(Disclaimer: I don't own.)

The Kiss

Chapter One: The Kiss

It all started with a kiss.

The gesture was simple. Inuyasha knew this, but his mind could not simply wrap around it. He had seen many kisses in his short lifetime to know this. Okay, not many, many, but enough to know that it was sweet an all, as well as very boring to watch.

This kiss, THE kiss, was not.

"W-Wha… W-Wha…"

Kagome gave him a side glance, admiring the way the red baseball cap he was forced to wear in public brought out his big, amber eyes. It really enhanced them, she thought with a grin, until she realized that his eyes had, in fact, grown wider, and the cap had done nothing. He seemed to be shocked by something. "What's the matter, Inuyasha?"

The hanyou began to pant, but not at all like a dog would, which was usually how he panted. This time was different. This time, his mouth was parted slightly as he inhaled and exhaled slowly and unevenly, and only the tip of his tongue fell from between two small, sharp canines. His eyes were wide, pupils dilated, and Kagome could have sworn he was going to pass out any second if he kept this up.

"Inuyasha, what's the matter?" she repeated, a tight fear creeping into her chest. "Are you okay?"

He couldn't speak. He couldn't think. He could barely even breathe. She brought a comforting hand to his shoulder, jumping when his response was a small, helpless, almost wanton moan. His face flushed pink as his eyes became unfocused, and he continued to gaze ahead with no real bearings of where he was anymore. What was going on?

Kagome turned around and stood slightly behind him and to the side, getting a clear view of his line of sight over his shoulder. It was busy in the streets of Tokyo, as one would expect on any other day in the city, and the miko ran her dark eyes over various vehicles and the tops of many heads until her vision settled on what Inuyasha could possibly be losing his mind over. Across the street, hands held softly, supportively together, were two young women, and they were kissing. Both appeared to be no older than Kagome was, and though one of them seemed ordinary and slightly on the healthy side, yet still pretty, the other was a picture of perfection of the female figure.

"Uh, c'mon, Inuyasha… We should really be going now!" Kagome grabbed the hanyou's rough, calloused hand and jerked on his arm to get him to follow her toward their original destination: her mother's favorite pantry store. She had a huge list and a strong person at her side to help carry the food. If he would start moving, that is. To her utter surprise, he would not budge.

"Inuyasha!" she cried out, her own face flushing, but for the opposite reason as he. "What's the big deal? They're just kissing!"

Finally, he turned to her, his face still stuck permanently in a wide-eyed stupor. "Girls…do that…in your time?"

Suddenly, all he saw was Kikyo. And Kagome. Kissing. Suddenly, the simple gesture was not so boring anymore. Nor was it at all simple.

Oh boy, she thought hopelessly, her cheeks tingling with embarrassment at his question. "Let's just keep walking before people start staring at us." She tugged on his arm, and this time he followed. "I'll try to explain it on the way."

And she did. She explained, very delicately (it was as embarrassing to her as explaining to a child where babies come from), that in her world, it was becoming socially acceptable for members of the same sex to be together, some even going so far as to appreciate both sides of the two genders. He fed off of every word, as though it was her last. Little did she know that, in his brain, those words really would be her last – the last he would choose to hear.