A/N: Since I had it done for Forest Spirit and seemed to be liked by my readers there - do you want me to make a yt playlist for this story so you can read to the same music I write to?
Beta: Cstorm86

The Girl Goes Shopping

The next day Kagome woke up groggy and tired - which was no surprise after spending a part of her 'sleep time' playing Go with her grandpa, who had devoured the cake that she had hoped to save for today lunch. Still, she couldn't hold it against him, after all he wasn't privy to her mother's baking too often.

Kagome sighed and crawled out of the warmth of her bed to dress and make herself look proper. She glared at the pile of stuff to sort and put away later, but first she had to eat breakfast and perform her duties around the house and shrine.

As she entered the kitchen she found her grandfather standing in front of an open cabinet with an instant ramen cup in hand.

"Good day," he smiled brilliantly and went to a bowl to dump his ramen into it. "Slept well? Did you have any dreams? First night in a new place dreams are special, you know?"

Kagome rubbed her face and went to make coffee for herself.

"I dreamed I was a mermaid," she muttered, not very excited about the whole idea of important prophetic dreams. "It'd be kinda hard to be a mermaid living on a mountainside, huh?"

"A being who lives on the border of two worlds," the shrine keeper poured water into his ramen and handed her the kettle so she could fill her cup. "Not one, nor another, interesting... I'm almost sure we have a mermaid's tail fins in our storage room, remind me to show them to you later."

"Yeah, sure," Kagome sat by the table and took a sip of life from her coffee. 'Goodness, how can grandpa be so energetic so early? It should be banned... And I'm sure he doesn't drink coffee, too... Life is so unfair...'

"What are you plans for today?" he asked as he sat down to eat his breakfast. Kagome glared at it.

"I need to finish unpacking and go to the shop," she said and looked into her grandfather's face. "I saw the contents of the cabinets," she stated grimly. Yes, she had went through them while making her grocery shopping list and - as much as she understood how convenient it was to eat instant food - she wanted to make some changes. Her grandfather wasn't a good cook, but now it'd be her task to feed them both. "But it all can wait if you have some stuff for me to do."

Her grandfather shook his head.

"Nothing that can't be done later. Better go shopping before the weather gets nasty. I heard there's a storm coming in the afternoon."

With that warning in mind Kagome left the shrine as soon as possible, riding on her old bicycle to go to the small village that nestled on the mountainside and had the nearest convenience store. It wasn't far and she enjoyed the road through the forest, despite the fact that it wasn't one of the smoothest ones. She tried to push away the knowledge that her way back wouldn't be so nice because she'd have to go up the mountainside.

The village was pretty small, but decently prosperous, the villagers farmed sheep and goats or worked for local businesses; like an onsen that was pretty popular. Still, the place wasn't overflowing with tourists like some resorts. Kagome had visited the village and the onsen a lot of times in the past, it was just behind the corner from the shrine and it was literally the closest place where people lived.

The store was located toward the end of the village closer to the shrine, so it took her no time to get there and park her bike in front of it. Soon she was pushing an iron cart in front of herself and gathering supplies.

She was in the pet food alley when that man came to talk to her.

He was a couple of years older, rather handsome and dressed in nice clothes. Judging by his looks he was a foreigner, probably a tourist staying in the hotel near the onsen. She glared at him from the can of cat food she was holding when he came to stand on the edge of her personal space bubble and saw his piercing blue eyes looking straight into her own. Then he flashed her a wide smile and casually leaned against the shelf.

"Hi there," he said in a pretty fluent Japanese. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"Buying cat food," she shrugged and reached for another can to add it into the cart. She hated people who woulf approach total strangers and stare at them like that guy was, with the look clearly telling that he was looking down at her and was pretty full of himself. "If you need help you should go to the shop staff," she pointed in direction of the front of the shop.

"I'd rather stay with you." he shrugged and flashed her a charming smile. His next words were half a question, half a statement. "I'll help you shop, so you can go grab some lunch with me?"

"Excuse me?" Kagome stared at the man, almost dropping a bag of dry cat food on her foot.

"I came to visit my uncle here for a couple of weeks and you're the prettiest girl in this place," he explained himself. "So I thought it'd be great to hang around and stuff."

Kagome glared at the man coldly. The previous summer Eri had had a boyfriend who was a rich boy from France, spending vacations in Japan. He had been pretty okay, until he had decided to break up with her, telling her that it had been just a fun summer adventure, but it hadn't been meant to last after his return to France.

It had taken weeks for Eri to get over this.

"Not interested," she replied coldly. "I don't want to associate with people like you. Good day," with that she turned and left the aisle, going to find the noodle stand. She had planned for the shopping trip to be fun and refused to get annoyed at that boy.

Tom took a few steps, intent on following the pretty, petite girl. He wasn't sure why his charm didn't work on her, but knew he could woo her, usually he had girls wrapped around his finger in under five minutes. This one wouldn't be a challenge once she listened to his sappy story of healing his broken heart. Chicks liked to help tend to hurt sensitive guys.

His eyes followed the long ponytail of the girl when she turned left at the end of the aisle. And then the air in front of him waved like it uses to do in great heat. Tom stumbled backwards with a silent cry.

A huge white dog, bigger than Great Dane or any other breed Tom heard about, was crouching in the place where a minute ago there hadn't been anything at all. It seemed to fill the whole world with its threatening presence, towering over the boy. The beast's fur was bristling, jaws full of long, sharp teeth, claws scratching the tile floor. Saliva was dripping from huge fangs as the creature lowered itself, readying itself to attack.

But the worst were its eyes - burning like twin suns, deadly and malevolent. They brought to Tom the memory of his aunt, who was Japanese, telling him about yama inu, spirits that watched travelers and killed those who stumbled on a mountain path. She was one of those people who believed in all those crazy folklore stores. Tom used to poke fun at her for that, but right now he was believing her wholeheartedly.

A low growl brought Tom out of his stupor and the boy didn't waste any more time. With a cry he turned on his heels, intent on running away from the beast. Before he could make more than a handful of steps he tripped over something and fell to the floor.

"Please, don't kill me!" he squeaked out when something heavy pressed against his back, like a hand preventing him from getting up. His hands flew to cover his head.

"Don't approach the miko again, human," whispered a growling voice next to his ear. "Leave this mountain, I hate your stench."

"Yes, I promise I will!" he felt the weight lift. Mere seconds later a handful of customers and a member of the shop staff came running to see what was the cause of his screams.

.

Kagome approached the tiny line of customers waiting for the cashier to come back. She had went through her list twice to make sure she had everything.

"Where's the cashier?" she asked an old lady standing in front of her.

"A boy fainted in the shop area and they had to call his family to get him," she explained and added in a hushed voice. "I heard he tripped and was mumbling something about yama inu attacking him before fainting," she shook her head. "Those silly kid these days, yama inu don't venture into villages."

"Yeah, they stick to forests and mountain roads," Kagome nodded and received a pleased smile from the woman. She guessed that the old lady was glad she agreed with her on the youkai lore.

The cashier returned shortly after and soon Kagome was riding home with her bags tied to all parts of her bike where a bag could be tied to without rendering the vehicle useless.

When she reached the shrine she no longer remembered the foreigner who had wanted to take her to lunch. She had other things to do.

As the girl hauled her shopping inside and closed the door, a huge white dog proudly walked through the red gate, his tail raised proudly up, his ears perked and a smug expression on his furry face.

'It sure was more fun than escorting the old fart,' the dog thought before going to have a well-deserved nap under the Sacred Tree.

A/N: And yet again Inu managed to go unseen by his charge. Who knows for how long he can keep that up?