A/N: See? Still alive and kicking!
Beta: Cstorm86

The Miko Meets the Dog

Kagome was sitting on the moss-covered root of the Sacred Tree, her brown eyes wide and not moving away from the hanyou crouched not further than two meters away from her. Hiro could easily see that the staring didn't help the irate boy reign in his annoyance.

"Kagome, dear, are you alright?" he asked, hoping to break the shock of the young woman.

Kagome twitched when she heard her grandfather calling her name. She tore her eyes from the glaring yellow-eyed individual to look at the old man, who offered her a reassuring smile.

"He's a youkai," she said. Her grandfather gave a nod while the boy scowled. "Is he real?"

"Should I pull your hair to prove my realness?" said the boy dryly.

"Technically, Inuyasha is a hanyou, but he's been blessed with power and abilities surpassing those of many youkai that walk the world," her grandfather said. Kagome noticed a twinkle of pride in yellow eyes that were still observing her with unnerving intensity. She couldn't help the thought that he was silently challenging her to cross her mind.

Kagome knew quite a few stories featuring youkai and ghosts, after all she was a member of a family of shrine keepers. She had never thought too much about them before. She wasn't one of the people who were firmly stating youkai couldn't exist, after all there were a lot of things in the world science couldn't explain yet and youkai and other supernatural beings could be one of them. But to see a youkai from so close was definitely something else. There was no doubt that he was real.

Her grandfather was seated next to her, a smug smirk on his face as he looked between the youkai - the hanyou - and her. She thought he had all rights to be smug - he had been the one who was always telling her that youkai were real, even if no one had seen any since the days of legends. Seeing him so calm and relaxed helped her feel calmer as well, it looked like he didn't fear the supernatural being and she guessed she shouldn't as well. After all, he was still only glaring at them.

Her gaze drifted again to the squatting young man. His hair was much thicker and longer than hers, as she realized with a bit of envy. It seemed to shine in the dappled light. On top of his head of hair were seated two dog ears and, as much as they looked strange on an - otherwise normal shaped - man, Kagome thought they looked cute and soft as well. The other feature that was drawing attention, beside his rather handsome looks - were his eyes of radiant yellow. He was looking at her and Kagome realized that there was little of the anger that had been there before. He was sizing her up just like she was him, a tentative curiosity was clear in his expression. As she was looking at him she could almost see something wrapped tightly around him, like an aura tinted with red. There was no malice there, but easy to explode temper and unease. The scowl on his face deepened with every second of their mutual silent staring. She had admit it, he looked pretty threatening.

"Fear not, Kagome," he grinned. "Inuyasha here, despite being part youkai, is the shrine guardian and will protect you against any and all that might come after you or the shrine. He means you no harm."

"Believe me, you'd be dead already if I did," supplied the hanyou and grinned, exposing his fangs. Kagome's eyes widened for a second, but then she saw a twinkle of playfulness and challenge in his eyes and realized that he was teasing her. Her grandfather wagged a finger at the boy as if to scold him for scaring her, so she glanced at the dog-eared boy aloofly while turning to the old shrine keeper for more explanation.

"Uh... Like a bodyguard...?" she asked, tilting her head a little.

"You can think about it that way," the old man shrugged.

"Feh, more like an inugami. You know what that is, huh?" Inuyasha spoke again in his raspy, low voice. Kagome gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.

"Don't tell me our ancestors killed a dog to..." she breathed out.

"Of course not," her grandfather assured her and put a hand on her shoulder. "According to the shrine annals roughly around five centuries ago one of our ancestors had a dream in which the deity warned them about Inuyasha's arrival and soon after the hanyou came to become our family and the shrine's guardian. I tried to make him tell me about that time, but as you will soon learn, Inuyasha doesn't let people too close and rarely shares a story from the past. And it's such a pity, because he saw so many fascinating things!"

"Feh, you're just trying to put your nose where it doesn't belong," the hanyou grumbled while looking away. Kagome couldn't help but smile, he looked just like a normal boy not wanting to tell his parent what he was up to.

"Anyway, since that time he was always the guardian of the shrine and the one who was running it, protecting them and lending a hand whenever it was needed. And since now you're the shrine keeper, dear Kagome, it is time for you to become Inuyasha's master, with all perks and downs of this. Anyway, there's no time like the present to finalize the bond between you two."

"Uh, grandpa..." Kagome started. She wasn't sure how she felt about learning how real youkai were and that one was living for centuries in her family shrine, learning that she was supposed to be his mistress was a bit too much too fast for her liking. "It's a little too much... I never expected anything like this... Can't this finalizing - whatever it is - wait? And do I have to..."

"Kagome..." started her grandfather, but the hanyou, who had been rather out of the conversation so far, shook his head and growled at them both.

"You're an idiot," he told Kagome, his ears laid back in annoyance. "You are the shrine keeper and have reiki, you're bound to draw attention soon, both human and youkai. You don't hafta be bound to me, I don't care, there's still your brother when a youkai kills you. Unless, of course, you are able to protect yourself, which I doubt after watching you for a while."

"Inuyasha!" the old man exclaimed while Kagome bit her bottom lip and paled. Was it all really that serious?

"What? There's no use to sugar coat it for her. She's the Higurashi shrine keeper, she has to man up and take the mantle. Gods know she will see and hear worse."

"I thought..." Kagome said softly, silencing both angry men. "I thought that I was going to be just a regular shrine keeper, selling good luck charms and tending to the shrine..."

"Regular shrine keepers who have reiki battle youkai and keep them out of the human world. And they defend their shrines, because they have lots of artifacts and sealed shit there. Not mentioning the fact that youkai like to devour those who have spiritual powers. I guess they think you're a delicacy," Inuyasha said, his voice strangely soft when he looked at her again. "Listen, wench, you don't have to fight, but I need to be linked to your reiki if I want to retain my ties to the beads and be the shrine guardian to fight for you. The old man's influence on them is fading and it wasn't strong to begin with."

"It was plenty to subdue you for comments like that," Kagome's grandfather grumbled. Kagome looked from her balled fists resting in her lap to look at the hanyou who was now squatting right in front of her. He wasn't scowling anymore, there was a genuine concern and determination in his amber eyes. He didn't even turn his head to glare at the old man. She noticed a rosary wrapped around the hanyou's neck, it was glowing very faintly.

"Let me protect you," the boy in front of her whispered, his voice soft, but solemn.

A/N: Will Kagome agree to bond to Inuyasha? How will the ritual go? Will the author poke fun at Kamisama Kiss or will she resist the temptation?