Beta; Cstorm86

The Miko and a Stranger

Kagome sighed happily as she sat down by the low table in her room, intending to write for a while. She'd already made the supper and Hiro was watching TV downstairs, the shrine was closed for visitors for the evening and the sun just disappeared behind the mountain. Knowing Inuyasha, he was probably taking a nap on a tree limb in his forest - Kagome was still unable to goad him into coming to sleep in the house.

Last few days had been busy, with Tempest and Shippou, with the journey to the Kitsune Village and the banishing of Ami's youkai - it had been hard to find a while to write. She did her best to make notes on her phone, but writing on a normal-sized laptop keyboard was more comfortable.

She knew that she had lots to learn and that the festival was drawing near. Soon, she was sure of it, she wouldn't have much time, with all the preparations and training. She just hoped that the villagers would come as always to help them. It was supposed to be the first time she'd act as the real shrine keeper - performing the kagura dance and bringing offerings to the deity. She was going to meet and form ties with all the people her grandfather had been working with for years and the patrons that supported the shrine - she had to make a good impression on them... somehow. Kagome shook her head - thinking of it would just make her more anxious for the event.

The woman focused on her writing for the time being. She could worry about her ties to the local community later. Besides, she had grandpa to show her the ropes and Inuyasha, who was a good advisor - which she was learning each and every day. It had been him who'd told her what to do with the baby dragon, and it had been thanks to him that she'd helped Ami.

Not even twenty minutes had passed when she heard her grandfather's quiet voice and a tapping on her door.

"Kagome, dear? There's a man in the shrine," he said and peered inside.

"Huh? At this time? Maybe he needs help?" Kagome closed her laptop and stood up. "Or maybe it's a pilgrim who arrived late?"

Grandpa just smiled and shrugged, walking slowly after her when she went downstairs and out of the house.

When the young miko made her way outside, she saw that the colors were still bright and vibrant in the sky, the western part of it blazing orange and violet, green and yellow, with smudges of clouds, while the east was dark and with stars coming to view.

As she followed Hiro's words she went from the private grounds to the shrine. She easily spotted the stranger and sighed, seeing that he was busy purifying his hands. She could allow him to pray quickly and go back to the village to find some lodging. He looked like a pilgrim in his traditional red clothing, but his dark hair was long and somewhat messy, like a rock star's.

A silent bell followed by a clap made her come out of her musings. The man was now bowing his head in front of the shrine, obviously deep in his prayer. She allowed him a moment of silence before she stepped closer. Right in time, because he finished his prayer as she stopped a few meters away from him.

"The shrine is closed for visits for today," she announced. She probably scared the poor man, because he yelped and leaped back, his hands flailing as he spun around to face her.

"Crap!" he cried out. "Kagome, don't sneak up on me like that!"

She was about to berate the man for using such foul language in front of the deity's dwelling and for using her name in such a familiar way, but something made her pause.

She stared in the fading light at the young man in front of her. His dark eyes were big, innocent and wide in shock, shining from under his unruly bangs. His voice was softer and he lacked dog ears and fangs, his hair was jet black instead of silver white, but...

She had to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

'Inuyasha...?' she tentatively asked in her mind. The boy in front of her flinched. Something pale on his chest caught her attention - it was a magatama bead of Inuyasha's kotodama no nenju. "It's you," she added, this time out loud. How could it be? The supernatural shrine guardian appeared to be as human as she was. That couldn't be right...

"Keh," he shrugged, but his trademark noise sounded odd as well. Still, it was her friend and Kagome relaxed when it was confirmed. He looked unusual, but it was him. No one could copy their telepathic bond.

"You scared my grandpa," she smiled at him as they moved towards the back of the shrine, from where they were just a short distance from the house. "What happened to you anyway?"

"I sure as hell didn't scare the old fart! He knew and he sent you to witness my disgrace!" this time Inuyasha's voice was more like his usual one, full of agitation. He even stopped walking, instead just glared at the Higurashi house with a deep scowl. Following his lead she stopped walking. Kagome frowned at his words and turned to look back towards the house.

"He... He knew?" she repeated after him, thinking about how her grandpa had asked her to deal with a trespasser in the shrine. He was nowhere in sight and there was no light in the windows, so maybe he was looking from a darkened room?

Then the second part of Inuyasha's outburst finally registered and she once again stared at the shrine guardian, halfway turned away from her, his shoulders slumped and his face hidden in the shadow. For some reason reading his emotions without the helpful - and cute - fuzzy ears on top of his head was harder than one would think.

"Your disgrace? What do you mean, Inuyasha?" the miko asked, confused. The boy turned her way and glared straight at her, lifting his hands and gesturing at himself.

"I'm useless like this!" he growled. "Can't you see? I'm a half-breed and tonight I can't do shit, like the whole lot of you humans!"

"Well, thank you kindly, Inuyasha," Kagome said sourly and crossed her arms over her chest.

'"You know what I meant!" he added hurriedly, his hands moving in a gesture that looked like an attempt to calm her down. "I can't protect the shrine and you like this. I'm worthless during the moonless night."

