InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages ❯ Almost Doesn't Count ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other creation of Rumiko Takahashi's wonderful imagination, but despite being so sadly underprivileged as a child, I still turned out perfectly normal. Right? *Crickets chirp*

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Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages

Chapter Fourteen

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It was well past dark by the time Miroku and Rin made their way back towards Inuyasha's apartment after their little 'adventure' together, if you could call it that.

Miroku preferred to think of it as 'destiny'.

"Could my day have possibly been any more wonderful than it turned out?" Sighing happily, the dark-haired man reached over to pat Rin on the head when she yawned. She ignored his question, much too sleepy to listen to her crazy Uncle Miroku talk to himself.

'No, my day really couldn't have gotten any better!' He mentally answered himself. 'Sango practically tells me she loves me…well, as close as she would probably ever willingly get to saying it…and on top of that, I made it through the whole day without Rin injuring herself! Not even a tiny little scratch, just as I promised. Now I no longer have to fear for my life and I can return her safely to her proper keeper.'

Feeling like he wanted to shout, dance, skip, or even sing to use some of the pent-up energy his body seemed to be holding at the moment, Miroku didn't pay much attention to the sleepy-eyed little girl walking beside him. Instead he hummed 'The Song That Never Ends' brightly, having it still stuck in his head from that morning when Rin had been singing it.

Beside him, poor Rin was not having an easy time. Every few moments the sleepy little girl's eyes would slide closed and she would swerve, stumble, and snap them back open, obviously tired from her exciting day.

'Now, how do I go about winning my lovely Sango's affections in a way that won't get me injured?' Miroku contemplated seriously. 'I tried enticing her with children, but that obviously didn't work. Perhaps I should flaunt my physical attractions?'

Sharply turning the corner of a building and onto the street where their destination lay, Miroku ended up several paces ahead of Rin. While his attention was diverted and he was unable to see her, Rin's eyes closed once again and she stumbled - right into the wall of the corner building!

'I could always tell Sango that I…I am so dead!' In mid thought, Miroku had frozen at the sound of a small grunt before turning around just in time to watch in horror as Rin fell on her butt.

The street corner was eerily quiet for several moments.

"A-are you okay?" Miroku finally gathered his wits enough to squeak, sounding more like a mouse than a man as he hurried over to her. "Please tell me you aren't scratched anywhere!"

Rin just put a hand over her nose and held it there, eyes wide and unfocused.

'Well, she isn't crying.' He reasoned with himself, leaning over to get a better look. 'That means it really can't be that bad, can it?'

That's when the ear-splitting wailing began.

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"Ha! I win again!"

Inuyasha scowled, flicking his black checker pieces at Kagome in a petulant gesture. "Yeah, well don't sound so sad about it."

Kagome shrugged, still grinning widely. "I can't help myself! When you grow up with a little brother that wins every single game you play with him, it makes you pathetically happy on the rare occasion when you actually win against someone else!"

"Getting all pathetically happy over winning a stupid game is just so…so…pathetic!" He grumbled. "I'm sick of this game."

Kagome gave him a smug look. "Getting pathetically grumpy over a game is so…so…pathetic!" She mimicked. "You're just mad because I won three times in a row and you didn't win once."

"Keh! Believe what you want."

The two had been playing checkers for over an hour while waiting for Miroku to bring Rin back. Both were wide-awake after their little nap that afternoon and neither seemed to be suffering from any embarrassment after falling asleep on the couch together.

Kagome opened her mouth to tease Inuyasha some more over his poor attitude, when she noticed that his ears were perked and that he seemed to be distracted. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't think so." He frowned thoughtfully. "I just hear some kind of weird wailing coming from outside. It's far enough away, though, that I can't tell much more about it. It might be a kid crying." He paused for a moment. "Or possibly a dying cat."

