A/N; It was bound to happen.
Beta: Cstorm86
The Dog Gets Caught
Kagome should have known it was going to happen. It wasn't like she hadn't had all the data needed to come to a correct conclusion.
But in the light of an awkward talk with the shrine guardian and then Inuyasha meeting with her brother kinda made her forget. It had been pretty amusing to see Souta look at the clearly unnerved hanyou with those shining eyes. After all, Inuyasha was his savior from the vile youkai's clutches. It had been pretty amusing to watch the poor hanyou try and not show how anxious he was getting with Souta's blizzard of questions. Kagome had tried to keep her brother's excitement at bay, not wanting for Inuyasha to be overwhelmed, still she giggled when the hanyou had put his hair in a messy bun on top of his head to hide his ears.
Souta ran out from the shadow of the trees, smiling and beckoning them to follow. He was still a bit pale, but otherwise it seemed that he was back to his old self after the events of the last night. Kagome returned his smile, simply happy her little brother was alright.
"Come on, komainu," the boy called. "I'll show you my favorite..."
"Don't call me that, kid," Inuyasha grumbled as he caught the boy by his shoulders and turned him around to face the shrine building and the two statues guarding it. "These two are komainu."
"Well yeah but they're made after you," Kagome teased.
"Keh," the hanyou shrugged and ignored the renewed spark of adoration in Souta's eyes. The youth latched onto his hand, just like Kagome not afraid to grab the clawed hand of the supernatural being, and pulled him towards where Mrs. Higurashi's car was parked. Kagome watched the poor hanyou being dragged away from her, a soft smile on her lips. She knew her family could be a handful, but she hoped that their acceptance would make this boy less lonely.
Kagome stopped near the side of the well house, good ten meters away from the car, and watched her brother crawling in the vehicle, Inuyasha bending his head down to stick it inside, probably to better behold the thing the boy wanted to show him. Knowing Souta it was the newest volume of One Piece, stashed in the back pocket of the seat. Kagome wondered if Inuyasha had even before been inside a car. The vision of the boy with his head stuck out of the window of a moving car, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his hair windblown and his ears perked and eyes twinkling in excitement popped into her head and she double checked to make sure that she wouldn't send this image to Inuyasha.
The miko didn't notice three shadows joining hers on the ground in front of her until it was too late.
"So, Ka-go-me, to whom belongs this magnificent behind?" Eri inquired casually. Cold sweat covered Kagome's brow when she felt Eri's hand on her shoulder. She was almost too afraid to look to the side at the three grinning harpies ogling the back end of the hanyou.
'Oh, shit.'
Kagome wasn't sure if it was hers or Inuyasha's thought, or maybe they both had thought that at the same moment. One thing was for sure - the feelings attached to those two little words were panic and anxiety. And more than a bit of annoyance. His youki swirled in tight coils, as if he was ready to fight or flee at any moment.
"Uh..." Kagome grunted when Yuka patted her shoulder and started walking towards the car. 'Run!'
"Don't worry, we just want to say hi to him," she said, looking towards the car with a bit less playful gaze than their friends.
'Like how? You wanna me being a youkai to be a secret, no? I can't just bolt or teleport!'
'...Wait, you can teleport?...' between the panicked thoughts flying between them a vision of Inuyasha doing the same move Goku from Dragon Ball Z as he teleported came to her mind - even with the right sound. Maybe she had watched too much anime with her brother...
'Focus, wench!'
Ayumi bounced after Yuka, followed by Eri. It seemed all three were eager to meet the owner of the red-clad behind sticking out of the car. A terrible image of the trio tackling Inuyasha to the ground to stroke his hair and play with his ears came to her mind. Oh no, she had to save the ears! Especially because she herself haven't had a chance to play with them yet!
But it was already too late, Yuka and Eri reached the car.
"Hello?" Eri called out in a warm, merry voice.
'Inuyasha, try to be nice!' was all Kagome managed to think to him before he straightened his back and turned to face the curious trio. He was scowling, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the command or of the three girls invading his personal bubble. He hid his hands in his sleeves as he sized them all up.
"What do you want?"
"You're the guard here, right?" asked Yuka, her hands on her hips.
"Oh, wow, you have cool eyes." Ayumi gasped in awe, staring intently in his face.
"Do you dye your hair? Can I touch it?"
