A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story.
And special thanks for my beta - Cstorm86

The Girl and Her Peace Offering

It was sunset and the shrine was already closed for the visitors for the day. Kagome changed into a shirt and sweatpants before descending to the kitchen. As she worked on the supper she looked out of the window and her sight was drawn to the Sacred Tree that dwarfed the rest of the trees around it.

She sighed and resumed her work. It was the second night of her being the official Higurashi mistress of the family shrine guardian, but she hadn't seen him from that fateful meeting the other day.

He was nearby, she could sense him, often she saw the results of his actions - like today, after sleeping in, she had found the yard swept and in good shape for the approaching worshipers. Still, no ear nor tail of the hanyou in sight.

Her grandfather had been the one who had answered her questions that followed the scene under the Sacred Tree. He had told her a bit about the hanyou and the more supernatural duties of a shrine keeper, how she would be asked for help in dealing with youkai and other beings out of legends. In performing those tasks the help of a powerful hanyou was going to be essential, otherwise she wasn't expected to have any contact with the hanyou if she didn't want to. Her grandfather had told her that she could become his friend in time, treat him as equal but if she wanted to she didn't have to, as long as she wasn't mistreating him.

'As if I could ask him to risk his life in a fight for me and not treat him as an equal,' she thought dryly. Then she returned in her mind to that time when she had made the mistake.

Kagome glanced at her grandfather, the old man smiling at her. Then she looked at the hanyou squatting in front of her.

"What am I supposed to do to finalize the bond?" she asked Inuyasha. She supposed it'd be rude to ask grandpa, since she was going to form the bond with this supernatural being.

"Give me your hand," Inuyasha demanded and when Kagome obliged, he grabbed her by her wrist and pressed the tip of his claw to her palm. Her eyes widened when she felt a little pang of pain and when he lifted his claw she saw a bead of blood forming in her palm. He glanced up at her, as if to make sure she wasn't going to freak out on him.

Kagome had to admit, she was a bit shocked by his action, but was more curious than afraid, even after seeing her own blood. He seemed so focused and moved with calm, sure movements, that calmed her. And it looked like he could read this calm in her face, because he gave a small nod and pulled her hand towards the beaded rosary hanging around his neck. Soon her fingers were curled around the smooth, cool beads, a magatama poking her palm. As she looked at the beads they seemed to shine pink in the sunlight for a moment, but when she blinked they were back to red and ivory.

She looked up to the hanyou's face, expecting him to say something, but he just licked his finger and then smeared his saliva over the tiny wound he had caused her. Kagome wiped her hand as soon as it was free of his hold, much to grandfather's merriment. She glared at the old man, who poked his own palm with a finger, prompting her to look at the spot where her skin had been broken. She blinked when she saw no trace of a wound and turned to Inuyasha just to find him with his head bowed low, his ears swiveling and twitching to each and every sound around him.

It wasn't her fault her hands got a mind of their own and found purchase on those fuzzy little triangles without her consent or notice.

Her fingertips barely grazed the divine softness of the fuzzy fur when she heard a sound between a startled yelp and a growl, that gave her pause.

Last thing she saw of Inuyasha was the white tail of a humongous canine disappearing in the foliage.

Kagome sighed yet again, her body going through the motions of preparing the meal while her mind wandered. Her grandfather insisted on her training archery and meditation to strengthen and direct her reiki and Kagome was thankful for his guidance, but also unsure if she could actually fight. Blessing and cleansing would be no problem, but shoot arrows in a battle? She bit her bottom lip.

After she finished the dinner preparation she took the bowl she put aside and walked out of the room. Carefully she made her way into the forest and to the foot of the Sacred Tree, where she set the bowl on the ground and took the lid off of it. The smell of hot soup filled the crisp air and almost immediately she felt youki nearing the meadow, but not approaching entirely.

"Inuyasha," she said aloud, hoping he could hear her. "I'm sorry for offending you. Please, accept this peace offering and don't stay away. I'd really like to talk to you..."

She yelped in surprise and jumped back when the hanyou leaped down the tree limb and landed in a crouch just in front of her. Kagome was about to yell at him for startling her, but the look of confusion and surprise on his face made her stay quiet.

"You wanna me what?" he asked and Kagome lowered her head. It wasn't the best time to yell at him. The boy was obviously confused and annoyed. She guessed she would be too if someone groped her ears. But was it her fault they were so cute?

