Inuyasha 1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well… since there are so many plot bunny-ed stories like this… I decided to twist it up a bit. By the way, "Etsuko" means, "joyful child." 

Disclaimer: I don't think I own Inuyasha… nope. Pretty sure I don't.

(Listening to groovy intro to Power of Love) Me- Did I just say groovy?

Miroku scuttled down the sidewalk, the cold winter air burning his face. He dug his hands into his jacket pockets to keep them as warm as he could, although that didn't work at all. He looked ahead to see how much he had left to walk. Luckily, it wasn't that far. He was going to the adoption center to get who knows what. He just knew that he wanted a pet.

He had already planned to go there that day, but he hadn't planned on having his car in the shop and snow up to his shins. Not that his car would drive on the streets anyway. Stupid salt trucks never drove down this street.

He saw no one ahead of him, so he decided to look downward to hide his features from the wind. He watched whenever he picked his foot up to step how a small mist of snow would fall in front of his shoe.

Miroku looked up to see where he was and the pet shop was nowhere in sight. He turned around and smiled as he saw that it was about 20 feet behind him. He jogged over to the entrance and opened the door, holding it open for a mother and her giggling daughter carrying a newborn kitten in her arms. The mother quietly thanked Miroku and he closed the door behind him, hearing the soft jingle of the bells attached to the bar across the door.

The distinct smell of animals bombarded him, but he soon got use to it. He had grown up with many pets so it was kind of nostalgic to him.

A small woman with a vibrant sweater vest, designed with cats and dogs all over it came out of a back room playing with a huge black dog with drool dripping practically to the floor. It was at that point that Miroku decided he would get a cat.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked. She even had a petite sounding voice.

Miroku put on a friendly smiled and answered, "Yeah, I'm looking into buying a cat."

"Well, I think you've come to the right place!" She laughed and showed him to the room she had just come from.

Miroku looked down constantly, making sure he wasn't stepping on anyone. He planned on getting a live cat, not one from a "break it, you buy it" experience. They walked into the room and there were two hallways, one labeled, "Cats", the other, "Dogs". They took the right hall and all over the walls were pictures of animals and their owners, which made Miroku stare when he saw a picture of a penguin and a tall girl with incredibly long hair standing next to him.

There was one more door, this time swinging-style, and that led them into a room filled with cages stacked on top of cages. There were also about half a dozen people there petting kittens and talking with employees about them. Many cats were also out of their cages, lounging about, playing with each other, and eating. As most cats do. A younger girl, probably volunteering there, greeted Miroku as she rushed by with at least four kittens climbing all over her. She had long brown hair and a black shirt with a white heart on it. He said, "Hey" and turned back when Risako started talking to her.

"Well, I'll let you go from here." The woman said. "If you need me for any reason, my name is Risako. And I'll just be over there." Risako pointed to a corner of the room where there was a counter and a lot of medical supplies and pet care items.

Miroku nodded and went off looking cage- to- cage. All of them were nice; there was even one with two different colored eyes, but none of them seemed right. He was about to go look for a dog when one caught his eye. Miroku stopped mid step towards the door when he pivoted on one foot and walked to the front corner of the room. He kneeled down, as not to surprise it when it opened it's eyes. The cat was an incredbily dark shade of brown, almost black. He lifted one hand and brought it to its ear and massaged it softly. Its eyes drifted opened dully and meowed in a condesending tone as it placed one of its paws in Miroku's hand in greeting.

Miroku laughed and moved his hand to its cheeck. "You're a smart one, aren't you?" The cat meowed again and Miroku took that as a, 'Yes, why yes I am'. He then noticed Risako standing next to him. "Ah, I see you've found Etsuko."

"What kind of cat is she?"

"Etsuko's a Havana Brown. She's very strange for her breed, though. They're normally very friendly and open to people, while she's conserved and grumpy all the time."

"Then why is her name Etsuko?"

"We found it funny."

"Oh, well, I think I'll take her, then." Etsuko's eyes grew wide, as if she understood what they were saying.

"Are you sure? She's not all that fun." Risako warned.

"Oh, I'm sure. I think it'll be fun trying to get her to like me."

"Okay." She said, accepting his choice. "If you could just come over here and sign some papers, you'll be free to go."

Miroku followed her into an office off to the side of the room and she gave him some papers to fill out. Miroku signed here and there, promised this and that, paid for Etsuko, and thanked Risako.

Miroku returned from the office and strolled over to Etsuko.

"Do you want to come home with me?" he asked. Etsuko simply rolled her eyes and meowed dully. Miroku laughed and placed his hands around her, wondering if she was going to let him pick her up. Luckily, aside from some vocal protesting, she settled in his arms and accepted the situation. Miroku wrapped his coat around her so she wouldn't get cold, but she seemed to want to poke her head out. She also got much happier. 'She must like the cold…' He figured. 'It _was_ hot in there.' So he continued his walk home with his new cat, Estuko in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, not much to say. Just posting chapter 2. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't Inuyasha… :opens closet and feeds tied up Inuyasha cast:

Miroku had arrived at his apartment building, nearly frozen to death. The outside of the building was designed to look like an aged French chateau style. There were things such as chunks of plaster missing from various corners of the building, soft green shutters beside each window, and a shake roof. Before he stepped through the gold rotating door that allowed them into the lobby, he leaned down and whispered to Etsuko, "Okay, now, just stay down there and don't move. I'm really not allowed to have you in here." Miroku then zipped up his coat and pushed the door open. Strangely enough, Etsuko followed orders and ducked further down into his jacket. The inside of the building really looked more like a hotel. There was a seating area to the left with a few floral couches and to his right were the entrances to the pool, work out room, and other such things. Right ahead was a desk with some bored employees who could usually be found playing cards or having silly contests like the Paper Airplane Olympics. They were celebrating the winter Olympics at that time. There were very strange accessories everywhere like huge bronze sculptures of cranes, oil paintings of people of no importance, and random globes on tall wooden stands that no one ever had a use for.

