He'd wanted to protect her from the first moment he met her.

He first saw her across the street from his favorite park, sitting alone on the curb of the opposite sidewalk. She was bent forward, hugging her knees to her chest, crying the only way a six-year-old knew how: loudly and without restraint. Ink-black hair curtained either side of her face, hiding her expression, but Inuyasha could see her shoulders shaking with sobs, and could hear every gulp and sniff and shuddering inhale from where he stood.

He'd just exited the park and was on his way home when he spotted her. He paused mid-step and glanced up and down the street, visually confirming what his nose had already told him: nobody else nearby, no concerned parent or sibling hurrying over. She was alone. His first impulse was to keep walking—he really needed to get home since he hadn't exactly gotten permission to be at the park by himself, and he didn't much like or understand girls in general, forget crying girls. Even so, something kept his feet from moving. A tug of concern. The sight of her sitting there, hunching in on herself.

Before he could think twice about it, he was crossing the street and approaching the girl, as slowly and cautiously as if approaching a wild monkey loose in the city. She didn't notice him. He hesitated a few feet away from her, wondering if he shouldn't just go find someone else, maybe a human, an adult—someone she'd be more likely to trust. He looked her over carefully. Her head was still bowed, her small frame still shaking with sobs that seemed so much louder and more distressing up close.

Frowning, and feeling distinctly at a loss, he slowly sat next to her on the curb of the sidewalk. No reaction. He shifted a tiny bit closer to her. Just more sniffling. His frown deepened. He briefly considered poking her arm to get her attention, but the thought alarmed him so thoroughly that he immediately dismissed it. What if his claws freaked her out? Uncomfortable with the idea of touching her in any way, but horribly unsure of what to say, he just sat next to her in silence, hoping the simple fact of his presence would somehow make things better.

But the longer she cried, the more and more nervous he became. The sound—and worse, the scent—of her distress was beginning to distress him. She smelled so sad and so scared, and he just wanted to make it go away.

"Oi," he barked, the word popping out of his mouth without thought, abrupt as a firecracker, "what are you crying for?"

With a jolt, her head whipped up and she turned to stare at him. Wide, teary grey eyes met his. Her face was round, flushed red, shiny-wet with tears, and her nose—small and blunted—was running. He wished he could give her a tissue.

"W-who," she hiccupped, "who are you?"

"I'm Inuyasha." He watched as she wiped at her eyes with a balled hand. "What's your name?"

She swallowed a sob. "K-Kagome."

"Kagome. Why are you crying?"

Her face tightened, eyes scrunched and lips pressed together in another repressed cry. "I—I'm lost! I can't find m-my," a sniffle, "my house. I don't know what to do."

He glanced around, more to break eye contact than to look for anyone. "Are you by yourself?"

She nodded, and fresh tears streaked down her face.

"Why? Isn't your mom or dad around?"

"No." Her chin trembled. "I wanted to play at the park, but Mama was napping and I didn't want to wake her up, so..."

"So you came by yourself?"

She nodded miserably.

"And now you can't find your way back?"

Another nod, followed by a sniffle.

He snorted. "That was stupid."

She looked startled at that, eyes widening, causing a few more tears to drop. "Huh?"

"It was stupid to leave your house alone. You're just a little kid! You shouldn't be out by yourself."

"Hey! I'm not little!" Her eyebrows lowered in a frown that made her nose crinkle. She sounded duly offended. "I'm six now. And besides, you're a kid and you're out alone."

Inuyasha lifted his chin and jerked a thumb at his chest. "I'm in third grade, okay? That's two whole years older. I can be out alone."

Not technically true, but she didn't need to know that.

He pointed his thumb in her direction. "But you're just a little kid. You shouldn't be going anywhere by yourself."

She eyed him for a moment, expression caught between dawning awe at his advanced age and lingering annoyance at being labeled "little." Inuyasha noted with satisfaction that she had stopped crying, and the scent of her fear had thinned.

After a moment, her lips puckered in a pout, and she scrubbed at her face with a sweater-clad arm. "I'm not little," she mumbled under her breath.

He snorted and intentionally flicked his right ear, saying I can hear you better than any words could have. He immediately regretted it when her eyes were drawn by the movement, and she finally spotted the furry, triangular ears atop his head. He internally winced, bracing for what past experience dictated would be a disagreeable reaction... but her expression lit up as a smile stole across her face.

"Are those real?" she asked, voice almost awed.

He scowled, unsure if she was mocking him. "Of course they are! You think I walk around wearing—hey, hey!" He reared back, jerking his head away from the hands that were suddenly reaching up towards his ears. "Knock it off!"

"They're so cute," she breathed. Undeterred by his dodging, she leaned forward and stretched her arms out to full length, fingers grazing his ears even as he pulled away.

