Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Or decent socks, but thats off topic.

GothGurl: Hey there fellow fanfic-lovers! (and fanfic haters, I guess...why are you here?) Well...I finally decided to write something that wasn't Sess and Rin fluffyness..nope..now we have (DUN DUN!) Inu and Kag fluffyness! Yippee!

Well, yup, this is a first! So...on with the story!

- - - - - - - - -- - - - - -

The strangest thing about discovering your daughter was the reincarnation of an ancient priestess and could travel back to the Feudal Era, Mrs. Higurashi thought, was how quickly you got used to it.

Sure she worried about Kagome, what respectable mother wouldn't? But it didn't seem particularly odd anymore for Kagome to crawl out of the well with a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder, odd mystical trinkets hanging out of her travel-worn knapsack, after being gone for almost a month. It wasn't strange when Kagome would talk for hours on end about demons she had helped slay, exorcisms she had performed, and how her priestess training was coming. And nobody would even bat an eye when Kagome would dive back into schoolwork, struggling enormously to catch up on things she had missed.

And, of course, it was no surprise when the back door would open suddenly a few days after Kagome's return, revealing a growling blur of red and silver.

"KAGOME!" a stool was up-ended as the frenzied hanyou bounded about the room, trying to sniff the girl out.

"Oh, hello Inuyasha."said Mrs. Higurashi pleasantly, setting down her tea, not at all peturbed by the sudden intrusion. It happened all too often for her to even blink at it anymore.

The dog hanyou was on his knees peering under a couch, as if he somehow thought Kagome would jump out from under it and yell 'surprise!' "Hey, Kagome's Mom." he waved a hand vaguely in her direction, then returned to his task; sniffing the furniture. He frowned "Where's Kagome? She said she'd be home by now."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled slightly. The boy always called where he came from Kagome's 'home', it was both adorable and slightly depressing, from a mothers point of view. "She's still at school Inuyasha-chan." she turned away to go right the fallen stool. "You could probably catch up with her if you wanted, but I'm sure she'd like it better if you stayed--"

ZOOM! He zipped out of the house, snatching his baseball cap from the shelf as he went.

The older woman turned around, blinking at the now empty room, then shaking her head with a sigh. That boy was going to earn himself a 'sit' by the end of the day, no doubt about that.

- - - - -- - - - - -

Inuyasha hopped down the streets of Kagome's era, occasionally stopping to crouch down and sniff the air for some kind of trail to Kagome's 'skool' thing. Why were all the people staring? Didn't they know it was rude to watch a guy while he's tracking? Don't they have anything better to do then point and say 'Is that guy smelling the ground!'

"What're you looking at!" he snapped at some old lady carrying her groceries, she said 'Oh, my!' and scurried away.

He simply did not understand the people here.

Not that tracking did much good, not in this place. There was too much smog and pollution in the air to make much of anything out. And the smells coming from the buildings, and the 'cars' , not to mention some of the heavy scents the women seemed to wear around here...

There was really no other way to put it.

Kagome's world stunk.

But he had to deal with it. For all he knew, Kagome could have gotten lost on the way home from skool and gotten kidnapped by that Hobo guy and taken away to his evil lair of nerdiness and health food and forced to wear revealing clothing while carrying out the rituals of 'al-ge-bra', which Kagome has always claimed is a form of torture. Or worse! She could have fallen into a huge pit of snake demons and been eaten alive! WHILE DOING AL-GE-BRA! Oh, Gods! He should never have let her out of his sight! What was he thinking?

"KAGOME!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, racing down the stone roads Kagome called streets, knocking over gawking humans.

It wasn't long until he saw the strange, square brick building down the road. He had found it! He could see the dreaded 'skool'! Kagome wouldn't be eaten by snake demons! He--!

He ran smack into Eri.

"Watch where you're going!" Inuyasha snapped, getting back to his feet slowly after falling flat on his back, eyes squeased shut.

"You ran into me, buster." fumed the girl, rubbing her lower back and pushing away her friends who were trying to help her up. Inuyasha turned to shout at the offending human some more, but froze, his eyes glued to the girls clothes. 'She's wearing the same uniform as Kagome...'

"You!" he pointed at her, crouched on the ground like a dog. She leaned away from the pointing finger and blinked, alarmed. Her friends looked between the two, confused. Frankly, they were all just startled to see a guy in a bright red haori with long, apparently bleached hair with a clashing baseball cap, yelling at them. Very strange.

"M-me?" asked Eri.

