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Dog Date Afternoon

Inuyasha sat on the floor in Kagome's room, grumbling to himself. It was several hours since he'd come to pick her up that morning only to be rejected.

"I can't leave now, Inuyasha. I promised my friends I'd work on our school history project with them. I can't let them down."

"Feh," he snorted. "It's always 'school this,' and 'school that'. If you ask me, this school business is nothing but a waste of time."

Kagome ignored him and grabbed her books. "I gotta meet them down at the library. We'll be working all day..."

In a flash, Inuyasha had pulled a baseball cap over his ears and glued himself to Kagome's side. "I'm coming with you-"

"No!" Kagome grabbed the hat off his head and shoved it into his hands. "You are staying here where you won't get into any trouble. I promise I'll be back tonight and we can leave then."

"What the hell am I supposed to do all day?" he yelled after her as she headed out the door.

"I don't know," she called back. "Find something to keep you busy."

That had been four hours ago. At first, Inuyasha passed the time by offering to help Grandpa Higurashi polish and store the family antiques...

One hour and two priceless heirlooms broken later, Inuyasha ran bounding away from the distraught screams of the old man behind him.

By that time, Inuyasha's stomach was beginning to growl so he retreated to the kitchen. 'Dammit,' he wondered. 'Where does Kagome keep the Ramen?'

But before he could turn the kitchen upside-down in a frenzied search, he noticed a glint on the countertop out of the corner of his eye. Lying there was a mysterious little heart-shaped box with a shiny, metallic red cover. He opened the lid with a thoughtful look on his face and sniffed. 'Hm, what kind of food is this...?'

After he finished consuming the entire contents of the box, he realized he was thirsty. That strangely delicious, gooey substance was sticking to the back of his throat. He opened the big white chest Kagome had called a refrigerator and looked for something to drink.

'What's this?' he wondered, pulling a bouquet of pink roses out of the fridge. 'Who would want to eat flowers?' Unless-he realized-this was one of those new inventions from Kagome's era that he didn't understand, and the humans had somehow found a way to turn flowers into food.

Well, trying those box-eats had certainly turned out to be a good idea. Maybe the flowers would taste good too. He gave them a tentative sniff to see if they smelled edible-and choked on the overpowering fumes that met his nose! Someone had sprayed the already odorous petals with perfume or something-that horrid stuff Inuyasha had told Kagome never to wear again. It drove his sensitive hanyou nose crazy!

"Ah - ah - ah - " he couldn't hold it in. "CHOO!"

Inuyasha sneezed so hard that half the petals were blown off the flowers! As he doubled over from the impact, his fingers snapped the stems in his hand. He stared at the bare, broken flowers dumbly. Crap, what was he gonna do?

'Wait!' He remembered something he'd seen Kagome use in her room once. She kept it in her desk drawer. Snickering to himself, he ran to get it. He'd fix the flowers and put them back and no one would be the wiser...

Pleased that his clever plan had gone off so well, he headed back to Kagome's room to relax. For a while he played with Buyo, teasing and tossing the fat cat around until it finally scratched out at him and darted away.

"Feh," he muttered. "Stupid feline." Now what was he going to do?

Sighing, he picked himself up and headed for the living room. He could hear Kagome's mother and little brother talking. Maybe they could keep him busy...

-

Mrs. Higurashi couldn't help but smile as she watched Souta adjust his little, red bowtie for the fifth time. 'Nothing like young love...'

Souta turned to her, smoothing down the front of his suit jacket with a worried expression on his face. "Do I look okay, Mom?"

Giving his head a pat, Mrs. Higurashi beamed. "You look like the handsomest little boy in the whole world, sweetie."

"Awww, Mom!" Souta cried, combing his fingers through his hair. "You messed it up! Everything has to be perfect! This is my one-month anniversary date with Hitomi."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "You're a true romantic, just like your father!" She bent down to for a closer inspection. Rubbing a smudge off his cheek, she gave him a kiss on the nose. "There, that's my little Romeo."

Souta blushed, and brushed her away, embarrassed. "Sorry, Mom, no time!" he called, scrambling for the door. "I can't be late!"

