26. AU (Modern AU)

Alt title - Catnapper

Higurashi Kagome had a problem. It was big and fat, had white and brown fur and was sitting high on a branch of the tree growing in the front yard of her house.

"Buyo!" she exclaimed lovingly, waving a piece of chicken meat. "Come here, boy!"

The cat meowed, obviously wanting to reunite with the ground and claim the meat, but not knowing how to do that. He was usually a calm, lazy cat, sticking to the interior of Kagome's house. But since the last Monday, when the vet ordered Kagome to put him on a strict diet he had changed his behavior. First he had refused to eat, then he had a - luckily short - phase where he would leave kitty treasures in flower pots around the house, now he developed a new behavior - since yesterday he was climbing everything he could.

In this case a seven-foot tall tree.

Kagome sighed and looked at the tree like it was all its fault. She didn't even have a ladder she could use!

But the fate smiled upon Higurashi Kagome that moment, when she felt everything was lost. She saw a man riding a bicycle down the sidewalk, passing her house and stopping before the entrance to the neighbouring yard. The man had unusual white hair bound in a thick and long braid, white triangular ears and lean body of someone who was staying fit without overdoing it.

Kagome's brown eyes were following her neighbour as he led his bike to the garage, seemingly oblivious to her staring and Buyo meowing that he was ready to accept the chicken offering. Kagome realized she was looking after her neighbour longingly when he came out of the garage and instead of going home approached the fence separating both yards. He leaned against it and stared back at her, one eyebrow raised, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Um..." Kagome realized what she was doing and looked at her feet as if her bare toes were an utterly new sight to her. "Sorry for staring at you, Mr Taisho, I didn't mean to be rude or anything."

Kagome was living here for last two months, after moving out from her family shrine. From what her other neighbour and friend Sango had told her Inuyasha Taisho was a new one in the neighbourhood as well, living here only a month longer than her, but having less social interactions with everyone. The longest conversation anyone had with him was the discussion about weather Miroku had had with him a few weeks ago. All Kagome knew was that he was an inu hanyou, that he didn't like crowds and - the most important - he was terribly cute with his ears cocked to catch Buyo's meowing.

As soon as Kagome thought that she felt her cheeks warm up.

She meant that the most important thing was he was a fireman.

And a fireman could help her get her cat down from that stupid tree.

"So what's your problem?" asked the potential hero of the day, unaware of Kagome scheming to make him save a kitty cat after his work hours. She took a deep breath and looked up, straight in those unusual, but really pretty eyes. The speech she had in her mind didn't come out as smoothly as it should.

"Buyo... Tree... Fireman, please?"

'Smooth, Kagome, smooth, you will never get him to help you, don't even dream about him talking to you again...'

Inuyasha looked at the blushing woman standing barefoot under a tree with a piece of meat in her hand, dressed in her pjs. Then he looked up to the tree and easily spotted her cat - a fat and lazy feline he had seen from time to time. He looked back at the girl and smirked a little when an idea came to his mind.

Easily the hanyou reached the tree and leapt up. In matter of seconds he was back on his side of the fence, the cat trying to wiggle away from his grasp, but quickly giving up. He gave the stunned girl a cocky grin.

"Oh, thank you!" Kagome exclaimed happily and stepped closer to the fence, hands outstretched to take Buyo in her arms. But the man smirked, a playful glint in his eye.

"Not so fast, miss!" he stepped back. "Pay!"

"P-pay?" Kagome squeaked.

"For the favor. I took your feline down the tree. You pay or never see the cat again, pajamas girl," he grinned when he saw the expression on her face. "I always wanted a kitty," he taunted her further.

"But-but-but...!" Kagome was embarrassed that an almost stranger saw her in her pjs, but at the same time confused and annoyed by his demand. "What do you want?" she asked after a second.

"Food," Inuyasha knew his pretty neighbour was a good cook, no bad food could smell so divine. To his surprise the woman threw her piece of chicken at him. He chuckled darkly and caught the meat. "Not for the cat, for me, silly."

"Give Buyo back!" she demanded. Inuyasha turned on his heels and walked in the direction of his house.

"A home-made dinner is a suitable prize for a man who risked his health climbing to great heights to rescue your cat," he grinned back at her. She folded her hands in front of herself and pouted, but didn't argue. "I'll be at your place at seven, okay?"

And so he did. And, to his surprise, she actually made a real dinner for him, even packed some leftovers for him to take home. Buyo was back in her arms, glad that he had some extra attention. And, even if Kagome secretly was pleased how the dinner went, the girl promised herself to never let that situation repeat.

It didn't happen again. The next day when Inuyasha came back home from work Kagome was standing under her tree dressed in a nice skirt and blouse, her hands on her hips as she was glaring up and mumbling curses at the naughty feline sitting high in the tree.

Inuyasha smiled. He had this sneaky suspicion he wouldn't have to cook dinner for himself for quite some time. And even if he wasn't a very social person, he was looking to talking to his black-haired neighbour more.