Flattening his ears against his hair, he scooted back along the curb and out of range. "Stop that!" She scooted after him, and he backpedaled even farther. "Ugh, you're like an octopus or something! Cut it out!"

She did stop, but then she clasped her hands in front of her chest and looked at him with imploring eyes. "Can I please touch them? Please, please, please?"

He opened his mouth with every intention of saying no, but the expression on her face stopped him. The traces of her earlier distress had evaporated: no sadness or fear laced her scent, her tears had dried, and her cheeks were rosy from exertion rather than crying. She looked almost excited, slate grey eyes bright as they watched him. Dumbfounded by the change in her demeanor, and caught by her gaze, he felt his face heat up in a blush.

He tried to say no, he really did—but how could he with those eyes staring at him? Turning his head aside, he had to restrain a pout of his own. He was too old to pout. "Fine, you can touch them." He glared at her from the corner of his eye. "But only for a second."

She squealed, and in the next instant her fingers latched onto his ears. His shoulders stiffened, hunching up around his neck, and he fought off the urge to jerk away again. He'd told her she could touch them, and he wouldn't go back on his word. But the only other times anyone—and especially kids—had touched his ears, they'd been pulled and yanked and twisted and generally treated like they belonged on some kind of stuffed animal.

But her fingers didn't pull, or yank, or pinch, or twist, or hurt. They stroked gently along the back of his ears, thumbs lightly rubbing the inner edges. A soft touch, a pleasant sensation. With each stroke his shoulders lowered, lost their tension. She'd been touching his ears for much longer than a second before he finally shook his head and leaned back.

She was smiling at him in a way that had his face heating again. He scowled at her. "Happy now?"

She nodded, and dropped her head in a brief, polite bow. "Yes! Thank you for letting me touch your ears."

He stared at her. He couldn't help it. "Whatever. S'not a big deal, you don't have to thank me for it."

She just giggled and threw the furry appendages another glance. She looked about ready to lunge at them again, and Inuyasha fidgeted. He cleared his throat and said, "So... do you know your home address?"

He almost regretted asking when her face fell at the reminder of her predicament. "No. Mama told it to me, but I don't remember."

He thought about that for a moment. "How long has it been since you left your house?"

"Umm... I don't know."

He sighed. Then, catching sight of the bus stop near the park entrance across the street, he pointed at it and asked, "How many times have you seen the bus go by?"

She looked to where he pointed and paused to mull it over. "I'm not sure... maybe three times?"

About 45 minutes then, maybe longer. Not nearly long enough for her scent trail to fade. "I think I can help you get home."

She stared at him blankly. "What? How?"

He tapped a finger against his nose. "I have a good sense of smell. I can follow your scent back to your house."

She tilted her head, tone puzzled. "My scent?"

He shrugged. "Sure. You smell like... well, you. Everybody's got a unique scent. If I can pick up your trail, I can probably track it back to your house."

She still looked confused, but she seemed to understand the gist: he was going to help her. Her expression brightened. "You think so?"

He rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth lifted in a tiny grin. "I just said so, didn't I?" He stood up and she followed suit. "Come on, let's get you home."

All told, it took him less than half an hour to find her house. Her scent trail was faint where other pedestrians had diluted it, and extremely strong where she'd probably been wandering in circles—but eventually he followed it to the entrance of a shrine. A massive torii gate loomed over an equally massive flight of stairs. As soon as she caught sight of the torii, Kagome squealed in pure glee. "You did it, you did it!" She sped up, skipping towards the gate and chanting "you did it" as she went.

She stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to face Inuyasha as he approached. She bent forward in another brief, obviously well-practiced bow. "Thank you for helping me! I never would've found my way home without you."

Inuyasha eyed the torii. "You... live at the Higurashi shrine?"

She nodded.

His expression deadpanned. "Why didn't you just say you lived at a shrine?" He knew this neighborhood backwards and forwards—he could've found the place in no time if he'd known.

That gave her pause. She tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "Uhh. I guess I didn't think about it."

He sighed in exasperation and rolled his eyes. "Well, you're home now. You should get inside before your mom worries."

She smiled radiantly at him. "'Kay. Thanks again!" She turned and started to climb up the stairs; a few steps up, she paused and did an about-face. "I won't forget you, Inuyasha!"

"Whatever." He waved at her—a shooing motion more than a farewell—and started walking back towards the park.

The grin tugging at his mouth had nothing to do with her. Nothing at all.

::

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A/N: I realize I'm sort of stretching the definition of "drabble," what with how long this turned out, but no other categories seemed to fit. Originally, I'd planned for this story to be a one-shot, but the scenes became so episodic that I figured it'd work better as a series of drabbles. Each chapter will vary in length—I expect some will be significantly shorter than this one—but they're all set in the same universe, and will tell Inuyasha and Kagome's story.

Please let me know what you think! Reviews give me life.