Drifting lazily to the scuffed tile, the pressed wildflower seemed out of place amidst the chaos of the halls. It belonged in a long forgotten meadow. In another time and place.

'Sango must've put it in here and forgotten it,' Kagome thought absently as she knelt down - the chemistry textbook hanging limply by her side. Despite lacking any evidence, the instant conclusion comes as easily as breathing - in and out without any real thought on the matter. In the commotion of the students trying to make it to their next class, she almost missed the three others that gracefully cascaded from their hiding place. What Kagome found strangest of all was that she hadn't brought this particular textbook to the feudal era in weeks. The fact that the flowers had been undisturbed too was also rather damning. A reminder of how very screwed she was academically. One of her hardest subjects and she hadn't given it a second thought until this morning.

'Well guess I'm failing chemistry then,' Kagome thought bitterly as she carefully gathered the delicate flowers up and lightly tucked them back between the pages. She'd be the last to admit it but the idea of just dropping out had crossed her mind more than once. At this rate, with how far behind she was in literally all of her classes, she'd probably have to repeat the grade anyway.

But dousing her life in the modern era with gasoline, lighting a match and walking away wasn't an option. There was always a chance the Well would stop working and who knew which side she'd get trapped in. With the jewel almost complete, time was running out and giving up now was a luxury she couldn't afford. One way or another, a coin flip was going to determine the trajectory of her life and she knew, she just knew it was going to hurt either way.

Yeah, okay, so….

Sango wasn't the one pressing flowers in her textbook. The first thing the slayer had done was gasp about how pretty they were and the second was ask Kagome where she got them.

This reaction raised so many questions because now the suspects were (a) a lecherous monk, (b) a child who managed to get a new girlfriend in every village they visited and (c) Inuyasha. Option C was immediately dismissed which left Miroku and Shippo.

God, she hoped it was Shippo. If Miroku was meticulously preparing and then handing out flowers to pretty girls, Sango was going to lose her mind. With the kit, at least there was the possibility he was just a kid doing an art project.

Setting down her textbook with the flowers tucked safely inside, Kagome casually walked over to the little boy who was busy 'hunting' a beetle in the grass.

"Hey Shippo?" she asked and large green eyes looked up at her, "I found some pretty flowers. Do you want to see them?"

He'd smiled then said 'no thanks' and crouched down with his tiny booty wiggling in the air. The fact that he wasn't interested wasn't exactly surprising nor did it prove anything but somehow she managed to reach a conclusion anyway. For one, Shippo would've mentioned something by now if he had hidden flowers away in her textbook. Two, Shippo preferred drawing to crafts. And, of course, three was that Shippo had never really seemed interested in flowers before.

Sighing softly, Kagome gracefully got to her feet and began looking around for Miroku. A movement to her right caught her eye. Inuyasha. Reaching casually for her textbook without stopping, quickly flipping to the exact place where she'd hidden the flowers and then carefully putting the book back down. The whole action hadn't taken more than ten seconds and he'd barely paused in his stride.

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Kagome continued to watch. A handkerchief was discreetly pulled out from inside his robe, opened and the flowers were delicately put in. The movement was fast, smooth and easy to miss if you weren't looking directly at him.

Okay. So…Inuyasha was pressing flowers for some reason. The question now became why. Was it a hobby? Did it have to do with scent like some type of makeshift cologne? Was it something he'd always done? How long-

Hey, wait a minute, that was her handkerchief!

No one said she was a rational human being all the time. Nobody said she didn't have impulse control or that she didn't have a temper. No one said she thought this through.

"You took my handkerchief!" Kagome gasped angrily as she began storming over to an Inuyasha who froze like a deer in the headlights.

"What are you talking about? No I didn't!" he hissed back even though his hand flew up to his chest like he was protecting something, "You're seeing things woman."

"Okay. Then what are you hiding in there?" Kagome challenged and a flash of panic zoomed behind his eyes.

"Hiding where?!"

"In your shirt stupid!"

"Where would I even be keeping it?!" Inuyasha scoffed defensively, "What? You think I sewed a pocket in there or something?"

That was exactly what he'd done but there was no way in hell he was telling her that. So what if he'd decided to start collecting things, huh? That was a thing people did. No one got mad at Sango for her weird collection of knives or at Miroku for stockpiling so many sutras that his robes were weighed down. And what about Shippo? Kagome had a whole folder in her room filled with all the drawings the kid made. What was so bad about wanting to collect something of his own? He liked scents, okay? It only made sense that he'd collect flowers and…other things that smelled good. It didn't hurt nobody and it was nobody's business.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and Inuyasha winced. Maybe he shouldn't've thrown the idea of pockets out there. Also maybe he shouldn't be pressing his hand against said pocket but a part of him was terrified about the possibility of losing the first things he'd ever owned. His little flower collection was the only thing he hadn't inherited. The first thing he made with his own hands. What made the collection more special was that they had no real value. They weren't worth anything. Not really. They were pretty and they smelled good. Ergo, the pressed flowers were a luxury.