"You aren't worthless, Inuyasha," Kagome said and grabbed his hand, so she could lead him to a small bench under a maple tree shadowing the torii gate that separated the shrine grounds from the house yard. "The barrier around the shrine still holds, yes?"

"Feh, of course!" he sat down beside her on the bench, but was tense and refused to look at her. He snatched his hand away from her as soon as her grip on his fingers loosened a bit, but she didn't mind. He was not that fond of touching in his hanyou form, it seemedthat as a human he treasured his personal space even more. She wasn't going to make him more upset and uncomfortable than he already was.

"Then there is no need to be worried," she said. "We will just stay in the shrine every new moon night, alright? I mean it's night so we wouldn't be going anywhere anyway."

He grunted and for a long while they sat in silence, Kagome watching the stars light one by one overhead as the western side of the sky darkened. Inuyasha sighed and hung his head.

"What is it?" she asked, trying to pour as much of her kindness in her words as possible.

"I didn't want you to find out like this, so soon. I... I wanted you to first get to know that you can rely on me, trust me, trust that I can protect you as a hanyou," the boy beside her - to her surprise - answered, his voice quiet and resigned. "I wanted to prove my worth before you could see how pathetic I am."

"You know," Kagome leaned against the back of the bench, looking at the boy in the growing darkness. "I already trust you and think you're really... really cool. And I don't think less of you because you have a human side that isn't that badass hanyou fighter with cute ears," she added with a blush and a tiny smile.

"Keh! My ears ain't cute!" he barked, a glimpse of his usual cocky self in his voice. Then he turned away from her again. "Are you... Are you one of those people who feel... more comfortable around me when I'm like this/?"

Kagome bit her bottom lip, her fists clenching. What had he experienced in his past that now he saw himself as weak only because he was human for this night? And what had been his relationships with her predecessors that now he worried she'd like him more as a human? It left a bitter taste in her mouth when she thought of her ancestors. It was hard to accept the fact that they could be mistreating the hanyou shrine guardian because of his mixed blood, that they could make this strong man feel useless because he had weaknesses.

She wasn't thinking when she put a hand on his shoulder, rubbing the tense muscles there.

"I like you as Inuyasha," she declared, blushing when she realized that he could misunderstand her and think that she had feelings for him or something... Well, maybe she had a tiny crush on him, but he didn't have to know about it just yet, right? "I mean you are a good friend. You support me, you keep me safe, you dedicated your whole life to guarding the shrine and my family," she added hurriedly, biting her bottom lip as soon as she said all that.

She couldn't see his face from the veil of his hair. Honestly, it was longer and thicker than hers and she felt a bit jealous about it. "Keh."

"And," she continued after a moment. "I hope I will be able to return your dedication and protect you. From whatever you need protecting from. And, since as this mighty hanyou shrine guardian you are practically invincible for most of the time, I am perfectly fine keeping guard for a night," she said honestly.

In the dim light his big eyes looked almost black as he lifted his head to look at her with an expression she couldn't name. Then he scoffed.

"You, protecting me? Fat chance, even in this weak form I'm stronger than you, wench!" he declared.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" she demanded, jumping at the familiar invitation to a bickering match. She shrieked and laughed when the boy leaped to his feet and picked her up from the bench bridal style. "Inuyasha! Put me down!"

"Your kotodama ain't working on me in this form, wench!" he chuckled, carrying her towards the house. "Stop wiggling or I'll drop you!"

"No, no, no, don't drop me!" Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck, looking at the stone path leading to her house. Her movements probably weren't helping Inuyasha keep his balance as he wobbled his way towards his destination, at the same time trying to find the way in the darkness and not drop his cargo.

"Then stop wiggling! Damn, woman!""

Kagome shrieked when Inuyasha tripped over something, probably an uneven edge of the stone, and fell down. The boy merely cursed as he awkwardly fell to his back.

"Goodness, Inuyasha, are you okay?" Kagome asked in concern from where she sat across the poor boy's chest.

"Gods, you're gonna kill me, ain't you?" he moaned and reached to the back of his head, wincing. Kagome could already imagine the bruise growing there.

"I'm so sorry! But I told you..."

"Oh, shut up!"

.

Inside the house, sitting beside the opened shoji to the living room and listening to the pair, Hiro smiled.

He thought back to that night when Inuyasha had revealed his secret to him, after 'just' two years of partnership. It had been a troubled time and the revelation had startled him quite a bit. Hiro thought that Kagome was probably the first Higurashi who was able to treat the hanyou the same after learning his secret, no matter in which form he walked at her side. She was already on much friendlier terms with the elusive shrine guardian than many that had come before. Briefly, he wondered if he could have been such a partner to the hanyou, if not for the war and the darkness that had followed it, with the increase of youkai activity in the following years.

When he heard a phone ring, Hiro stood up to answer and dropped those musings. Inuyasha, his old friend, was entering a new chapter in his life, with a new shrine keeper to look after. And, hopefully, Kagome would manage to make him let her look after him, too.