"Inuyasha!" She scolded, before suddenly blinking in surprise. "Wait a minute. You can hear THAT well?" They were on the third story and the outside walls were fairly soundproof (at least to humans), so it was hard for her to hear much of anything beyond the passing of an occasional car. If he could hear stuff OUTSIDE that well, then…

"Yeah." He answered her question carelessly. A moment later he glanced at her and suddenly felt nervous after spotting the dark look of suspicion in her eyes. With good reason, too. She could be scary when she was mad!

"You must have some pretty amazing hearing, then." She leaned a little closer to him, which caused him to lean back to keep a safe distance between them. "You wouldn't happen to be able to hear anything in other apartments around you really well, would you? Say…the one below you, for instance?" Kagome's eyes were narrowed and focused intently on him.

"Just a little!" Inuyasha had to work hard to swallow properly.

"How little?"

Inuyasha tried to think of a way to answer that wouldn't cause her to try to kill him, or worse, move out of her apartment. He'd rather suffer physical injuries any day. "Well, uh, if I try to listen then I can understand what's going on and what people are saying, but if I don't then I can't understand anything or even hear it that well." He held his breath.

"Is that so?" Kagome considered what he said carefully. She had always suspected that he could probably hear a few things, especially if someone was being loud, but she never really considered whether or not he could hear normal conversations. " And how often do you try?"

"Almost never, I swear!"

She sighed wearily. "Do you promise that you're telling me the truth?"

"Of course! As long as the noise is at a normal level." He'd decided that he probably ought to throw that in so he couldn't be accused of withholding anything later.

Kagome suddenly blushed when a very unwanted thought came to mind. "What about…singing?"

Despite the danger, Inuyasha couldn't help himself; he grinned. "You sing really well in the shower. Sango sounds like a dying cat, though."

The horror in her eyes after this little bit of information was priceless and he couldn't stop himself from laughing. It was even almost worth getting jumped and nearly strangled to death.

Almost.

For a weak human, she sure had an impressive grip!

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Miroku listened at the apartment door, trying to pick a decent opportunity to barge in on the pair. He knew if he chose an embarrassing moment, the two inside would be much more likely to overlook Rin's…er, just slightly swollen nose.

When he heard Inuyasha's laughter followed by strangling sounds, Miroku decided it was probably a good time for him to act. Counting on the door being unlocked, he shifted the now sleeping Rin in his arms so that he could have one hand free to turn the knob. Quietly opening the door, he entered the apartment.

The first thing he saw was Kagome sitting on Inuyasha, glaring at him while he rubbed his sore neck.

His timing couldn't have been more perfect!

"I'm back!" He called out cheerfully. Kagome and Inuyasha both started violently before turning to stare at he and Rin with wide eyes, and he smiled back at them innocently. "You two could have put a 'do not disturb' sign on the door, you know."

Nearly squeaking in embarrassment, Kagome scrambled to remove herself from Inuyasha's stomach while he hastily sat up, trying not to look as disgruntled over the interruption as he felt. Inuyasha might not have enjoyed getting strangled, but he couldn't complain about the fact that Kagome had seemed so comfortable sitting on him. It was a pretty personal position, after all.

No matter how hard he tried to hide how he felt, though, Miroku saw right through him and wanted to laugh out loud at the look on the hanyou's face.

"I suppose it's not too late." He mused out loud instead. "If you two would rather I keep Rin for the night, I can always take her home with me while you continue with whatever you two were doing together."

"No!" Kagome shouted from her spot on the couch. She seemed to be having trouble breathing properly, much less talking coherently. "You don't have to do that! I mean, we weren't doing anything bad! He just made me mad, and I got a little carried away!" Her voice had risen in pitch as she hurried to explain things to Miroku.

Inuyasha's eyebrows rose. "Nothing bad, you say? What do you call trying to strangle me?"

Kagome was spluttering by this point, and Miroku suddenly had a rare burst of pity for the flustered girl. It couldn't have been because Inuyasha was giving him a horrible death glare for making her so upset in the first place.

"Kagome-sama, please forgive me for teasing you. I know very well that you have much more honor than to EVER do anything like that with Inuyasha."

