It Only Takes Some Puppy Love by Tia Ariel

Chapter One

It Only Takes Some Puppy Love

by: Ramen Baka

Just a quick one-shot I've devised, as the plot-bunnies were attacking. Wondering if I'll get as many reviews as the last story...? Ah well, a girl can hope. Well, just for luck...can you please review? -hopeful smile-

"Can it only take a walk in the park to fall in love?" she whispered, a muddy string of hair falling in her face, and he let a tiny smile pass over his lips as he pushed it back.

"Perhaps." he replied. SK

{}..{}

Her dog was one of the most well-liked and most-pet dogs in the world. She didn't spoil him, she just did the normal; groomed him every day, fed him nutritionally, took him for his walks, and snuck him a few treats while Buyo wasn't looking. She would see him and light up every morning, ready to face the day. "Good morning, Cappy." she greets, bending down to pet the great Newfie with a smile. He made that deep rumbling sound the girl's went crazy about, and the little one's hugged him over.

She then trotted over to Buyo, kissed him on the head, with a soft "'Morning, Buyo". She then went about her regular duties, fed her pet's breakfast, brushed her teeth, brushed her hair and pulled it up into a ponytail, and then changed into a pair of soft black sweatpants, and a white tanktop. After pulling on her socks and runners, and grabbing her Fall jacket, Cappy was awaiting at the door, leash in his large muzzle.

"What a mug on ya," she cooed, scratching his sides and taking the leash, clipping it onto his collar. She opened the door, murmured "heel" although he would, even if she didn't. She closed and locked it behind them, and began their morning walk.

Mrs. Giles bustled out the door, saw them walking and breathed a sigh of relief. She knew if they were just going out she wasn't going to be late. "Hello, deary," she exclaimed to Kagome, bending down and patting the dog on the head. She was about thirty, had bouncy brown hair that reached her shoulders and naturally curled up. She was slightly overweight, but not many noticed.

"Hello, Mrs. Giles." she smiled at the lady, considering her her elder, as she was married with a child, and she herself was only twenty and without boyfriend.

"Well, I must be going. Work, you know." she waved at the two and got into her car, driving away.

They resumed their walk.

Kagome had long raven hair, soft as Cappy's well-groomed fur, and bright blue eyes. She had a soft-angled oval face, sporting very light pink cupid's bow lips. She never wore makeup, as she had decided early on it wasn't for her plain existance. She was healthy, as you should be when you have a dog (and take it walking like you're supposed to) and had a happy glow about her.

Several "hey Kagome's" and "hello Cappy's" later, they had reached the park; the ultimate dog-walking place to go. They had walked about half way through the park when Cappy stopped, dead in his tracks, and started sniffing. Kagome tugged on his leash a bit. He kept sniffing. "What's up, boy?" she questioned, taking an ear between her finger's and rubbing softly. Cappy was quite determined, however and, with a yip, took off at record speed, dragging poor Kagome along behind him, tripping over herself, not willing to let go of his leash.

He led her over to a bench, where a man was seated, newspaper covering his face. At his feet sat a littler dog, white as fresh snow and with a black-coal nose. She looked like she could've won quite a few contests.

Cappy pulled up a seat right next to her, and they gazed shyly at each other. The man lowered the newspaper, glancing at the dog without much expression. Kagome thought he looked exactly like his dog. Maler, though. And then his gaze locked on her, and she could feel her face heat up immediately.

He thought the same about her. She looks just like her dog, he mused, just more petite and...feminine.

His pale silver hair was gathered in a sophisticated braid, and his peircing amber eyes seemed to melt her very flesh wherever he looked. She immediately found more reason to be embarassed. "I'm so sorry sir!" she yipped, holding fast to Cappy's leash. "Usually he's very well tempered! He never just..." she trailed off at the blank stare he was giving their dogs. "Um. We should go." she tugged Cappy's leash. Not a budge.

The man watched in some mild amusement while she single-mindedly tried to talk her dog away from his. "Perhaps it'd be best if I were to walk with you." he commented, while her fruitless attempts of moving her dog were becoming brutally easy to see.

"Er, yes, thank you..."

"Sessho-maru Tashio." he offered, only staring at the hand she placed cheerfully in front of him, while announcing her name in a sing-song voice,

"Kagome Higurashi." she sang. He stood, brushing invisable dust from his pants, and folded his newspaper, leaving it on the bench. He gathered up his dog's leash, and went to stand beside Kagome, both the dog's settling in the middle, between the two reluctant adults. Her hand retreated to her side, and she blossomed a fairly annoyed new outlook on the man.