"Do you know Kagome Higurashi!" he demanded. To his surprise, the girls faces all lit up and they glanced at his each other, getting that look that girls get when their about to giggle themselves senseless. 'What did I say?'

"What?" he asked them flatly, since they hadn't yet stopped grinning at each other like idiots.

Aaaaaand, they burst out giggling. Dammit.

He stood up suddenly, growling, "What's the matter with you people?"

"Hoo, boy, was Kagome right about you!" chuckled Ayume, shaking her head.

His face unclouded, "So you know Kagome then?...Wait.." he processed what the curly haired girl had just said slowly, "What's she saying about me?"

"Weeell.." Eri giggled, looking at her friends. "You're Inuyasha right?"

"Yeah...so?"

"We knew it!"

"So you're the jealous, overly aggressive, two-timing boyfriend!"

BLINK

"...What?" he understood to the overly-aggressive part, but beyond that he was lost, lost, lost.

"Eri!" Yuka smacked her friend on the head. "You don't just say that to people! Thats rude!"

"No it wasn't! I'm just telling it like it is!"

"Are you trying to mess up Kagome's love-life?"

"Of course not, you-!"

"What's a 'boyfriend'?" Inuyasha asked, curious. He put his hands in his long sleeves, his trademark listening position, and waited for an explanation.

They all stared at him; the boy brave enough to interupt a chick-fight. Ayume spoke first.

"You don't know what a boyfriend is?"

"No." his eyes narrowed. "Something wrong with that?"

'Wow, this guy is overly aggressive!' thought Eri nervously, before speaking. "Well...obviously..a boyfriend is..a guy...who...um...?"

The three teen girls all looked at each other, not quite sure how to explain the wonderfulness that a boyfriend should be to someone who had never heard of the concept before.

"They're kind to you." said Ayume, unsure.

"Yes, thats right!" nodded Eri. "They're pretty much your best friend."

"And they help you all the time." added Yuka.

"And you spend a lot of time together."

"All your time, if you can help it."

"And they--"

"Protect you?" asked Inuyasha, thinking he was starting to get the general idea.

"Yes, exactly."

He considered that. He did all those things with Kagome; he was kind to her (by comparison to how he treated everybody else), he spent a lot of his time with her (not that she had a choice..unless she sat him), and he DEFINETLY protected her...a lot. So, it was kind of a strange phrase, but he figured he may as well learn the terms from Kagome's world so he could understand what she was talking about better (like that whole man on the moon thing). Besides, it made sense!

Boyfriend sounded like it translated as 'bodyguard'.

"Sure," he said, nodding. "I'm Kagome's boyfriend."

They all squealed in delight and high-fived, which was disturbing. These people were strange...and loud. How did they say they knew Kago--?

Oh crap! Kagome! SNAKE DEMONS! HOBO! AL-GE-BRA!

"Where's Kagome now!" he demanded, switching from curious to manic over-protection again.

Eri ignored him, "And the most important thing that a boyfriend does is that he lo--"

"I don't have time for this!" he pushed past the three girls, running off as fast as he could down the sidewalk, leaving the teens blinking and confused.

Finally, Eri broke the silence.

"Soo..what'd you guys think of him?"

"He was...strange."

"He looks kinda funny, doesn't he?"

"His hair was so..."

"Yeah."

"And his eyes.."

"Unusual colour, huh?"

"Yup."

They all stood in silence for a moment, before exclaiming as one, "HOTTIE!" then sighing dreamily, beginning to walk in the opposite direction.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, was bounding around the 'skool' grounds, trying to sniff the Priestess out, but having no luck whatsoever. Growling in frustration, he kicked a stray dodgeball, hard.

There was a loud THUNK!

"OW!" someone shouted, and Inuyasha tensed. He knew that voice! It was...

Hojo (AKA Hobo, as far as Inuyasha was concerned) jogged up to him, holding the ball under his arm, rubbing his head where it had made (painful) contact.

Hojo (pfft, Hobo) looked him up and down briefly, taking in this persons strange appearance, but not really thinking too much of it, or so it seemed. If he had, he would have run away screaming from the Glare of Death the half-demon was sending in his general direction.

"You really should be more careful." he scolded lightly. "You could have hurt someone, y'know. Here, have your ball back." he held it out, smiling good-naturedly. Inuyasha glared at the ball, then back at Hojo.

"Its not my ball."

"...Oh." Hojo blinked, wondering why this strange person looked like he wanted to kill him. But, being rather slow and not leaving like a sensible person, he merely smiled dopily again. "Well then, why don't we go find the owner?"

