This is the very first Inuyasha fanfiction I ever wrote, even before I'd seen the actual series. It was originally written under my first pen name, Stormlight, before I took my second one. As I wish to keep all of my Inuyasha stories under one name (this one), I'm moving this story to this account. No accusations of plagiarism, please. It is impossible for one to steal one's own stories. Thank you.

Sweet Tooth
by Quickening

"I'm. Going. HOME!"

The shrieking yell resounded in the still, morning air with all the delicacy of a train wreck, causing the village dogs to raise howls of alarm and sending a flock of startled birds into panicked flight. The villagers who hadn't yet bothered to rise bolted upright in their beds, certain they were under attack by yet another monster. Those who had already trudged out into the fields gripped their hoes tighter and looked around in bewildered alarm for a moment, before belatedly realizing that they were simply overreacting. It was just them again. Nothing to worry about. Just another typical morning in the village.

In the meantime, the unwitting cause of all the ruckus stood in the middle of a worn dirt path leading to the border of the forest and an ancient well situated somewhere inside. Her feet were spread wide apart, planted firmly in the dirt, and her balled-up fists were planted stubbornly on slender hips. A yellow rucksack that was bigger than her head threatened to pull her over at any given moment, but there was no way she was about to let gravity win this round. Especially since she was fighting so furiously to keep her dignity intact in the face of Opposition.

Speaking of which ...

"Why do ya gotta leave now?" Opposition snarled, bearing fangs at her in a typical display of irritation. "Ya just got back yesterday!" Bright, amber-gold eyes glared at her from beneath a longish tangle of unkempt, silver-white hair. "We've still gotta mission to complete, and I—"

"I have school, Inuyasha," Kagome reminded him with far more patience than she was feeling at the moment. "School means tests, and tests means I have to study, but I left the book I need to study from on my bed at home. Which means I have to go back and get it. It'll only take a few minutes!" Really, if she could make herself any more clear, she'd be freaking invisible, she thought with no small amount of disgust.

The hanyou pouted, his ears flattening with displeasure. "I thought you said there was another shard nearby. We need to get to it before something else does!" He was whining now, and she really hated it when he whined.

"The well is right there. The shard can wait until I get back. In a few minutes," she articulated slowly as she struggled to fight down her irritation. She refused to give him the satisfaction of an argument, which wouldn't do anything to help her case, anyway, so why waste the energy?

"Well, if that's true, why do ya got your pack with you?" Inuyasha demanded, looking unbearably smug.

Kagome paused. Well, shoot. He had her on that one. Think fast, girl. "Do you really think I'd let my pack here, unguarded, with a snoop like you around?" she asked quickly. He looked insulted, but before he could open his mouth, she continued, "Don't deny it! I know it was riffled through when I left it before, and I have some pretty personal stuff in here that I don't appreciate you going through!"

"Keh." He sulked and crossed his arms, but couldn't quite hide his guilty expression. "I was just lookin' for the food."

"The food is not stuffed inside my bras. Or my panties, for that matter," she growled, watching with some satisfaction as his cheeks took on a suspiciously pink hue. "Look, the faster you let me go home, the faster I'll come back." There had to be some way to get him to let her pass, short of using the "S" word. She thought for another moment, before a burst of inspiration hit her. "If you let me go," she began mysteriously, "I'll bring you back some Wilbur Buds."

His ears perked at the unfamiliar words. "Some ... whatta?" he replied suspiciously.

"Wilbur Buds," she repeated gleefully. "Chocolate. Imported chocolate. The best darned imported chocolate you'll ever taste. All the way across the ocean, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The only place in the whole world you can get it. And I just happen to have some."

That sparked his attention. As was typical with any male, the way to his heart was definitely through his stomach, and she had discovered quite by accident that her cute (if obnoxious) little hanyou sported quite the sweet tooth. For a moment of peace, she was willing to give up a few of her carefully hoarded stash of imported Wilbur Buds.

He narrowed his eyes at her, contemplating. "Chocolate?" he repeated grouchily.

She grinned. This was almost too easy. "Remember the chocolate bar I brought for Shippou, and you stole half of it from him?"

"I didn't steal half of it," he protested. Then, mumbling, "... just a quarter or two."

She stifled a grin. "Wilbur Buds taste about ten times better. And if you let me go home to get my book, I'll bring some of it back. Just. For. You."

