all but growled at him. He bit his tongue to stop the insult that threatened to spill forward.
"Are you almost done yet?" He demanded irritably and shifted into a more comfortable position, "I'm hungry!"
He heard her sigh and could imagine her sharing a look with Sango.
"Almost, give us five minutes!"
"Hurry up!" He ordered impatiently and headed back to the camp again, picturing her coffee colored eyes rolling heavenward.
When he returned, he found Miroku sitting exactly where he'd left him with Shippo and Kirara watching him with unblinking stares.
"Ah, you're back, Inuyasha," Miroku sounded relieved. The two demons had probably been staring at him the entire time.
"Thank you Captain-Obvious," He groused. He'd heard some kid at Kagome's school say that once and found it very befitting for the situation. Miroku frowned at him.
"Fire's almost dead," Inuyasha pointed out in a bored tone.
"I'll go get firewood," Miroku offered, already standing. He was probably in a hurry to get away from the unwavering stares of Kirara and Shippo.
"We'll go with you!" Shippo chirped happily. Kirara mewed her agreement and Miroku sighed.
Inuyasha waited a total of twenty seconds after they'd left before he turned his eyes to the yellow backpack once more. His stomach growled in anticipation when he thought of the ramen that was, no doubt, packed safely inside of it.
Deciding to ignore Kagome's instructions to stay out of her things he crawled over to the bag and slowly unzipped it, expecting said girl to jump out of the trees and point accusingly at him with an 'A-Ha! I caught you red-handed!' When no such thing happened he began to dig through the contents inside.
Cursing when he couldn't find the ramen, he began to remove any items that happened to get in his way. He blushed slightly when he lifted out her change of clothes and immediately stuffed them back inside of the bag. If they got dirty he'd never hear the end of it.
Finally, after removing her notebook, he found the ramen.
"About, friggin' time!" He held his prize up victoriously and tossed the notebook inside which fell open to a full page at his feet. Curiously he looked down at it, looked away, and did a double take.
Written across the top and large letters was '100 Reason Why I Like Inuyasha'. Eyes widening his hold on the noodles loosened and the he dropped the cup. Slowly he reached out and snatched the notebook off of the ground .
He hesitated. He really shouldn't be reading it, becauseif Kagome caught him or found out he'd be as good as dead. Ears twitching he listened to see if she was coming back and gave the air a good sniff. Nothing. He smirked and turned his eyes back to the notebook. What Kagome doesn't know, won't hurt her.
And with that thought in mind he shifted into a more comfortable position and sat down to read what Kagome had written about him. However, the longer he read the redder his cheeks got.
When he finished he snapped the book closed and looked around guiltily. Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara were still gathering firewood and the girls were still out of hearing or smelling range. It took him two seconds more to decide what to do next.
Smirking mischievously to himself, he dug through the miko's backpack once more and extracted a pencil. Flipping to a blank page, he began to write down the words that had been floating around in his mind for the past week.
He'd just finished writing when he heard a branch snap and he rushed to toss everything back into her backpack. He almost sighed in relief when Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara returned with the firewood.
"Oh, it's just you," Inuyasha mumbled.
"Not quite the welcome I was hoping for," Miroku said, "but I'll take what I can get." He smiled when Inuyasha glared at him.
"Miroku?"
"Yes?"
"Why the hell is your cheek all red?" Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest and gave the monk a knowing look. "You just can't stop yourself can you?"
"And next time I won't let you off so easily!" Sango said grumpily while storming into the camp with a towel twisted tightly in her hands, Kagome hot on her heels.
"This was letting me off easily?" Miroku caressed his burning skin and laughed nervously when Sango gave him a death glare.
"About time you got back!" Inuyasha huffed and watched Kagome kneel down next to her bag. Immediately she frowned and turned her frown on him. He looked at her innocently. "What?"
"You were going through my stuff," she accused.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure," Kagome held up the cup of ramen he'd dropped earlier, "Just couldn't wait could you?"
"I was hungry dammit!" His eyes narrowed and she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd stuck his tongue out at her. "What do you want from me woman?"
Smiling, Kagome tossed him the cup and pulled out a bottle of water. "Think you can manage another five minutes of waiting?"
Inuyasha caught the cup easily. "I think I can manage that…..but I ain't makin' no promises!"