She started walking, crisply, and with his long legs he kept up easily. She reckoned he was about 6'1, herself being a little on the short side, at 5'6. My word, he's tall, she thought dreamily, blue eyes locked on him. His soft cashmere suit was without wrinkle, and his shirt was unbuttoned two at the top, letting the lapel fall open fashionably. She blushed and looked away, feeling very less superior to him.

"So, er...where do you work?" she questioned, trying to start up a conversation. He glared at her slightly.

"I do not beleive that is your business, Higurashi." he stated. Her annoyance was upped a notch. She huffed indignantly and looked down, hoping his dog was snobby too, and that Cappy had grown tired of such. But on the contrary, he was stilled glued to her side.

She bit her lip to keep an insult from spilling out, and kept her eyes on the road. The silence went on a few more minutes before she decided to try again. "What's your dog's name?" he sighed unconversationally and gave her his trademark blank stare.

"Lady." he said, tight-lipped. She beamed, finally getting something out of this ice-covered rock. Her gaze travelled to the dog. Well, she certainly looked like a lady.

"You named her well." she complimented, almost envious of his dog's perfect coat of shiny white fur. He sighed once again, not willing to delve further into the conversation; yet it seemed inevitable, the girl was obviously not about to give up, and once she ran out of normal things to ask, they would just become an annoyance and she would become a cumbersome companion.

"And your own...dog?" he gazed down upon its raggedy fur, brushed well but not manicured to perfection, and fallen in front of its eyes. He was suddenly very opinionated about his dog seeing whom's dog, especially if it were not perfect. And Kagome, in her own way, was...cute. Not beautiful and seductive, like Kagura, with her dark red and gold makeup, looking sophisticated in her pant suit, yet sassy with her smile.

Kagome was just cute, he supposed; like her dog.

"Cappy Higurashi." she announced proudly, and he found himself smiling a little at her. How...utterably sweet. She used her last name.

"That name is...satisfactory." he said slowly, watching Cappy with great apprehension. Kagome huffed. What an arrogant jerk! Satisfactory? She glared at him from her side of the gravel path, and he stared right back, unphased by the blue fire that sparked in her eyes.

She turned away from his unnerving golden eyes and concentrated on where they were going. It was going to be at least another hour and a half to go all around the park, and it didn't look like they were in any hurry. To the naked eye, they looked like a couple strolling down the park path's with their dogs. But underneath, she assured herself, they hated each other. But he was quite handsome...

Oh stop it! she squealed to herself internally. This is not the time for some middleschool crush on a 6'1, pale-haired God with a snobby attitude! She caught herself afterwards, and once again mentally scolded herself.

And oh, the irony of daydreaming. Sessho-maru had slackened his grip on his dog's leash, while watching Kagome get this hazy look to her eyes. Suddenly the dogs bolted! Kagome yelped from the force of her dog jolting into a run, and slipped on the gravel, landing quite uncerimoniously on her bottom, wide-eyed and forced quickly out of her musings to meet pointy ground.

"Oh Lord," muttered a seriously annoyed Sessho-maru. "Woman! Cease your daydreaming!" she snapped her head up furiously.

"I was not daydreaming!"

"Then what are you doing down there?" she had no retort. She lowered her gaze, intensely watching the ground, while trying to think of an answer.

"Oh stop moping down there. We have to find our dogs." he extended a hand down, and she accepted it after a moment's hesitation, feeling a small jolt of electricity running through her arm when they joined hands. When she had returned to a standing position, she jerked away her hand, blushing furiously. He had obviously felt it too, for he looked a bit flustered.

She cleared her throat embarassedly. "Well, we're not looking for our dogs just standing here." they started their trek, having to go down into the bush.

After she was sure a twenty-minute walk, there was a slope, clearly pressed doggy footprints in the new mud. "Aha!" she exclaimed, feeling a bit like Nancy Drew on a successful villian hunt. Doggy villian's. She pointed to the mud, and Sessho-maru looked like he was about to draw back and abandon his dog.

"I am not stepping in that." he announced crossly. "Do you see these suade shoes? Brand new. $200." Kagome shook her head, abandoning her sneaker's and stuffing her socks in them. Then she started rolling up her sweatpants. He looked appauled, and she stopped rolling up the second leg at his words, glancing up. "You can't expect me to leave $200 shoes here?" she smiled.

