Disclaimer: InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have nothing.

A/N: Based on Grapefruit Wannabe's prompt: "Inuyasha is a delivery person and Kagome waits for him on the porch." ;)

-SW

Shipping & Handling

Hmm...Maybe a pepper grinder…? No...something bigger. I don't want to pay five dollars extra on shipping for something that only costs five dollars to begin with. Maybe shoes? I don't really need any new shoes but...Oh! Those are cute!

Kagome clicked away at her work computer as she browsed the internet, doing some uncharacteristically frivolous shopping.

"Burning the midnight oil?"

Kagome looked over her monitor to find her best friend and co-worker standing in the doorway, car keys in hand. "No, just doing some shopping."

"Oh?" Sango said, stepping into the office and around the desk to take a peek.

"What do you think about these sandals?" Kagome asked, pointing to the picture on the screen.

"Cute!"

"I thought so, too." Kagome said as she added them to her shopping cart and proceeding to checkout.

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Sango halted her, noticing that the overnight shipping box was checked. "You don't want to do overnight shipping. It costs thirteen dollars extra, and two-day shipping is free."

"Yes, but if I do two-day shipping they won't be delivered until monday, while I'm at work."

"So?" Sango shrugged. "They'll be there waiting for you when you get home."

"Eh…" Kagome hedged, trying to think of any way to avoid telling her friend the embarrassing truth. "There have been some mail thefts in my neighborhood. I don't want them to get stolen."

"It will be insured." Sango said, waving her off. "They'll just send you a new pair."

"Yeah, but that's such a hassle."

"Better than paying thirteen extra dollars."

"Well...I need them for tomorrow night." Kagome said, hoping Sango wouldn't pry further into the excuse.

"What's tomorrow night?"

No such luck...

"Umm…" Kagome's mind scrambled for a convincing lie. "Mom's…" That's it. Mom's. That's all that came out.

"Mom's?" Sango repeated, raising her brows and barely containing her amused grin.

"Mom's party. My mom's having a party. A tea party. It's semi-formal..."

"So, what does he look like?" Sango cut her off.

"What?!" Kagome feigned confusion and surprise.

"The guy you're going out with that you're trying to hide from me."

"You know I'd tell you if I had a date!" Kagome defended.

Sango narrowed her eyes. "So if I called your mom right now, she could confirm that she's having a semi-formal tea party tomorrow night?"

Kagome froze for several seconds before giving in and dramatically collapsing onto her desk. "He's soooo cute!" she whined.

Sango chuckled. "Who is soooo cute?"

"The delivery driver."

At that, Sango threw her head back and laughed heartily. "Kagome, don't tell me you're buying crap you don't even need just to get a ten second look at the mailman."

"You haven't seen him, Sango. He's worth ten dollars per second."

Sango chuckled and shook her head. "Well, what are you going to do when you see him?"

Kagome shrugged "I haven't really gotten that far in the planning stages yet." she said, raising her head and clicking the 'place order' box on her computer screen. "I guess I'll just flirt and try to look as cute as possible."

Kagome pulled back the curtain and peeked out the window for about the hundredth time. Still no sign of him. Maybe it would be better if I waited outside, that way I could be sure I wouldn't accidentally miss him.

She opened the storm door and stepped out onto the front porch of the duplex she shared with her elderly neighbor, Kaede. Kagome's side of the porch was mostly barren and the landscaping sparse, while Kaede's side was furnished with rocking chairs and adorned with various types of flowering plants.

Kagome didn't want it to look as though she were just sitting around waiting for his arrival, so she decided, in order to appear busy, she would water her neighbors plants. Since she didn't have a watering can, she ran inside, pulled a milk jug from the recycling, and quickly filled the jug with tap water. She went back outside, took a seat in one of her neighbors rocking chairs, and waited.

When the delivery truck finally pulled up in front of her house, Kagome quickly shot to her feet and grabbed the milk jug she was using as a makeshift watering can. She shuffled around, pretending to be busy, all the while watching him traverse the driveway and sidewalk from the corner of her eye. She marveled at his uncanny ability to make a pair of shorts look sexy, a feat achieved by very few men, in her own personal opinion.

"Oh! Hi there!" she chirped, pretending as though she just noticed his approach as she looked up from the plant she had begun to water.

He stopped at the steps and gave her an amused look. "You do know that's not a real plant, right?"

Kagome's smile instantly dropped to a frown as she turned her head down toward the plant, whose foliage, upon further inspection, looked curiously artificial. She cursed herself internally for not being more observant, then let out a nervous chuckle before blurting out. "Yes, I was just washing it." She sat down the water jug, scurried over to him, snatched the box with a muttered "Thanks", and darted into the house in complete and utter embarrassment, slamming the door behind her.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she chanted, leaning back against the closed door and slapping her forehead with the shoebox in her hands. She jumped in surprise at the sound of the doorbell ringing, and peeking out the sidelights found, not at all to her surprise, the beautiful god of parcel delivery himself standing outside her front door.