He was caught. Hook, line, and sinker. With a little smirk, he stepped aside and swept an exaggerated bow in the direction of the well. "After you," he smirked, looking up at her through devilish eyes.

"Good boy," she replied with a smirk of her own, unable to resist giving his adorable ears a little tweak as she hurried past him. He yelped in outrage, but by the time he thought to retaliate, she was already through the well and in her own world.

Kagome grinned as she emerged from the well, feeling more than a little triumphant that she had managed to win her argument with no bloodshed from either of them. Her brother greeted her, seemingly not at all surprised to see her was back. Half the time, she had to wonder if he'd even realized she was gone in the first place. "Is Inuyasha with you?" were the first words out of Souta's mouth as soon as he saw her. Not, "Hi, Kagome! How are you?" Not, "I missed you, Onee-chan!" Just, "Where's Inuyasha?"

Way to make a big sister feel loved.

In the few times since Souta had met the hanyou, Inuyasha had become something of a hero to him, much to Kagome's disgust. What kind of a hero did a dog demon with the temperament of a rabid bear make, anyhow?

Okay, so he was rather brave (or maybe just reckless, although it was hard to distinguish between the two). He could be kind of gallant when he chose (which he generally only chose when she was about to get squished by a really big monster). And sure, he was kind of ... breathtakingly gorgeous, in an unwashed, unkempt sort of way. His eyes were really pretty when he wasn't using them to glare holes into her skull, and she had to admit that it took a lot of self-restraint to not reach out and fondle those silky little ears of his, or to comb her fingers through his soft, tangled mane of hair whenever she rode on his back. His mouth, when he wasn't using it to yell obscenities at her, was really rather pleasant-looking. Soft, full, moist ... definitely what her boy-crazy friends would term "kissable".

And then there was that body of his; although his standard fire-rat coat hid most of it, the few glimpses she'd managed to get of his torso … Wow. Lean-muscled, wiry, a washboard stomach and shoulders that weren't too broad and smooth, warm, tanned skin and—

"Onee-san, your eyes are glazing over, and you're drooling," Souta deadpanned, snickering at her dazed expression. "Thinking dirty thoughts about Inuyasha-nii-san?"

"What?" Kagome smacked him across the head, glaring as he laughed and bounded away. That brat! He'd been hanging around Inuyasha entirely too much lately! "Drooling, indeed," she huffed with mortal offense as she stomped up to her bedroom, where she found the book exactly where she'd left it, on her bed. Muttering a few choice words to herself, she shoved it into the pack, then headed to the kitchen to greet her mother and beg off a few packages of Ramen. Finally, she opened the bottom drawer of the refrigerator and reached into the very back, where a small box held her precious store of chocolate. Opening the brightly-decorated box, she reached in to draw out a small handful of her precious imported Wilbur Buds ...

… and encountered nothing but tin.

".....Gyaaaaaahhhh!"

It was a rather subdued Kagome who reemerged from the well several hours later, lugging her pack half-heartedly behind her. A scowling Inuyasha greeted her, slightly miffed that she had kept him waiting for so long, when she had told him it would only take a few minutes, at most. "Did ya get your dumb book?" he demanded, waiting until she nodded before he added, "Great! Where's the food?"

He ignored her brief glare as she bent to open her pack, riffling through it until her hand emerged clutching three packs of Ramen noodles. He stared at them, then at her. "That ain't what you promised. Where's my ... Wirburu Budsu?" he pronounced carefully (and poorly).

She winced. "Uh ... see ... about that ..."

His suspicious scowl deepened into a glare, and one corner of his mouth curled up to show a pointed fang. She glared back, torn between feeling defensive and feeling guilty. "Don't bare your teeth at me!" she cried. "I can't help it if my mom and grandpa got into my stash and ate it! I ordered more, but my online pen pal has to buy it, and it's expensive to ship and with the holidays coming the post gets backed up so it could take a few weeks to arrive and you were expecting me back and ... well ... I'm sorry, okay? I'll bring you some as soon as it arrives!"

"You promised!" he accused.

"I'm sorry," she repeated miserably, feeling more guilty now than defensive. She hated breaking promises, especially to him, who'd already had so many promises broken in his life. "Look, here ... I stopped at the corner store and got you a Hershey bar. It's imported, too, from the same place as the Wilbur Buds." She didn't feel the need to add that Hershey's chocolate was available pretty much everywhere, however, and therefore not quite as exclusive as Wilber's chocolate was. "It isn't Wilbur's, but it's still really delicious!" She opened her palm, in which was nestled a small, brown-and-silver foil-wrapped package.

