I know. It's been absolutely forever. (sighs) I really didn't mean to torture you guys; I just have to wait until inspiration strikes, and I've been without a lightening rod for quite awhile concerning these drabbles. This little idea was floating around in my head about a month back, but things got in the way and I never got a chance to flesh it out. It's mostly silly and kawaii, but I think it's sweet anyways. I will honestly try to do better with this fic, but everyone should know how that goes. Again, I'm sorry it took so long, and I hope this chap makes up for it a bit. :)

The young woman yawns, stretching her arms over her head as she glances at the small Hello-Kitty clock sitting on her desk.

Almost 12... Ugh...

Kagome forces herself to roll her tired eyes, glancing quickly at the pile of math homework she still had to do. She sneers at papers, wishing for a match before sighing her frustration.

Not without sustenance...she thinks, standing from her chair and shivering as a cool breeze from her open window flows over her exposed arms.

The girl moves to her window, pushing the open top downwards and locking it before her actions register in her tired mind.

Inuyasha will be... Well, 'upset' isn't a strong enough word...

Kagome smiles at the protective nature of her hanyou, unlocking and cracking the window so that the boy can check up on her if he should so decide. The young miko never knew what nights the half-demon would visit her while she was at home, only that she occasionally found evidence of his coming to call. The window left wide open; leaves or grass on her floor; indentations in the soft carpet from where he had stood watching over her. Kagome didn't know why he felt the need to make sure of her safety in her own home, but she always got a warm feeling in her stomach when she thought about it.

Shaking her head at her sentimentality where the hanyou was concerned, the girl moves to her closet to grab a robe, throwing it on over her pajamas and heading downstairs to the kitchen. Grabbing a roll left over from dinner, Kagome heats a cup of milk, the warm scent of chocolate already making her feel more energized as she stirs in the syrup, throwing a few marshmellows on top of the smooth, brown liquid to finish the effect.

Humming a little in anticipation of the sweetness, Kagome finishes the last of her bread, chewing slowly and giving her drink time to cool as she walks slowly up the stairs, being careful not to spill.

The girl just makes it to the top when a soft scraping sound reaches her ears, and she turns to her bedroom, the silouette of something dark and ominous-looking framed in her doorway from the lamplight shining into the hall.

Kagome just stifles the scream that tries to escape her lips, but completely misses the loud hiss that follows it, when the hot liquid sloshes onto her hands at her jump.

"Inuyasha! Don't scare me like that!" the miko heatedly whispers, fighting the urge to sling the burning hot chocolate off her hands. The girl glares at the hanyou for a moment before glancing down, as several drops of her now half-gone drink drip onto her bare feet and the floor. "See what you made me do?!"

Inuyasha frowns in confusion at the girl's anger, then feels his eyes widening as Kagome shoves her mug into his hands.

"Hold that!" she says afterward, keeping her fingers in an extended position, as if she'd just grown claws like him and was going to attack someone. The young woman sends him another glare before turning on her heel and disappearing into the bathroom on the other side of the stairs, the door closing with a resounding click.

"What's her problem?" the hanyou mumbles to himself, staring at the cup in his hands as if it might bite him.

Kagome had been home for three days already, and the young demon was starting to get restless. She never knew it--and he didn't plan on her finding out any time soon--but Inuyasha always worried about the miko whenever she was more than about a dozen feet away, which was where her scent started to fade, though most times it depended on their location. With her being gone for so long, the girl's scent had almost disappeared from his time, and the hanyou's instincts had urged him to find her and make sure that she was okay. Kagome was his responsibility, and he would protect her. Inuyasha never questioned his behavior; it was something he accepted as reality. It hadn't yet occurred to him that he might want to see her for another reason.

One that was to going to present itself tonight.

The boy takes a few tentative sniffs of the drink in his hands, finding his stomach rumbling as the sweet, fresh, almost mellow scent of chocolate enters his nose. When was the last time he'd had the savory goodness of the substance that was so hard to come by in the Feudal Era, but which was available on practically every corner in Kagome's time?

Before he can think much more about it, said girl of the future opens her door and almost stomps down the hall, still eyeing him like she was ready to claw his eyes out. Kagome takes one look at the wet carpet and points at her bedroom, silently ordering the hanyou inside. Inuyasha doesn't need to be told twice.

The miko grumbles to herself about 'intruders' as the boy disappears into her room, finally shaking her head in faux-exasperation, the slightest hint of a smile crossing her face. She drops to the floor and presses the damp towel to the light-colored carpet, feeling temporary relief wash over her as the stain comes out fairly easily.

She spends several minutes making sure that she gets all the hot chocolate out, then returns to the bathroom, rinsing out the cloth and tossing it into the hamper. Kagome checks the redness on her hands, frowning before she retrieves the ointment she had put on a few minutes ago and touching up some of the darker places before heading back to her room.

"So... What...?"

Kagome stops dead as she sees Inuyasha sitting on her bed, the mug held tentatively in his hands--as it had been in the hallway. The problem with this is that there no longer any drink left in the cup, as mostly evidenced by the light-brown mustache the boy was now wearing, underneath the pink tinge that was slowly progressing across his cheeks.

It could have been the late hour. Kagome had been studying since she'd come home from school, a spanse of almost nine hours. She was tired and cranky that she still had more homework to do before she could sleep.

It could have been her frustration at losing part of her need for sustenance to a spill, and the other part to the half-demon sitting not-quite-so-innocently in front of her. She didn't want to walk all the way downstairs to make another one.

At least half of her reasoning had to be the absolutely adorable way the boy looked with the milk mustache on his upper lip, clashing so badly with the silver hair framing his guilty expression.

Whatever her rationale, Kagome suddenly finds herself moving forward, cupping the boy's cheeks in her palms as she drops her face to his and kisses him softly, tasting the last of her treat on his very surprised lips.

Inuyasha doesn't move, complete shock keeping him immobile as Kagome kisses him, finally taking his upper lip between hers and sucking on it lightly before pulling away. He blinks his golden eyes in silent astonishment as Kagome mock-sighs.

"Since I have to make another one now, I guess I'll just double it," the girl says, giving the boy a shy grin and taking the cup from his hands, her blush spreading from her face and down to her neck as she leaves the stupefied hanyou alone on her room.

Inuyasha opens and closes his mouth a few times, finally reaching one hand up to touch his tingling lips with one finger, his brain still trying to catch up with what just happened.

When he hears Kagome coming back upstairs several minutes later, the hanyou decides that he's going to have to visit the young miko much more often from now on.

Well?