He was at a place in his life where he could afford luxuries.

"Why did you steal it?" Kagome sighed - reigning in her anger and folding her arms across her chest.

"I didn't steal shit," Inuyasha countered as he stiffly lowered his hand and copied her posture. Technically speaking what he said was true and now the flowers suddenly became secondary to the most precious piece of his collection. She would need to tear that handkerchief out of his cold dead hands and he'd rather die than admit why he wanted it so bad. Besides, it wasn't hers anymore and he'd put way too much effort into making sure it smelled right all of the time and he needed it. Actually needed it and she'd probably lose it like she lost it the first time.

"So you're lying to me now?"

Despite his resolve, Inuyasha winced again and his stomach churned.

"Does this have anything to do with the flowers in my textbook?" she challenged before immediately regretting bringing it up at all. Inuyasha turned a little green and fear flickered across his face. Silence fell over the camp. A quick glance confirmed that each and every one of their friends - including Kilala - were now watching the showdown.

"W-what flowers?" he managed but his voice cracked and his ears flattened against his skull. Kagome's anger faded away as quickly as it'd arrived and she slowly straightened up.

"Are you…are you collecting them?" she asked curiously - her voice horrifically soft. Inuyasha's chest began heaving in mild panic.

"N-no. Why would I d-do that?"

Kagome chewed her lip for a second - her eyes searching his pale face before a warm smile played with her lips.

"You know what? Never mind," she hummed - her voice gentle and calm - before moving over to her textbook and backpack, "Hey Sango? Can I borrow Kilala? I forgot something at-"

"You're leaving over this?!" Inuyasha squeaked out as he quickly moved to her side with half a mind to grab her, "Seriously?!"

"I just forgot something. That's all. I'll be back before dark," Kagome promised and the affectionate look in her eye confused him endlessly. It was almost like she understood something he really didn't want her to understand quite yet. Shit, he hadn't even fully come to terms with it and he did not feel ready.

In his panic, Inuyasha was powerless to stop her - even without the sit spell. Sango was pissed because, obviously, Kagome had left because of their fight. Shippo wouldn't stop badgering him and demanding to see his collection no matter how vehemently denied its existence. Miroku just seemed amused.

It was after dark, for the record, when Kagome finally came back and, of course, the first thing she did was come find him presumably to start fighting all over again. A part of Inuyasha wanted to cry but he refused to make matters worse by shedding tears. He just wanted something nice. Why couldn't he have nice-

Kneeling down in front of him, Kagome shrugged off her backpack and began digging through it. A few things were pulled out.

"Okay. So I got this little plastic sleeve. Waterproof, you know?" she began as she glanced up and gave him a soft smile, "To protect the non-existent flower collection."

Before he could stop himself, Inuyasha's defensive posture relaxed and he crouched down.

"W-wha-"

"And this," she continued as she pulled out a square book and flipped through the glossy pages, "Is for if you decide you want to show them off. We call it a scrap book in my time. I took the liberty of getting some paper already but you'll need to use these-"

She reached down and grabbed a sheet of odd clear dots, "To hold the flower in place. So they don't fall out."

Inuyasha blinked a few times like his mind was having trouble comprehending what was happening.

"I know it's a little bulky and if you don't like the paper we can go buy something different. And it won't fit in your non-existent pocket," she continued, "But I could put it in my backpack. Or we could keep it with Kaede or even in my room if you want."

Inuyasha finally reached for the book with trembling fingers and sat down on the grass.

"I liked the scents. Wanted the memory," he whispered sheepishly as he lovingly ran his fingers over the matte floral cover, "T-that's all."

With a soft laugh, Kagome smiled. She almost looked like she'd just won some sort of victory but he didn't care beyond knowing he was the real winner here. Still, he should probably say something like a 'thank you'. Give a peace offering. A shuddering breath followed as he thumbed through the pages and glanced at the pretty paper staring up at him through plastic, "M'sorry. For lying. I never had anything of my own before and I-I just-"

"Well, now you also have a book," Kagome offered - tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear before continuing, "You can put whatever you-"

Inuyasha dipped forward and pressed a brief chaste kiss against her lips before turning his attention back to the book and delicately pulling her handkerchief out of his secret pocket. It took the miko a good minute to regain brain function.

"S-so I'm gunna assume that was you saying thank you?" she managed - her voice coming out slightly panicked and high pitched. Inuyasha nodded absently as he gingerly unfurled the white napkin and laid out the dozen or so flowers on top of it.

"Can you show me how to do it right? I don't want to break them," he asked breathlessly as he glanced up at her - eyes bright and excitement showing plain in his face. It was the most precious thing Kagome had ever seen.

She smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah I can do that."

A pause.

"So, does this mean I can have my handkerchief back?"

Not even bothering to look up from his delicate task, Inuyasha snorted and shook his head.

"Nope, part of the collection."