He stared at it as though it had just gotten up and danced the Tango in her hand. "What the hell is that?" he asked with his usual rude bluntness.

She frowned, taking his hand and slapping the candy into his palm. "It's a chocolate bar. Enjoy!"

"But there's nothin' to it! You expect to make it up to me with this?" he huffed, clearly insulted. "Even Shippou's bar was bigger'n this!"

Kagome pinched her lips together and gave him a narrow-eyed glare. She had gone through hell and high water to get him his precious chocolate; had practically had to sell her soul to get him even one bite-sized Hershey bar. Having no paying job, her funds were limited, and it turned out that buying imported chocolate was far more expensive than paying an online friend to send it, especially since said online friend was just as happy to accept the latest issue of a favorite manga or Japanese snacks and candy in exchange. And all the ungrateful mutt could do was complain about it? The absolute gall of him!

Listening to him rant, her eyes narrowed further and further, and her anger boiled higher and higher, trampling down the lingering guilt until at last something snapped. Maybe it was because she was tired. Or maybe it was because she'd been hanging around youkai too long. Or maybe she was still pissed at her family for being the cause of her current situation in the first place, and needed to relieve some stress. Whatever it was, it caused her to do the one thing that neither of them thought she'd ever do.

She hauled off and punched him square in the jaw.

Inuyasha's head snapped back as he released a startled yelp, his snarls dying in his throat. Kagome stood there, her eyes filled with horror as she stared down at her shaking, throbbing fist. Her lips had parted in an astonished O, as her skin slowly drained of color. Slowly, her arm lowered to her side, her wide eyes drifting up to meet the hanyou's startled gaze. He stared right back and said not a word, his own lips parted wordlessly. His jaw was red where she'd struck it, and he raised clawed fingers to gingerly touch it. He seemed to be in some sort of shock.

She managed to swallow around the huge lump that had somehow formed in her throat without her noticing . He's going to kill me now. He's going to take those claws and slice me into ribbons, and I won't blame him if he did. What is wrong with me? A little sob threatened to escape, and she gritted her teeth to hold it back. Her eyes, which were before filled with fury, began to fade to a washed-out gray as tears clouded her vision. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. She chanted the words in her mind, but couldn't force them past the knot in her throat. Instead, she turned and bolted for the woods.

Inuyasha watched her go, too stunned to call her back, too stunned to do anything. His jaw ached slightly, but the pain was already fading. He had never known Kagome to be so ... violent before. Or so non-vocal. Normally she would've cheerfully yelled his ear off, or slapped him with so many sits he would've popped out on the other end of the world. But this time ...

She was really upset. And she hadn't spoken a word. Then again, what was that odd saying she was sometimes throwing at him? "Actions speak louder than words." Now he had an idea as to what that actually meant.

Well, now ya went and did it, a strangely familiar voice (which he began to suspect might be his conscience) berated him in his mind. Are ya happy? You made her cry again!

"Keh," he replied grumpily, scowling at the foil-wrapped menace lying innocently in his hand. How could something so tiny cause so much trouble? He looked up in the direction Kagome had run, glanced back at the candy, and then, with a long-suffering sigh, shook his hair out of his eyes and took off after the girl.

Kagome leaned against a convenient tree with her pack cradled in her lap, sniffling occasionally and wiping at her eyes. "Selfish jerk," she muttered angrily to herself. "Saying those things to me ... He deserved to get hit. He did! Doesn't he appreciate anything I do for him? I should've done that a long time ago! He deserves it."

But that was a lie, and she knew it. Inuyasha didn't deserve that kind of treatment from her, no matter how big an ass he was or how angry he made her. She sniffled again. "No wonder he doesn't like me," she mumbled, adding a dollop of self-loathing onto her growing mountain of teenaged angst. "What kind of a lady goes around sucker-punching people in the face? I bet Kikyou never threw a punch in her life. No wonder he's willing to die with her. If I died, he'd probably throw a party."

This lament was accompanied by a new set of sniffles and a soft hiccup; no matter that Kikyou had absolutely nothing to do with the current situation, just the mere thought of the lovely, undead miko was enough to raise Kagome's depression levels by several notches.

