A/N: Last time we left Kagome, she was running towards Inuyasha to help the distressed shrine guardian. What will happen next?
Apologies for a short chapter, but the summer can't end fast enough.
Beta: fawn-eyed-girl

The Girl Who Wanted A Kiss

Kagome ran through the forest, swaying her arms madly to push away the branches that seemed to want to take out her eyes. Her own panic at the realization of who was in the shrine forest was flooded by Inuyasha's emotions and his broken pieces of thoughts.

During their time as partners, it had always been her who accidentally sent a message through their bond, or let her emotions flow into the shrine guardian. Inuyasha was more adept at keeping the mental walls up, even if sometimes she could see a faint wave of annoyance from him. And he'd send her his dreams when he'd been injured as a human.

Now his thoughts were ringing strong in her mind, his call for her desperate and urgent. The intensity of it pushed all other thoughts from her mind and Kagome could focus only on him calling her name. The proud and invincible shrine guardian, who always advised her in a sticky situation and was so focused and determined in battle, now was flooding her with embarrassment, confusion, and helplessness. She couldn't even decipher the reason for all this mayhem in his mind, only that it was related to a person sneaking up on him and him not being able to handle the situation.

It took no time at all to reach the training meadow. The miko hesitated only for a moment when she noticed that the pair of strangers was at the tree line already, standing still and observing the event unfolding in front of them. A soft breeze picked up the ends of the long silver hair of the tall man and the side ponytail of the little girl that stood next to him.

Mostly hidden by the tall grass, Inuyasha was laying on his back, one hand over the top of his head, the other in front of him, holding the shoulder of a girl who was sitting astride his waist and trying to lean in, her hands grasping at the front of his kimono.

"Leave me alone, crazy bitch!" he yelled, trying to make her fall off of him.

Kagome didn't waste time pondering why he wasn't able to just throw the girl off of him. She knew that he was trying to hide his ears, but the strange strength of the woman didn't register at that moment.

'Kagome, save me! I don't want her...!' the voice in her mind pleaded. 'She smells wrong! She doesn't listen! She isn't you!'

Kagome jumped to action. That girl, one of the frequent visitors to the shrine, had been ogling Inuyasha for a while now, trying to make him talk to her. Now she'd sneaked onto the private property of the Higurashi shrine and assaulted her Inuyasha.

"You!" Kagome yelled, approaching in long strides. "What do you think you're doing?"

The young woman looked at her, dazed, as if only now noticing her. "A kiss. I will remember after a kiss."

Poor Inuyasha: he was a skittish, shy man, not at all ready to have his personal bubble invaded by strangers, not even mentioning someone wanting to kiss him. Even when he was allowed to meet people visiting the shrine and talk to them, he usually evaded most visitors.

"No!" Inuyasha barked. "No kisses!"

"Stop this instant, or I'm calling the police." Kagome stood over the woman, glaring daggers. This was her boyfriend the woman wanted to kiss, who she was sitting on.

"But...I need to remember..." the woman almost pleaded, looking down at Inuyasha's wide, confused, golden eyes.

"Kagura," said a new voice, cool like a winter morning; quiet, but somehow making all other noises of the forest around them fade away.

The hanyou's confusion, panic, and discomfort all disappeared from Kagome's mind. For a split second, she felt as if the link was no more; then, she heard him whisper a name, as if even in the safety of their bond he was too scared to speak it louder. 'Sesshomaru...'

The girl, who up until now Kagome knew as Kaguraya, seemed to forget Inuyasha was there. She rose to her feet as if lifted by the wind itself, then turned to face the pair standing at the edge of the forest, not even twenty meters away. Slowly, she outstretched her hand and started to walk towards them, the man approaching her, his own hand reaching for hers. Kagome noticed that no longer was his face resembling a human face - he had youkai markings on his cheeks and forehead. A thick white tail of fur curled around his right shoulder and ran down his back. Two sword hilts stuck out from his obi. The little girl grinned, watching the pair meeting and lacing their fingers together.

"A kiss, was it?" he asked, his voice not changing at all, and yet somehow carrying gentleness and barely restrained joy. Before the woman could respond, his other arm wrapped around her waist and he bent down to press their mouths together, squeezing the hand he was holding. Youki swirled around them, thick and strong, whipping their hair and clothes, tearing the grass, but at the same time, somehow, it remained in check. Kagome wondered at the fact that it had to be Inuyasha's elder brother, the cruel tormentor from the hanyou's past. The one who had locked him in a cell and had beaten him for no other reason than his mixed heritage. It was stunning to see such a display from the man she'd learned was an arrogant, ruthless daiyoukai.

And then new youki joined the first one, radiating from the woman in erratic swirls, bending the grass, but not tearing at it. The two seemed to dance together, pull and tug at each other, but to Kagome it felt as if it was as far from a struggle for domination as was possible.

'Was she... Was she a youkai under a spell or something?' she wondered, admiring the purplish red and yellowish green of their power filling the meadow.

'Get back.'

'What?' Kagome blinked when Inuyasha stood in front of her, his body shielding her from the pair, from their youki. His ears were laid back and he had his hand on the hilt of Tessaiga. The shy, awkward boy from earlier was gone: the fierce shrine guardian glared at the youkai that had invaded his territory.

'Better yet, go for the well,' came his growl, anger mixed with fear making his voice low. 'This is my territory, so I can't run. I have to fight, but you don't have to...'

The woman left the man's arms and went to hug the girl who had come with the man, and who greeted her cheerfully. Kagome was about to argue with Inuyasha, tell him she wasn't going to leave him to deal with this youkai, that she was going to help him, but before she could say anything, the man looked at them, his eyes finally resting on Inuyasha as the shrine guardian stood in front of his miko in a defensive stance. There was no apparent emotion in the daiyoukai's eyes, no shift to his expression.

"This one had no idea that you were here, little brother. Is it that the priests of the mountain have harbored you for all this time?" Cold eyes narrowed as he looked at Kagome, who gulped.

In a flash of light Tessaiga was drawn, making the youkai's eyes turn to look at it.

"Kaze no Kizu!" Inuyasha swung, his voice a roar, that was immediately seconded by the youki erupting from the blade and blazing across the meadow to meet his elder brother.