"Personally I wouldn't have bought them in the first place. And do you see anyone else here? We can come get them later, right now our dog's are much more important than any stupid shoes." she finished rolling up her second pant leg and then grabbed onto a tree trunk, prepared for the slippery arch downwards. "So are you coming or not?" he sighed and disposed of his shoes and socks, rolling his pants up like she had demonstrated.

Suddenly she remembered her jacket, and unzipped it, throwing it over near her shoes. Sessho-maru sighed again, set down his overcoat and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, also grabbing onto a near tree trunk. "That's better." grinned Kagome, poising herself.

"I hope you're happy," he muttered, before jumping into the mud. Immediately they began slipping, grabbing onto tree's for support. But Kagome slipped, fell on her stomach and went slipping down the bank, yelling "holy crap!" all the way down. And Sessho-maru, who tried to save her from impending doom, slipped also, and fell, firstly thought being "there go perfectly good pants".

Once at the bottom, he thanked God there hadn't been any rocks along the way.

Kagome looked over at him, blue eyes focusing and taking in the most funny thing she'd ever seen: Sessho-maru covered in mud. She grinned first, then it grew wider and she couldn't hold in her laughter any longer. She burst. He looked indignant, which only made her laugh harder. "It's not like you don't look hilarious too," he commented icily, before he realized that the combination of shock and the way the looked wanted to make him laugh, too. He chuckled some, before it turned into a full-blown laugh.

After a minute or two, they calmed, and Kagome wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Oh my gosh, I was so scared!" she admitted, grinning. Sessho-maru shook his head.

"I...was not so much scared." he said slowly, thinking. She smiled then. He was actually a pretty decent guy, under all that emotional masking. She spotted two dots of white and black swimming in the lake, which has just come to her attention, and she gasped.

"Sessho-maru! Our dogs!" His head snapped the way her mud-covered finger was pointing and he saw them.

"But how can we get to them? They're in the middle of the--oh no. No, no, no. I'm not worsening this further." He tugged on the fabric of his pants, and he stopped in mid-tug in sheer horror at what he was witnessing. Kagome, undressing, clad in only her underwear.

"Come on!" she said, hopping into the water and beginning her swim.

"Oh, fuck it." he muttered, scrambling to undo his belt and stripped down awkwardly to his boxers, tripping on his pants once before hurrying after Kagome.

Luckily he was a fast swimmer, and caught up just as the dogs were emerging on the other shore and shaking themselves off. Kagome was a bit ahead of him, almost reached the shore, and as she did scrambled to the dogs. Just as she was about to get to them they went tearing, and she, in her haste, dived for Cappy's leash, only managing to get herself covered in mud once more.

Sessho-maru emerged, chuckling throatily.

"What?" she snapped. "Never saw a girl in her underwear covered in mud before?"

"Mud-wrestling." he ommitted, and she kicked him, which sent him sprawling to the ground, boxers thouroughly covered in mud. She giggled.

"Now we're both the same." she got up, offered him a hand, and helped him up. "Now where did those troublesome dogs go...?" she caught sight of them and hastily began running. Sessho-maru soon took up the rear, as they chased after their dogs, calling "Cappy" and "Lady" every two seconds. Eventually the dogs stopped in a small clearing, and Kagome grabbed their leashes, handing Sessho-maru Lady's.

After much scolding they began to wonder how they were to get back to their clothes. After they did, however, make it to their shoes, socks and jackets. They just decided it would have to do. Kagome tied her jacket around her waist, Sessho-maru put his on normally. And they just carried the darn shoes. They completed their walk, with many stares and a few mutterings of "those crazy kids".

Sessho-maru walked Kagome home, and after they finished sharing the story from their own vantage points did they arrive at her quaint, two-story home.

"Thank you for walking me home." She said shyly, after Cappy had dashed inside the unlocked door already. He smiled a bit.

"You're welcome." a blush suddenly overcame her cheeks, and she looked down to the cement of her steps. She looked back up after that.

"Can it only take a walk in the park to fall in love?" she whispered, a muddy string of hair falling in her face, and he let a tiny smile pass over his lips as he pushed it back.

"Perhaps." he replied.

She leaned forewards and pressed a peck to his cheek.

"I'd like to see you again." he said, she smiled, replying with a "me too". "Saturday?" a nod. "I'll see you then." he started down the steps, Lady trailing after him, and then she called out.

"Sessho-maru?" he turned half-way, cocking an eyebrow. She smiled lightly.

"See you Saturday."