There was a slight stirring in the tree above her, as though something was stealthily making its way through the leaves, but Kagome was so wrapped up with her inner-torment that she failed to notice anything amiss. "If he hates me now, I guess I only have myself to blame," she continued mournfully, addressing her pack as though it could sympathize with her. "I should just give him what we've got of the jewel and go home and seal the well and get on with my life. He'd probably be better off without me, anyhow. And I'm sure he could sweet-talk his precious Kikyou into helping him find the rest of it."

The figure hiding in the tree chose that moment to drop out of it, landing directly in front of her with barely a sound and succeeding in scaring her out of several years of growth. "Inuyasha!" she bellowed, suddenly furious all over again. "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

He sat cross-legged before her and regarded her through serious, golden eyes, and just as quickly as it had flared, the anger flickered out again. She sighed and sat back, resting her forehead against her pack while his eyes bore into the top of her head. After a long, silent moment, he asked quietly, "You really gonna go an' leave us all behind?"

Her head snapped up, eyes flashing. "Why?" she snapped. "Do you want me to?"

He blinked. "No," he replied, with obvious surprise.

"Why?" she repeated. "Because I look like Kikyou?" Her voice sounded far more bitter than she'd wanted it to.

He shifted closer to her, laying one hand delicately on her knee. Her breath caught at the feel of his warm, callused palm resting on her bare skin, while her heart took a little leap inside her chest. "No," he repeated, in that same serious tone. "'Cause you're my—" Sudden fear rose up, sharp and bright. "—shard detector," he finished lamely, mentally kicking himself. That wasn't the right answer at all, and even he wasn't stupid enough to not know that.

Her face crumpled, just a little, and his brow furrowed. "Don't cry!" he commanded, sounding panicked. "I hate seeing you cry!"

"You certainly don't hate making me cry," she shot back.

He winced. Ouch. He hated to admit it, but that one had stung. The truth really did hurt, didn't it? He sighed, almost sadly. Why couldn't he, for once, make her smile, instead? That was all he really wanted to do, even though he'd admit it over his own dead body, especially to her. But ... it really would be a simple matter to make her smile, wouldn't it? Everyone else seemed to do so very easily, so why couldn't he? He was pretty sure he even knew how to do it, too. It took a bit of effort, but after managing to choke down his pride, he opened his mouth to say something that neither of them thought he would ever say.

"I-I'm sorry."

The words came out in such a low tone that she barely heard them. But her sniffles stopped, and she looked up at him in amazement, tears still clinging delicately to her lashes and making her eyes sparkle brilliantly.

His abruptly found himself short of breath. She had such beautiful eyes...

"What did you just say?" she gasped out.

He squirmed uncomfortably. "I said I'm sorry," he muttered, scowling at his hand. The hand that still rested on her knee. The hand that was currently stroking her skin absently, taking in the soft texture of it, the warmth, the—

He abruptly realized what he was doing and snatched the hand away as if it had just caught fire. His cheeks felt suspiciously warm. As did the rest of him.

"I ... I ... Apology accepted," Kagome stuttered, her voice filled with soft wonder. He had actually apologized to her? Even though she'd hit him? Maybe there was hope for her, after all. "And I'm sorry, too, Inuyasha," she hastily added. "For hitting you, I mean." She offered him a tentative smile, just as he'd been hoping for. Once again, he found it difficult to breathe. He also found that he was having difficulty deciding just which was more beautiful; her eyes or the soft, sweet smile, meant just for him.

Flustered, he shook his head and looked away. "Keh. Like a weak, human girl could hurt me, anyway," he scoffed, waving aside her apology with his usual blustering arrogance.

"I'm still sorry, though," she insisted, hanging her head.

"Don't worry about it," he replied quickly, afraid she'd start to cry again. "It didn't even hurt!"

She regarded him steadily. "So, are we friends again?"

He froze at the unexpected question. Did she really consider them to be friends? He'd never let himself think about her relationship with him in terms other than "shard detector" or "annoying girl from the future", but he'd always known—somewhere in the back of his mind—that there was far more to it than that. Even friendship seemed like such a vague term for what he felt for her, but loathe as he was to admit it, he wasn't anywhere near ready to consider putting any more of a definition onto his blossoming feelings than that. Friends was definitely better than nothing, right? A thought occurred, and he opened a clenched hand to show off a slightly squashed, slightly melted, foil-wrapped rectangle. He stared at it for a moment, aware of Kagome's gaze lingering intently on him. Then, unceremoniously ripping off the odd wrapping, he bit into one end of the sticky, little brown bar, and abruptly found himself sinking into chocolate heaven.

