Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Chapter 1

Kagome took her time as she strutted up to the front porch of her grandfather's old country house. Her thumbs were tucked into the pockets of her old faded Wranglers' and she wore a plaid shirt that was two sizes too large for her small form. When she reached the steps she stopped and flicked the front of her Stetson hat to let her eyes take in the house she once inhabited.

The house was big. Too big, she thought, for a simple country home. The screened-in wrap-around porch looked about ready to give up its fight against time and the doors looked as if they would fall off the hinges. Tiles were missing from the roof and the windows permanently water stained.

She grinned.

This house was a lot like herself. It may have appeared weak to anyone who hadn't been inside. But it was strong.

Her grin broke into a bright smile. Her grandfather had said he had good news to discuss with her and she just couldn't wait to find out what it was. And yet, she couldn't stop the nagging feeling that it wasn't going to be good news at all. After all, he did tend to over exaggerate.

Shaking the feeling off, she removed her Stetson and beat it against the side of her leg, watching as the dust took flight and formed a small cloud around her. She had been working all day since sunrise and her muscles were sore from working all day in the gruesome heat. She still had to set up a new barbed fence before she could get the cattle back to their central grazing field. Massaging the back of her neck with one hand, she walked up the steps and stepped onto the porch, letting the screen door slam shut behind her.

As if on cue her grandfather came out of the house with a couple bottles of beer and handed one to Kagome. "Hey granddaughter. You get much done today?"

"Yeah," she said, staring at the beer revoltingly. "We need new barbed wire for the fence. Grandpa-''

"Good, good, we'll have it fixed up in the mornin'," He glanced up at the beer she still held unopened in her hand. "You gonna drink that or just sit there starin' at it waitin' for it to turn into a snake?"

"I told you grandpa," she sighed, setting the drink down on the small table beside her. "The guys may drink but I just can't stand the stuff."

He grunted and took a swig of the stuff himself. "Why not? You do everythin' else like them. You talk like them, walk like them, heck you even dress like them! How you ever gonna find a man worthy enough to take care of this here ranch if you can even act like the little lady you are." She looked down and rubbed the bridge of her nose. 'Not this again.'

"Grandpa," she said after a thoughtful pause. "That's just not what I'm looking for right now. There's too much to be done around the ranch."

He sputtered. "Too much? Too much? This ranch will not fall under a savage injun attack if one cowhand is on vacation!"

"Aren't you the one who said that every cowhand counts no matter how puny?" She retorted patiently.

"Yes...but...but..."

"But what? Is it because I'm a girl or because I'm your granddaughter? Choose your words carefully grandpa 'cause I don't like pigs and I don't want sympathy."

"You're 23 years old, girl! You need to get you someone to settle down and start a family with!"

"I can take care of the ranch on my own and I don't need no sniveling male hovering over my shoulder to do it!"

"HA!" He barked. "No female is gonna be running this ranch. You may be my granddaughter and you may be tough but you're still a female and everyone knows its bad luck for a female to be running a ranch. Gets distracted too easily. That's what they say. So you can stuff that idea right on back where it came from little lady cause the closest you'll ever come to owning this ranch here is if you're the daughter of the one who owns it or if you're hitched to the one who owns it!"

Kagome's face darkened with every word that came out of his mouth and her lips tightened to a thin line. When he got to the end of his speech she was simmering to a boil and about to overflow.

"Grandpa."

"What?" He looked up and was almost frightened at how calm she was. "Kagome?"

"You just keep to your books and I'll keep to the cattle."

With that she placed her hat on her head and walked stiffly though the screened door, down the steps, and across the yard in record time.

Her grandfather watched as she got in her truck and drove off in a flurry of dust.

"Kids ain't got no respect these days," he huffed.

Then he smiled.

'That's my girl.'

Author note: Well. That's the first chapter. I'll be working on the next one for those of you who read this. (