"I... Uh... I'm sorry for ruining the ritual and grabbing your ears." she said. "I apologize and promise not to impose on your personal space without a permission. Please, don't be angry with me. It all is still so new to me, I feel overwhelmed and could use a friend. I do want to be a good partner, even if I have a lot of these spiritual things to learn... I hope we could be friends and that you'd help me a little?" she glanced up to gauge his reaction and saw the dumbfounded boy staring at her, apparently speechless. But the angry scowl was gone, the boy looked younger when his features weren't set in a look of annoyance. "So... What do you say? Can we do the ritual and be friends, Inuyasha?"

He still didn't say anything and Kagome felt her anxiety rise. From her grandfather's stories - that she was now more inclined to believe in - there were many youkai she really would prefer not to have to deal with on her own. Besides, Inuyasha was living in the shrine, it would be better to get along. The thought that she could actually kick him out of her home never came to her mind.

She sank to her knees in front of him and pulled a small kitchen knife out of her pocket. She was about to press the tip of the blade to the palm of her hand to make a tiny cut, but before she could do that the knife was snatched out of her hand and embedded to the hilt in the nearest tree that wasn't the Sacred Tree.

"You idiot!"

Kagome looked up to the angry amber eyes of the youkai, who was gripping her hand in his clawed fingers.

"H-hey!" she exclaimed and glared right back at him. She wanted to do things right, couldn't he help her?

"We're already bound together, wench," the shrine guardian grumbled and let go of her hand, as if realizing only now how tightly he held to it. Awkwardly he turned towards her peace offering and sniffed it.

"We are?" Kagome blinked at the boy that grabbed the steaming soup and started to eat it with chopstick he had pulled out of his sleeve.

"Yeah," he confirmed between slurps. "And you better not try to cut yourself in my presence again."

"So why didn't you come to the house? Or appeared around? I told you, I'm new to all of this and grandpa is..."

"He starts seven stories and never finishes any of them," the hanyou smirked over the top of the almost empty cup. "I guess it makes sense, with you living down in the city."

"What makes sense?" Kagome asked as she sat closer to the supernatural being who basically inhaled a whole cup of noodles.

"That you don't know shit about being a shrine keeper."

"Hey, I know a lot! I know how to cleanse stuff and perform blessings and other things..."

"...And nothing about youkai, spirit world or basic survival shit."

Kagome was again annoyed by the boy, who was doing a good job of keeping her emotions swaying this way and that. And yet again she didn't have time to yell at him. This time he decided it was the right moment to show her his dog form. One minute there was a boy sitting with his legs crossed, the other there was this huge canine peering down at her. 'I wonder if he would yell at me if I stroked his back...' As soon as she thought that she shook her head, it was better not to touch him so fast after the ear grabbing incident.

'I am,' while she was battling her desire to just run her hands through the abundance of white fluff, the dog got comfortable and looked at the Sacred Tree. 'I'm not used to be around humans. Your ancestors usually called me only when there was work to do. Not many were like the old man who invited me to visit the house from time to time. Besides you looked pretty freaked out, so I figured out to better give you space.'

"Oh," Kagome said softly. "I'm sorry. For freaking out and for my ancestors."

'Keh! They were warrior priests and killed many youkai, it made sense for them not to grow too close with me,' the dog did something that could be a canine version of a shrug.

"But, you know," she smiled softly when the big white head turned her way. "We already established I'm not a warrior priestess. I don't see why you couldn't come to the house whenever you want to. I came here to ask you to come over for the dinner anyway."

The shrine guardian stared at her as she outstretched her hand towards him.

"We're going to be partners, keeping the shrine and the land safe. Let's be friends," her smile grew wider and hopeful. Maybe her ancestors weren't very friendly towards him, but she was not her ancestors, she honestly didn't want him to feel like she was using him or something. Partners meant equals and she wanted to treat this boy, that was also a youkai, like an equal.

'You,' Inuyasha grumbled. 'Are one crazy wench.'

Kagome decided to overlook this comment and giggled when a cool nose brushed against the palm of her hand. The next minute she was alone in the meadow, the empty cup of ramen next to her. 'He didn't say he's going to come,' she thought. 'But he also didn't say he won't.'

That was when it hit her - since he had changed his form she had never seen him open his mouth. Did he even have vocal cords attuned to human speech as a dog? And yet she had heard him without any trouble. Another thing she had to ask about later...