"OI! What's that supposed to mean?!?!"

Inuyasha was growling in a rather scary way, so Miroku hastily backed up a step and tried to correct his mistake. "What I mean to say is that you would never consider lowering yourself to-" Inuyasha's glare became just as menacing as the growl. "Oh, never mind." Miroku sighed in defeat. "I've brought Rin back so I'll just be going now!"

Setting the little girl down on the couch, Miroku made a quick exit.

"Stupid jerk." Inuyasha muttered. "He just can't seem to keep his damn nose out of everyone else's business."

"Inuyasha…"

When he looked up, Inuyasha noticed Kagome was leaning over Rin with concern. Wondering what could be wrong, he hurried over to see what was upsetting the older girl.

"What the hell happened to her nose?" He shouted. Kagome quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and glared.

"If you wake her up, I swear I'll strangle you for real this time!"

Once Inuyasha nodded to show he planned to behave, she let go.

"What the hell is wrong with her nose?" He whispered this time. "It looks about twice as big as it should, and it's all red!"

Kagome touched it gingerly. "I don't think it's broken or anything. It just looks like something hit it hard enough to cause bleeding and swelling. Do you have some ice in your freezer? If we put that on it, the swelling will probably go down."

Inuyasha stalked off to the small kitchen, cursing under his breath the whole way.

'It's so cute how upset he is over Rin getting hurt. He'd never admit it, but he really cares about her as if she really were his niece.' Still leaning over Rin, Kagome listened to the sounds of Inuyasha chipping away at some ice, probably with his claws. 'I bet underneath all that attitude, he's really about as scary as a cuddly teddy bear, especially where children are concerned.'

Kagome suddenly grimaced. "Well, if nothing else, he's certainly less scary than 'Sessy-poo'. That bear really gives me the creeps for some reason." She glared at the harmless ball of stuffing where it sat in a chair across the room.

"Are you talking to yourself or something?" Inuyasha entered the room with a plastic bag full of ice and a washcloth. The bag of ice was the size of a softball, if not bigger. "Is this enough or do we need more?"

Kagome hid an amused smile. "I think that's plenty. Why don't you go find her sleeping clothes while I hold the ice? Then we can get her ready for bed."

After Inuyasha went inside the bedroom, Kagome quietly slipped into the kitchen and dumped about half the contents of the bag into the sink.

'He must not be all that familiar with handling such small injuries.' She mused silently. 'I suppose his demon blood would take care of a little swelling like that in no time flat.'

She finally settled back down beside Rin, holding the bag with the wash cloth wrapped around it against Rin's nose. She then waited for Inuyasha to come back into the living room.

"Oi, do ya think she'll want to wear the blue ones or yellow ones?" Inuyasha suddenly called from his bedroom. "She seems to like the blue ones, but she wore the yellow last night. I don't think I've ever seen her wear the green ones so she probably doesn't like those…"

Kagome's shoulders started to shake, and she desperately tried to hold back her laughter. Alas, the effort proved too much for her and several small giggles escaped.

"What the hell are you laughing about, wench?" Inuyasha appeared in the doorway. "I just asked a simple question."

Kagome wiped a tear from her eye. "I never realized you paid so much attention to a girl's clothes before!" She laughed again when his face turned red. "Since you seem to know so much about them, maybe you can help me. Does this skirt make me look fat? Should a try another color that would go better with my skin tone?"

His only answer to her questions was to throw a set of green pajamas at her before stomping back into the bedroom, blushing madly.

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I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! The idea of Rin running into a wall might seem a bit far-fetched, but I actually based it off my cousin's daughter. I was babysitting her one day and I went to get a blanket from my room so that she could take a nap and she followed me. My room is set back a bit from the hall, so there is a wall that you have to walk by before you can turn and actually go down the hall. I went around it, and she was so sleepy that she walked right into it. ^^;; Poor thing, I felt bad for her, but it was terribly funny...