Miroku crossed his arms against his waist to hide the lump in his coat and greeted the people at the desk. "Hey, Mitsuki, what division are you in right now?" Miroku asked this, seeing the two employees at the desk making paper airplanes.

She lifted her head from her work and grinned. "Oh, hey there, Miroku! Right now Kiyoshi and I are in the designing competition." Mitsuki had short black hair, just barely reaching her shoulders. There was also the official timekeeper (An old kitchen timer found in one of their desk drawers) set on top of the counter. Apparently they only had a few minutes left.

Kiyoshi didn't look up from his work but commented, "Yeah, and I'm going to win it this year!" Kiyoshi had the same look as Mitsuki, which made Miroku think that they would make a cute couple.

"Oh, yeah right!" Mitsuki then turned her attention back on her airplane. "See ya', Miroku!"

"Bye!" he yelled back. Miroku took a left, passed the seating area, and walked down the hall to get to the elevator. He walked by many doors of other people's apartments until finally he reached the end of the hall and turned right to enter.

Miroku pressed the button with the 'up' arrow and waited for the doors to open. He crooked one finger around his coat collar and peeked to see Etsuko. "You're doing great. Just a bit further." The elevator doors slowly opened and he stepped in. Inside, he saw Mrs. Obayashi, his elderly neighbor. She treated Miroku like a son or sorts and was very kind to him. Today she was wearing her pink hat and knitted poncho.

"Why, hello, Miroku!" she said pleasantly.

"Hi, Mrs. Obayashi." Miroku gave a slight bow, "How are you today?"

"Oh, just fine, thank you." Miroku stepped into the elevator and Mrs. Obayashi pressed the '12'. They lived across the hall from each other so she had no need to ask which floor he was on. They both lived on the very top floor of the building. "Miroku, you need to come visit me sometime."

"That would be nice." He said this in all honesty. The elevator doors opened and they both stepped off and started walking down the hallway, Mrs. Obayashi's cane making a soft 'thump' on the tacky patterned carpet every time she took a step. "How's Norio?" Norio was Mrs. Obayashi's son.

"He's doing great. He and his wife just settled down into a new house in Okayama so he's doing well. Speaking of wives,"she got and impish look in her eyes, "how are you and that Noriko girl getting along?"

"Oh, she's... fine. She's coming over on Wednesday."

"That's good." They had arrived at their apartments, theirs were at the end of the hall. Miroku shoved his key into the doorknob and was about to step inside when he heard Mrs. Obayashi's voice once again. "Oh, and Miroku," he stopped and turned around to face her, "what is that in your coat?" She pointed to the obvious lump in question.

"Oh, this?" He pointed to his coat, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. He leaned forward slightly and whispered, "I just got a cat." He held one finger to his lips to motion silence.

"Sure, Miroku. You bring her on over to have me take a look at her, okay?"

"I'll do that." And with that he stepped inside. Miroku turned around to lock the door and then unzipped his coat half way. Etsuko popped her head out of his coat and hung her paws over the opening, making Miroku laugh. He took Etsuko out and hung his coat on the coat hanger that stood next to the door.

Miroku had a pretty nice apartment. There were dark purple colored walls and on one side of the room there was the entertainment area, such as a TV, a black couch, and a matching loveseat. On the other side of the room was a pretty normal looking kitchen, just white cabinets and a tiled floor. In the corner of the room was a small table with a couple chairs seated at either end. There were other such things like a small tree, a bookshelf, and a couple end tables on the ends of the sofa.

Miroku put Etsuko down on the couch and took a seat next to her after he had put his slippers on. Etsuko reluctantly let Miroku pick her up and start stroking her. He found that she got more agitated the lower you rubbed down her back so he stuck to petting her head. He did this for a while and yawned as he looked at the clock. It was getting late. He set Etsuko on the ground and walked down the hall to his bedroom. Etsuko surprisingly followed him, trotting down the hallway and Miroku held the door open and let her in.

Miroku's bedroom had the same look as the front room but with a few different things including a set of drawers, a closet, and a vanity. Miroku started dressing and Etsuko's back fur rose erect. She then quickly turned around to face the wall. Miroku, now in navy blue flannel pants and an old gray T-shirt, chuckled at his quirky cat. He lied down, relishing the feeling of finally resting, and patted the extra pillow on the bed for Etsuko to sleep on. Instead, she declined and found a spot on the floor curled up and sleep. Miroku shrugged and reached over to turn off the bedside lamp to get a good night's rest.


End file.

Inuyasha, Romance, Supernatural