Kagome watched his actions in complete bewilderment, but when an expression of pure bliss covered his face at the first taste of chocolate on his tongue, a slow smile spread across her face. She didn't need to hear the actual words to understand this was his way of saying that they were, indeed, friends. He'll never change, she thought affectionately, watching him eat. He seemed to be enjoying the treat so much that she couldn't help teasing him a little. "You know, I went to a lot of trouble to get that chocolate for you," she complained with good-natured spirit. "The least you could do is share it with me."

His eyes popped open, and he glanced at her as if he'd forgotten she was there. He looked down at the half-eaten candy still held between two fingers; glanced back at her again. Then, a devilish gleam entered those golden eyes, but before she had time to become worried, he popped the remainder of the chocolate into his mouth. She huffed at him, stifling a laugh as she wrinkled her nose cutely. "Oh, sure, you bottomless stomach," she teased. "Let's just see how soon I bring you any moreyeeeek!"

She abruptly found herself flat on her back, both arms pinned to her sides as a wickedly-grinning hanyou hovered over her, straddling her body. Her eyes widened nervously beneath his intense stare, but she opened her mouth to berate him, or possibly to "Sit" him.

She never had the chance to utter a word as he, in one of those lightning moves, swooped in and covered her mouth with his own.

Oh! Her eyes widened further.

Oh dear.

Slowly, as warm lips roughly caressed hers, they began to flutter shut again.

Oh my …

She'd been right. His lips were soft. And warm. And very, very kissable. The bittersweet taste of chocolate lay heavy on her tongue as he licked at it with his own, and she shivered in his arms when he pulled her closer, nipping softly at her lips with sharp teeth.

Well ... she had asked him to share ...

Inuyasha growled low in his throat, releasing his grip on Kagome's arms to slide his own fully around her body, all the while keeping firm contact with her lips. Lips that were doing strange and wonderful things to his body, especially in his nether-regions.

He'd thought there was nothing sweeter than chocolate. He was wrong. Chocolate couldn't hold a candle compared to the sweetness of Kagome's mouth. He'd bet his life that even the elusive Wirburu's chocolate paled in comparison. Why had he resisted doing this for so long?

Sensing the need for breath, he slowly, reluctantly broke contact and opened his eyes to meet her wondering gaze ... and that was when his common sense decided to return from its brief vacation to la-la land, and came rushing back into his head.

He leaped to his feet, his face flaming as he fought to get his racing pulse (among other things) back under control. "W-we better get back," he nearly snarled, snatching Kagome's pack from where it had fallen on the ground. "Everyone'll think I let you get eaten by a stray youkai or something, so come on! We've wasted enough time!"

Kagome might've been hurt and angered at his abrupt change in attitude ... were it not for the fact that his eyes kept straying to her very red and kiss-swollen lips, and that he looked rather like a starving wolf about to pounce on the unsuspecting rabbit caught in his path. His emotions must have been close to the breaking point; he couldn't mask the desire burning fiercely in his eyes, and her heart fluttered at the heat of his gaze as it raked over her body, leaving her feeling exposed and rather naked. In an extremely good way, of course.

She could have called his bluff. She could have thrown herself back into his arms and pick up right where they'd left off, and she knew his resistance would crumple like a tinfoil candy wrapper. She instead decided to take pity on the poor guy, and stood unsteadily and straightened her rather rumpled clothing, smiling softly to herself as she listened to him snarl and rant. Her calm demeanor seemed to upset him even further. "Well, what're you waiting for?" he shouted, practically in her face. "Let's go already!"

She looked up into his eyes with a sly, knowing expression, before giving him a sweet, almost elated smile that fair knocked the fight right out of him. "You're right, Inuyasha," she agreed meekly. "We'd better go back before they start to worry." She began to stroll calmly ahead of him toward the village, relishing in the hanyou's befuddled expression as he hurried to catch up to her. Clearly, this was the last reaction he'd been expecting.

"After all," she added slyly, shooting him a sideways glance, "it can be dangerous out here. One just never knows when one might encounter a youkai with a sweet tooth running around in the forest."

Inuyasha blinked at her, mouth gaping slightly, before he snapped it closed and stalked ahead of her in a display of righteous ire. "Keh," came his indignant reply.

And all was well with the world.