"Keh, I'm already looking for someone, thank you very much."

"Okay then! I'll help you!" said Hojo cheerfully, throwing the ball over his shoulder. "Who're we looking for?"

Oh, GODS, doesn't this guy give up?

"Listen Buster, I don't need you're---" wait! Hojo knew Kagome too...as much as he hated that fact. And at least he didn't giggle every twelve seconds. "Actually...maybe you could help. Do you know where Kagome is right now?"

Hojo looked pleased, "Sure I know where Kagome is! You know Kagome?"

"'Course I do!"

"How?"

"Erm..."

Well, obviously he couldn't say exactly how he knew Kagome...that was kinda a secret. Then he remembered the new word he had learned that day, and said, while feeling very smart, "I'm her boyfriend!"

Silence.

"W-what?"

"Her boyfriend." repeated Inuyasha. Why was Hojo looking at him like that?

"B-but thats not possible!" stuttered Hojo. He was staring at the dog hanyou looking utterly confused. "I'M her..."

"INUYASHA!"

"Keh?" the hanyou turned and saw Souta, Kagome's kid brother, jogging up the field, looking red in the face. "Oh, hey squirt."

"H-hi!" the preteen boy skidded to a stop, panting loudly. He glanced up, looking sheepish. "Mom sent me...to find you..cause, Kagome's...back now."

"What! So I went all over this place for nothin'!"

"Um, excuse me?" Hojo tapped Inuyasha on the shoulder to get his attention. "I was just wondering, did you happen to meet Kagome one of the times she was at the hospital?"

Inuyasha blinked, "Um..." he had no idea what Hobo was talking about , but ah well, may as well humor him, if it made him go away. "Yeah. Sure. Hospitty...thingy."

"Oh!" Hojo's face brightened disturbingly. This person was so cheerful it was slightly creepy. "Well, THAT explains it! Well, don't worry." he patted Inuyasha on the shoulder sympathically, looking at him with pity. "I'll let you keep thinking you're Kagome's boyfriend then." he looked at Souta kindly. "Make sure he gets back to the doctors safely, mmkay?" And with that he skipped away, humming loudly to himself.

"...What just happened here?" asked Inuyasha, making note to wash his shoulder.

"He thinks you're an escaped mental patient or something." Souta shrugged. "Ignore him, he just likes his little fantasy-world he's got going there. So, anyway, we should head back now, or Mom and Kagome will worry."

"Keh! Stupid woman. She should know to come straight back to me when she's done her little 'test' things." He started walking back, keeping his arms crossed grumpily. Souta had to jog to keep up with the other's long strides.

"Why's that, Inuyasha?"

"Well, who knows what could happen to her! She has a knack for getting kidnapped or crap like that. Someone needs to protect her, and I'm her boyfriend so...what are you looking at, squirt?"

Souta had a weird lopsided grin pasted on his face. He stared up at the older boy, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "D-did you just say boyfriend?"

Inuyasha frowned. Whenever he said that he seemed to get strange reactions from people, like the girls high-fiving and laughing, Hojo's initial shock and then the humming, and now Souta.

Was there something about that word that he was missing?

Nah. It was much more likely people were just impressed with his knowledge of the language here. 'Cause I'm just smart like that.' he thought smugly.

"Yup. That's exactly what I said. Boyfriend." he said matter of factly, hopping nimbly over a bush. He looked back at the little boy now trying to scramble over said bush. "Like I was saying, I'm her boyfriend so she should--"

"Oh wow! I never thought you guys would actually admit it!" Souta said happily, picking out leaves from his hair. "How long?"

"I dunno...I only found out today." they were approaching the Higurashi shrine now.

"What? How can you not know how long you've been in a relationsh--"

"I don't have time for talking! I have to see Kagome!" Inuyasha hopped up the stairs leading up to the shrine, leaving Souta behind on the path. Just like before, Mrs. Higurashi wasn't all that surprised when he came bursting through the front door, running about the house like hyper-active puppy.

"She's in her room." she said simply as he began lifting up couches looking for the girl.

"Thanks!"

He raced up the stairs, nearly knocking over Kagome's grandfather, ("DEMON SCUM!"), and bounded into her open doorway, skidding to a stop. Kagome, from where she was sitting at her desk, looked up from her homework.

"Oh, hi." she turned back to her assignment.

Silence.

"OH HI? Is that all you have to say to me!" he growled. "I've been looking for you all day!"

