These characters do not belong to me.

Choosing a Partner

Chapter 14

By Kenzie Kennedy

Out on the street, Kagome started walking toward the shops. Her mother had warned her about what the guys were likely to do and had slipped her something.

Inuyasha obediently followed Kagome. Why am I following her, he thought. I’m free. I can do whatever I want. He peeked at Kagome. I just don’t know what I want to do.

"Where are we going?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome beamed at him. "We’re going shopping."

Inuyasha was quiet. Then he realized that he could ask questions. "Why?" he asked.

Another beam from Kagome. "Since you can have opinions now that you’re free, you can also have possessions. Don’t you want to go find out what you like? You can’t sit around the house all day doing nothing."

"I can if I want to."

Kagome nodded. "Yeah. You can if you want to. But don’t you want to do something?"

Miroku coughed. "I’d like to look around."

Sango smiled at him. "Sure. We’ll go shopping and then have lunch." She glanced at Kagome and got a nod from the girl. Kagome turned to Inuyasha.

He shrugged. "If you want."

Kagome stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and glared at him. "If you don’t want to, then say so. You can go back to the house and I’ll go with them."

Inuyasha’s ears flattened back. "Will there be lunch?" he asked softly.

Kagome nodded. "Yes."

"All right," Inuyasha grumbled. "But I can do anything I want to."

Kagome bit her lip. "Not exactly."

"But I’m free!" Inuyasha protested.

"Yes, but you can’t go on a killing spree, you can’t damage the merchandise in stores, you can’t steal-" Kagome was cut off by Inuyasha.

"I know that. I ain’t stupid." He said rudely.

"Well, then let’s go shopping!" Kagome looped her arm through Inuyasha’s and virtually pulled him down the street.

Sango rolled her eyes. "We really need to get them bikes, Kagome," she called ahead of her.

Kagome turned, nodded, and continued on her way.

***

Their first stop was a bookstore. Sango had seen the new book she wanted and had dragged the three of them in after her. Kagome had gone off to look at the young adult section for the hardcover she wanted, taking Inuyasha with her. Miroku looked around the store, marveling at the fact that he was courageous enough to stray away from Sango’s comforting presence.

Sango found three more books she had overlooked her last trip in and had them in her arms. She felt someone tap her on the shoulder and she jumped a few inches. "It’s just me," Miroku said amused. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Well, what is it?" Sango asked.

Miroku turned and walked away. Shrugging, Sango followed him. He led her into the blank books section of the store. Kneeling he picked up a wrapped length of leather. "Open it," he said.

Sango accepted the leather out of his hands and unwound the strings. Laid open, there was a set of 24 colored pencils inside. She looked curiously up at him. "You draw?" she asked.

Miroku shook his head. "I don’t know. I’d like to try."

Sango rolled up the leather again and handed it to him. "You’d better find a sketchbook, too."

Miroku turned and looked at the books. Sango watched him pick up one and then another as he tried to make a decision.

***

Kagome squealed happily when she found the book she had been wanting. She prowled the rows of books until she found another one. Something to read! She mentally made plans to go to the manga section before she left. She turned and found that Inuyasha had disappeared.

She glanced down the rows of books trying to find him. She caught a flash of red and then someone stormed up to her. "What is this?" he asked harshly.

Kagome looked at the toy Inuyasha was brandishing at her. "That’s a toy train," she said helpfully.

Inuyasha scowled at it. "Toy?"

"There are ones for adults, too." Kagome told him.

Inuyasha turned and left. Kagome blinked. Well, that was abrupt, she thought. Oops, thought too soon. Inuyasha came back up to her and looked at her pointedly. "What?" she asked.

"Where are the ones for adults?" he asked anxiously.

Kagome smiled. "They aren’t in this store. We’ll go find some after we’ve paid for everything." She frowned. "Where did you find that?"

"Back there," Inuyasha pointed in back of him.

Understanding dawned on Kagome’s brain. There was a little puppet stage back there and a few toys for the children to play with while their parents found them books to read for bedtime stories. She went off in search of the manga with Inuyasha walking behind her.

***

The man running the hobby shop with trains in it had a long talk with Inuyasha. The rest of the group went into the store next door which sold bicycles. Sango helped Miroku find a bike he liked. He hopped on and rode well immediately.

Inuyasha came out of the store and Kagome jumped on him immediately. "Come choose a bike," she said.

Inuyasha had a little trouble with the bike. He couldn’t balance to save his life. Kagome tried hard not to laugh and spoke to the woman about training wheels.

"I’m not doing it!" Inuyasha protested. "I’m not a child!"

Kagome smirked. "Glad to see that someone’s not acting like a slave anymore. Though that attitude has got to go."

"You can’t tell me how to act anymore," Inuyasha said smugly. "And I’m not having training wheels!"

"Not only children have training wheels. When you first learn to ride you need them. It’s not my fault that you weren’t taught when you were little." Kagome insisted.

Inuyasha glanced at the bike. "If I take the training wheels can I have the trains?" he asked.

"Yes," Kagome said automatically. She neglected to tell him that he could have the trains anyway.

***

So they came home. Inuyasha carried his trains and Kagome walked beside him. Sango and Miroku rode home on the two bikes. In the baskets of the bikes were their other purchases.

"So…" Kagome trailed off. "What are you going to do when you get home?"

Home. I have a home now, Inuyasha thought. He shook his head to clear it of those kinds of thoughts. No, I don’t. As soon as she tires of this game, she’ll divorce me. I’ll still be free, though. "None of your business," he growled.

Kagome stared at him taken aback by his roughness. "I’m just trying to make conversation."

"Well, don’t."

Have I made a mistake? Kagome stared down at the sidewalk. He’s so grumpy and stand-offish and rude and mean. No, that’s wrong. He’s just been freed, he can act however he wants. Maybe he’ll get better. Miroku seems happy for the moment. Besides, if he wants to he can divorce me in six months.

She cleared her throat. "Well, I’m going to go read my new manga." She waited for an answer and wasn’t surprised when there wasn’t any. This is going to be a long marriage, she thought.

***********************

By the way, if you have a question and you leave me an email address, I'm likely to email you the answer.

Irishtakeover: The German for wonderful is wunderbar with the 'w' pronounced as a 'v'. I don't know much German, but I remember that from my class. Just in case you'd like to switch and confuse people. *grin*

EvIL: I have no idea why so many people are reviewing this story.

ktbabe228: You may have broken into a grin when Inuyasha said, "You smell nice," but I was over here going "AWWWWW!" for fifteen minutes.

Like-anyother: I'm not posting the lemon here because I don't want my story to get kicked off. Besides, my site loads perfectly well.

Crispy muffin: The story isn't done yet and you want a sequel?

Sera: No sit spell.

Kabby: It'll be 30-something chapters.

Nankinmai: Just playing it safe with the rating.