But before he made it halfway outside, Mrs. Higurashi stopped him. "Oh, Souta dear! Aren't you forgetting something?"

Souta turned back and frowned. Why was the world conspiring to ruin his date? "Mom, what?"

"Weren't you going to bring your little girlfriend an anniversary present? I remember you saved up all month for it..."

Souta gasped. Oh no, he had almost forgotten the gifts! What kind of fool would show up for their anniversary empty-handed?

Souta nearly ran into Inuyasha as he bounded into the kitchen. Inuyasha dodged at the last second as Souta flew past him. "Sorry, Inuyasha, no time to catch up! I'm gonna be late for my date!"

Thank goodness he had had the foresight to buy the gifts the day beforehand, he thought to himself. He was running so behind schedule, he'd never have time to purchase them now. He'd been so proud of himself yesterday, selecting the most expensive pink roses for Hitomi. The blossoms were so wide and full that he didn't want them to start wilting overnight. 'Better keep them in the fridge,' he'd decided. But not before borrowing some of Kagome's perfume to make sure they'd smell extra-sweet...

With an excited smile on his face, Souta pulled open the refrigerator door and reached in for the flowers...

"YAAAAHHHH!!!!"

Souta held the most horrific sight before his eyes. A huge wad of scotch tape was tangled around the rose stems, trying to hide the fact that they'd been snapped in two. At one end of the stems, where the full blossoms had once been, the flowers were now shadows of their former selves. Bare stems were blanketed here and there with gobs of tape holding lone petals in place. It looked as though someone had ripped the flowers apart and then tried to tape them back together!

"YAAAHH!!" Souta cried again, not knowing what else to say. "What-What happened?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry..." Inuyasha's voice came from behind him.

"These... These were my anniversary present to Hitomi!"

"You shouldn't have sprayed them with that girly stink-stuff! I couldn't help it-I sneezed and... Sorry. I tried to fix it..."

Souta bit his lip. There was nothing he could do about it at this point. And he knew Inuyasha hadn't done it on purpose...

"Never mind, Inuyasha. It doesn't matter." Souta turned to the kitchen counter. "Luckily, I already bought Hitomi another gift." He reached for the box of chocolates...

"Oh, those were yours?" Inuyasha had a clueless expression on his face as Souta held the empty, heart-shaped box in his hands, distraught.

"Oh nooo!" Souta sobbed. "Now what am I going to do? My gifts for Hitomi are ruined, and there's no time to buy new ones!"

Inuyasha stared, baffled, at the blubbering little boy before him. "Hey, c'mon Souta, calm down. It's not such a big deal-"

"But this is our one-month anniversary! If I show up without presents, Hitomi's gonna think I don't care about her..."

"Hmm..." Inuyasha remembered when Souta had first fallen in love with Hitomi, the cute little girl from his class. The lovesick dope had come to him for advice, to find out how to tell her he liked her. Inuyasha had never seen Souta so distressed. When the two little kids finally confessed their feelings for one another on the playground, Inuyasha had to admit it was kind of cute...

"Don't worry, Souta." Inuyasha put his hand on his shoulder. "I'll help you out!"

Souta looked up from his sniffling, wiping his eyes. "You will? How?"

"C'mon!" Inuyasha grabbed him and ran out the door, pulling his baseball cap on along the way. "You'll see!"

-

Souta couldn't believe it. Inuyasha had come through for him. He was still the hero Souta had always thought him to be.

Hitomi smiled, breathless, holding onto Souta's shoulders, cheering with glee.

The two children flew through the air, carried on Inuyasha's back as he darted and bounded among the rooftops of Tokyo.

"Souta!" Hitomi cried. "This is the most amazing gift ever! Thank you!"

Souta blushed, dissolving into a pile of goo as he felt Hitomi give a quick kiss to his cheek.

Yep, Inuyasha was definitely a hero, all right.

-

When Kagome came home that night, she found Inuyasha lazing around her room, looking bored as all hell.

"So, Inuyasha, did you cause any trouble while I was gone?"

Inuyasha looked offended. "Keh! You kidding?" He folded his arms, averting his eyes. "Me, cause trouble? 'Course not!"

THE END