She sighed heavily. "I keep telling you, I have a life here too, y'know. I have to keep up with my school-work so if you would just be a little more patient--"

"Keh!" he snorted, seating himself on the ground. Well, wasn't this nice and anti-climactic? He was kinda looking forward to slaughtering snake demons, they were fun. Slice and dice real nice.

"Don't be pouty." scolded the dark-haired human. She set down her pencil and turned in her chair to fix the hanyou with a very suspicious look. "What did you mean when you said you've been looking for me all day?"

"Exactly what it sounds like."

She suddenly looked very tired, "You've been running around the city again, haven't you?"

Inuyasha said nothing.

Kagome shook her head, "Well, at least no one saw you.."

Uh oh.

"Uh, Kagome...?"

"What?"

"You don't happen to know three very giggly girls who wear your same uniform do you?" he asked weakly. From the way she suddenly flinched told him the answer.

"Y-you met Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka?" she was wearing a slightly maniacal grin.

"And Hobo." he added quickly, to get it over with.

Her mouth twitched. "Shall I assume that means 'Hojo'?" she slumped in her chair, hand on her forehead as if she had a headache. "Inuyasha, you can't just butt into my life!"

"Yes I can!" he retorted automatically.

She glared at him; one thing she had apparently inherited from Kikyo was her inate ability to glare. He shrank a bit in fear. "I can take care of myself you know!"

"Pfft, what difference does that make?" he mumbled, trying not to look as uneasy as he felt; Kagome was clearly in one of her 'sit'ing moods. "If I don't make sure you don't get yourself killed, who will?"

Her expression softened, but only just slightly. Inuyasha decided to take it as a good sign and continued.

"After all, I'm your boyfriend!" He gave himself a mental pat on the back for using his new word.

But then again, maybe he should stop saying that. Kagome's reaction was just as bizarre as the ones that had come before it, if not more. As soon as the word slipped out, she stood up suddenly, eyes wide, then sat back down again. She was staring at him with the oddest expression on her face; it could be summed up as 'HEKE?'

"EXCUSE me?" she spluttered.

"Nevermind." he muttered. Hey, if it offended her...it was better not to offend her anymore today.

"No, what did you say?" she slipped off her chair and crossed the room to crouch in front of him on her knees, her face (which was very close to his -she had a habit of getting too close) studying his quizzically. "Did you say you're my boyfriend?"

He blushed and leaned back to put some comfortable distance between them. Dammit, he was the equivalent of teenage boy, she shouldn't mess with his head like this... "Sure. Whatever."

"...Where did you hear that?" the odd expression was gone, replaced by curiousity and maybe something like disappointment.

"From your weird friends, Okay?" he looked away, scowling slightly at the floorboards of Kagome's room. "Allright, allright, what does it mean anyway? People keep giving me ass-crazy looks when I say that."

Brown eyes widened. "You...you said..." she stared at him for a moment...

Then burst out laughing.

He waited for her to stop as patiently as he could, which was very patiently at all.

"Oh for the love of...!"

"This is what it means you idiot!" the girl said through her laughter.

Then something very strange happened.

The hanyou blinked as his witty retort was cut off by a pair of very soft lips pressed against his. He didn't know why he was so surprised, it wasn't like they hadn't kissed before (er, well okay, once. And at the time he wasn't in the condition to remember the details) it was just...of all times to spontaniously lay one on him...

...Not that he minded...

He had only just barely started to return the kiss when she pulled away with a very sneaky little smirk on her face, making him whimper pitifully.

"Get it now?" she asked calmly, as if to say 'here endeth the lesson.'

"Ah.." was all he could manage at the time. He took a moment to collect himself. "So..a boyfriend is a...lover or something, I gather?" He felt his face go red at the thought that he had been boasting such a thing to her kid brother.

Kagome went red to. He had the feeling she couldn't believe what she just did "Er, more or less..."

"...I can live with that." he decided.

And then it was Kagome's turn to be surprised when he spontaniously kissed her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

GothGurl: XD Er...I never will get over my random cheesy endings will I? Le sigh.

Is Kagome OOC? Oh yeah. Is Inuyasha OOC? Well, I think that's a matter of how you see him...I think I made him a bit too mean here. Grr, he's a tricky character to write. For the record, I think I've got Hojo down pat! XD Oh well, I made this months ago and for lack of anything better to write I edited it a bit and decided to post it. And...here it is? Whaddaya think?

Review please! It only takes a second and it makes this authoress happy!