Kagome woke up early the next morning. Very early. If it weren't for the sun starting to peek over the trees she would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. Carefully pushing back the flap of her sleeping bag she slipped out and folded it just as carefully back over the sleeping Shippo.
She tiptoed over to her bag as quietly as she could and retrieved her notebook and a textbook to try and make a dent in her homework. Flipping open the book, she paused on the page she'd written her '100 reasons' on seven days ago. Smiling to herself she flipped to the next page, expecting it to be blank, and froze at what she found.
Written somewhat sloppily across the top was '100 Reasons Why I Like Kagome'. Blushing bright red she traced the letters. The handwriting style fit Inuyasha's personality like nobody's business. She blushed even more. This meant that Inuyasha had found her list! She ducked her head in embarrassment, but couldn't ignore the curiosity nagging at her to read it.
Checking to make sure everyone else was still sound asleep, she settled down to read what he had written. Halfway through she had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from squealing, giggling, or both. When she was done she couldn't stop smiling.
Just as she was about to close the notebook, a little message scrawled in the bottom corner caught her eyes.
'Don't sit me for going through your stuff. I was REALLY hungry!'
Kagome laughed at that and tucked the notebook into her backpack as if it were made of glass.
Standing, she brushed off the back of her skirt and looked around. "Inuyasha?" She whispered so as not to wake the others, "Inuyasha? Where are you?"
A presence behind her had the hair on the back of her neck standing on end and when a hand clasped her shoulder she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Kagome? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"Inuyasha, thank goodness!" Whirling around, she held a hand over her pounding heart. "You scared me!"
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"No, nothing like that, I just woke up early that's all. By the way…I found your list."
Eyes widening slightly, he glanced quickly around the camp. "Not here, they might wake up." Taking her hand in his he steered her out of camp and into the forest. When he felt that there was a good distance between them and the campsite he turned around to face her. It took him a minute to realize he still held her hand and he slowly released it.
"If this is about going through your backpack…"
"It's not," she interrupted. She wasn't about to let him weasel his way out of this one. "The list…did you…I mean…why?"
He shrugged a shoulder. "Why not? You wrote one about me didn't you?"
She nodded once and blushed a faint shade of pink. "Did you mean it?"
"Keh, Stupid! Of course I meant it! Why would I write it if I didn't mean it!? Why kind of quest--," he broke of suddenly when she launched herself into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Kagome-wha?"
"Thank you Inuyasha! That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me!" She confessed, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder.
Slowly, he wrapped an arm around her back and gently held her head in place at his shoulder. "I could say the same to you."
They stayed like that for a while and reluctantly, Inuyasha pulled back slightly. "Kagome?"
"Hm?"
"Not a word to anyone else? I'd--I'd never live it down."
Kagome smiled. "You're secret's safe with me." Her hold loosening, she began to step back but stopped when his arms tightened around her.
"Who said you could let go?" Inuyasha practically glared at her. Kagome's smile widened and she hugged him again.
Inuyasha smiled as well and rested his chin on top of her head. "Could you do me a favor?"
"What is it?"
"Can I have your list?"
"Consider it yours."
Later that same day, Shippo sat in the basket of Kagome's basket and watched as everyone bustled around, getting ready to leave. Kagome was securing her backpack to the back of the bike, Sango was removing evidence of their campfire, and Miroku was watching her backside…and reaching for it…and…
'SMACK'
Shippo winced and watched as the monk nursed his glowing check. Glancing over at Inuyasha, the only one besides him not doing anything, a flash of gold captured his interest and he did a double take.
Glimmering in the sun was the golden locket Inuyasha always wore nowadays, but that's not what had Shippo staring.
"Hey Inuyasha?"
"What?" He growled, turning irritated amber colored eyes on him.
"Why do you have a piece of paper hidden in your clothes?" He pointed at the offending corner of folded paper that poked out from beneath the red jacket.
"None of your business!" And he reached up to tuck it more securely underneath the fire-rat robe.
Frowning in confusion, Shippo watched Kagome and Inuyasha exchange embarrassed expressions. He shrugged and shoved the lollipop he'd been saving into his mouth. Today…was going to be an interesting day.
A/N again: So much for the end, right? I'm not going to say it this time, because I may be hit by inspiration again. Thanks for reading!