Oh gosh. Be cool, Kagome. Be cool! She turned around and opened the door. "C-can I help you?" she stammered.

"I just need your signature." he said, holding the e-signature pad out toward her.

"Oh, sure." Kagome tossed the shoe box to the floor and took the stylus from his hand.

His fingers brushed against hers, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional. Yeah, sure Kagome. He's real interested in the crazy lady who waters her neighbors artificial plants...

Kagome scribbled her signature across the pad and passed the pen back to him with a slightly trembling and excessively sweaty hand.

"Thanks." he said, turning the device around and looking at the signature. "What's the last name?" he asked.

"Higurashi."

He nodded and punched some buttons before looking directly into her eyes and saying, "Have a nice day.".

"Uh...m'kay. You too." Kagome said, flustered as she was met with his intense golden eyes boring into hers.

He gave a conspicuous smirk, before whirling around on his heel and heading back toward his truck.

Why was he looking at me like that? Was he doing it on purpose? She thought to herself, her heart pounding in her ears as she watched him hop back into his truck and pull away.

"You will never believe what happened to me today." InuYasha said to his roommate as he entered their apartment.

"You finally grew a chest hair?" Miroku guessed in jest.

"No. Shut up." InuYasha huffed. "Eight-twelve West Maple was waiting for me on her front porch."

"No way!" Miroku exclaimed, suddenly taking great interest in the conversation. A couple weeks prior, InuYasha had delivered a package to the resident at eight-twelve West Maple street, and she was, in his words, 'the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life'. He had immediately told Miroku about her upon arriving home from his delivery route that day, and hadn't been able to get her off of his mind since.

"Are you certain? How do you know she wasn't just sitting outside for the hell of it?"

"I'm absolutely positive. Not doubt about it."

"So, did you ask her out?"

"No, I didn't really even get a chance to talk to her. I called her out on watering a fake plant and she got all nervous and ran away." InuYasha explained.

Miroku laughed. "So what are you going to do now?"

InuYasha shrugged. "I guess I'll just wait and hope that she orders something else."

"I've got to order something else." Kagome told Sango. "Something big, so maybe he will offer to help me carry it and I can lure him inside the house."

Sango's eyes widened at the statement. "Are you going to kidnap him?" she said as she hopped up to take a seat on Kagome's desk.

"No...probably not...what about a rug?" Kagome asked, never pulling her eyes away from her computer monitor.

"A rug?"

"I could use an area rug." Kagome said, sounding determined. Almost a week had passed since her embarrassing encounter with the parcel delivery god. After spending most of the afternoon face-down in her bed, kicking her legs and screaming into her pillow, she decided that she had to give it one more shot.

"I'll order a rug, and when he delivers it I'll ask him for help bringing it in."

"I don't think that's in his job description." Sango said.

"Exactly. So, if he likes me he'll do it out of the goodness of his heart."

"Or he'll just do it because he's a nice guy."

Kagome's head shot up to Sango "Why are you trying to burst my bubble?"

"I'm not trying to burst your bubble Kagome, I'm just trying to keep you grounded."

"You think this is stupid, don't you?"

"You have to admit it's pretty crazy."

Kagome sighed. "Yeah...it's crazy...but I'm still doing it." she said as she proceeded to order a rug she didn't need or even particularly want.

This time Kagome decided to wait indoors. When the doorbell finally rang, she skipped over to the door and opened it with a bright smile. "Good morning!" she greeted.

"Good morning." he returned. "The plants are looking nice and clean."

The smile fell from Kagome's face. "Ha. Ha. Very funny." she said facetiously.

InuYasha chuckled at her agitation. "I just need you to sign for this." he said, extending the signature pad.

"Oh, sure." she said as she reached forward and complied. "Umm...would you care to help me bring the rug inside?" she asked sheepishly.

He nodded. "Sure. Where do you want it?"

"Just right inside the door is fine." she said as she stepped out to hold the door open for him as he entered and carefully placed the rug on the floor.

"There ya go." he said as he turned back around to face her.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." Kagome said, and she suddenly found herself having some sort of out of body experience. She stepped toward him and her shoulders lurched forward of their own volition as she rose to tip toes and gently pressed a kiss against his cheek. The entire time it was happening her brain was screaming at her to stop, but it didn't seem to have any control over the situation.

When she pulled back, she was absolutely certain she would find a look of horror on his face, but to her pleasant surprise he was...smiling? Then he was moving forward. Then his lips were on hers. Then it was over so fast and she was left standing, frozen in shock, wondering if it really happened at all. By the time she was able to breath again, the delivery truck was already pulling away.

She staggered back and plopped down to sit on the end of the rolled up rug lying on her entryway floor. As she sat there, trying to gather her bearings, she looked down and noticed a rolled sheet of paper protruding from the center of the coiled rug.

The smile returned to her face as she removed the paper, smoothed it against her lap, and upon it found a name and phone number.