All three spoke in the same time and the approaching Kagome was sure their eyes were shining. Eri, who spoke about his hair, reached a hand, eager to touch a forelock that covered the place where no human ear was to be found. Inuyasha flinched away from her.
"Keep your clammy hands to yourself, girl!"
"Oh, how rude!" she gasped.
"And grabbing at strangers isn't rude?" he growled and glared at the other two. "And I'm not a thing to be ogled! And yes, I'm a guard here, so better notpiss me off!"
"Inuyasha..." Kagome decided to jump to action before a real shit could hit the fan. "Let me introduce my friends, Yuka, Eri and Ayumi," she smiled as she weaseled her way between the hanyou and the aforementioned girls. She glanced up to him to make sure he wouldn't shout at her for invading his personal space even more than them, but saw a somewhat relieved look in his eyes. 'He must feel cornered, standing pressed against the side of the car and with them surrounding us... Still, I'm glad he tries to act civil and not run away.' Even his youki seemed to be less agitated."Girls, this is Inuyasha..."
"Your boyfriend, right? So, how long are you two together? How did you two meet?" it sounded as if they had rehearsed this, because they spoke in unison.
And then the unthinkable happened.
"We've known each other for a while. After all I've been the guardian at the shrine for a long time and she used to spend her vacations here."
Kagome gaped at the man standing just beside her. He sounded almost pleasant, but his body language told her he was still wary and tense. Ayumi clasped her hands together, stars reappearing in her eyes. 'Doomed by one sentence...' Kagome thought.
"Ah, a vacation love then!"
"Kagome, why didn't you tell us?" Yuka exclaimed in disbelief. "We were supposed to tell such things to each other!"
"Uh... Wells..."
"I asked her not to." 'Saved by one sentence!' Kagome smiled at the sound of this simple explanation and gave an enthusiastic nod.
"You know, Inuyasha here isn't too extroverted and he prefers to keep his private life a secret," Kagome said with a wink. The expressions on the girls' faces showed that they accepted their explanations and Kagome sighed in relief. She didn't like to lie, especially to her friends, but there was no way to predict how they'd react to the truth.
"So, Inuyasha, what about this burglar, did you get them?" Yuka asked.
"Burglar?" Inuyasha tilted his head like a confused puppy. 'We told them that the ruckus last night was due to a would-be thief,' Kagome quickly informed the boy. "Keh, it's been taken care of, don't worry about it."
"So, guys, what are you up to?" Kagome asked the trio. "Wanna do something fun or just see around the shrine? The forest part is pretty big, so better try to stay near the edge," she warned.
"To be honest, we wanted to mix seeing around the shrine and searching for your secret boyfriend, but since we already found him..." Eri put a finger to her chin. "Let's get to know Inuyasha better.."
"Not gonna happen," Inuyasha grumbled. "I already wasted enough time with you," Inuyasha declared, his youki rising at the prospect of being interrogated by three too loud and too curious girls.
"Wait, where are you going? We have questions!" the girls complained
"And I have a job!" the boy barked back, not even turning to look at them.
"Inu..." Kagome reached a hand, but he was already stomping towards the forest. 'Don't leave me alone with them!'
'Don't try my patience, wench,' she heard his voice in his head. 'I shouldn't be seen by outsiders at all, so consider me staying with those airheads for so long a payback for the ramen.'
"That was so rude!"Eri put her hands on her hips, glaring after the hanyou. "Leaving us so abruptly!"
"Oh, don't mind him he's just busy," Kagome smiled brightly at her. "He wants to check the whole grounds before the visitors come in."
"Ah, so he's gruff, but dutiful," Ayumi returned Kagome's smile. "I kinda imagined you would go for a silent, cool type, Kagome."
"Come on, Ayumi, it's plain as day he isn't the cool type," Yuka shook her head. "I bet he's a hothead. And to think you choose him over the kind, nice Hojo, Kagome..."
"But look how focused he is on making sure our Kagome here is safe," Ayumi giggled. "And he sure is more handsome than Hojo."
The miko blushed and looked after Inuyasha with envy. After all, he wasn't going to play the game of dodging her friends' questions without lying too much anymore.
She didn't notice that Yuka stopped giggling with the rest and looked towards the forest as well, frowning a little. She also didn't notice her brother skipping towards the house to find their mother and tell her what he had witnessed.