InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Such a Small World ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

 

Yusuke winced, placing his hand onto the bruising on his leg, and tried to stand. He needed something to dull the pain he was feeling, since he was hurt and worried about whether Keiko was truly going to stay away from him until he came to get her. He knew he was in no condition to do so, which was the exact reason he was glad he had taken his vacation time when this had all started. Not only could he try to find a way to get his wife back, but he also could mend to his bruised and battered body, as well as his bleeding heart. He didn't know when that started to happen, but he felt like his heart was going to burst if he didn't get Keiko running back into his arms, which made him think about why he'd gone out and found his adventure of excitement in the first place.

 

Sighing, he rose to his feet, intending to go into the bathroom and get the bottle of ibuprofen so he could at least get a little relaxation while he waited, and waited, and waited. He was beginning to think he might wait forever, and that bothered him. Forever was a long time, and he knew what a nice woman his wife was, and how she looked. It wouldn't take forever for someone else to start sniffing around his territory. He had no doubt that someone might, and currently he believed he'd be staring down his old friend, since he knew Kurama wouldn't be able to stay away. Especially after what he'd done to Kurama's oldest friend's girlfriend—that, Yusuke knew, probably hadn't gone over well with the clever man.

 

Passing by his bedroom, and he looked in, wishing to not find the closest wide open and half empty, or the drawers of the dresser still opened and clothing carelessly dropped onto the floor. He knew that Keiko wouldn't have taken it well, but she didn't need to wreck his shit while packing hers. But, that wasn't what caught his attention the most. What did was that little tape sitting on the bed innocently, even though he knew it was far more evil than it let on. That stupid tape that had chased his wife away, since he doubted Keiko would have ever found out if it wasn't for that blasted thing. He really wanted to destroy it, but he hurt too much at the moment. He hadn't even been able to snap it in half, no matter how many times he tried, since his body was on auto-repair and trying to heal himself, instead of keeping his strength up.

 

Glowering at the small tape, he stomped past the bedroom, and winced once more when he applied too much pressure to his leg. Gritting his teeth together, he continued forward, quickly stepping into the bathroom, and opening the cabinet in search of what he wanted. As quickly as he could, he searched for the bottle he wanted. He knew from simply walking home after his encounter with those freaks that if he stood too long his leg would hurt so badly that he would end up on the ground. He'd gotten lucky the first time, since he'd just gotten home when the pain had shot through him, and he'd fallen to the ground clutching the appendage, but he wasn't fond of the possibility of it happening again.

 

Ibuprofen, ibuprofen, ibuprofen, he thought, beginning to drop bottles of calcium, iron, and other vitamins into the sink underneath the cabinet. He kind of wished he'd gotten it earlier, since the pain had started up long before he'd actually thought about the stupid pills. Actually, he almost wished he had something stronger, now that he thought about it, but the only thing he had on hand, that he knew of, was ibuprofen. However, he decided to worry about that later, after he found the painkiller he had, even though he hadn't found it yet.

 

Growing irritated quickly, Yusuke pulled another bottle out, looked quickly at the label and dropped it into the sink with the growing pile. He repeated the process a few times, and then looked back into the cabinet to find that almost everything was taken out and none of the remaining few was what he wanted. Glaring at the remaining storage, he cursed, “Fuck.” Swinging his hand, he knocked the rest of the medicine out of the cabinet, and then swung it closed.

 

Staring at himself in the mirror, Yusuke continued to glare. His eyes quickly inspected the damage to his face, finding that his jaw was slightly swollen and dark rings surrounded his eyes. There was a small cut above his left eye, and a trail of blood that had dried down the outside of his face. Knowing that that had been how he looked walking down the street, he understood why so many people had stared at him, either in shock, pity, or disgust. He hadn't really paid attention to it, he had had no reason to, but now that he was looking at himself, he wondered what Keiko's reaction would be. What would she think of him when he looked this bad? Growling at the thought, Yusuke's glare hardened, and he suddenly swung his hand back, and slammed it into the mirror. Watching as the glass shattered, he felt some pierce into his skin, and knew he'd just done something really stupid.

 

“Damn it,” he said, staring at the broken glass. Not only would he have to clean up the mess, but he'd also have to replace the mirror, clean his wound, and buy some new pain medicine for the pain shooting through his hand. Shaking his head, he looked down and wondered if he'd broken it, but decided that was the least of his problems at the moment. He still needed to worry about Hiei's possible threat, those two freaks that'd beat him up, his marriage, and the possible threat of Kurama trying to take his wife. Those were his top things to do, not worry about his stupid appearance or if he'd managed to screw up another body part.

 

Taking a step away from the mess he'd created, he looked down for a moment, and stopped. Staring at the bottle that had been sitting between his feet, he glowered at it. Leaning over, wincing at the pain that went through his body, he grabbed the bottle with his uninjured hand, and squeezed the bottle tightly. He couldn't believe it, he'd done all that, gotten angry, broke the mirror, and the fucking thing he'd wanted had been there the whole time. He swore that ibuprofen bottle was against him.

 

OoO

 

“What the hell do you want?”

 

Kurama sighed, shaking his head. “I simply came to speak with you, Hiei, there's nothing to get upset about,” he replied.

 

Hiei glared harder, “Didn't your mother ever teach you to knock?”

 

His eyes hardened a little at the words, and he nodded. “Though it is rather rude of you to speak so harshly of one who is dead, yes. My mother did teach me to knock, Hiei, but so far I have had no reason to do so. If I had known what I would have found after the door opened, I would have knocked in the first place, but that was not something I expected to find here.”

 

“What's that supposed to mean?” Hiei asked, an eyebrow rising. His voice was a bit dark, but his mind was putting together all the possible things that might be going through Kurama's head at that moment. He didn't like any of them. He especially didn't like the fact that Kurama simply walked into his bedroom, when he should have known Kagome would have wished to stay with him for a few nights. He wasn't the type to pass by an invitation if his girlfriend was willing, though Kagome really was the only one he'd ever put into that category. The rest had been a waste of time.

 

“I expected to find something like that at Yusuke's house,” Kurama replied, his voice losing its new sharpness. “I thought I'd been here enough times that I knew everyone of your routines, but apparently I was wrong, and I apologize. I will knock the next time.”

 

“Good,” Hiei scowled. “Now, why the hell are you really here, Kurama? You never come just to have ideal chitchat.”

 

“I wished to see how you were fairing,” Kurama said.

 

“As you have seen, I am fairing quite well. Does no one have any faith in me, or do you simply think that I will push away what brings me happiness?” Hiei asked. He turned his head slightly, before deciding to take a seat next to his friend, instead of standing in the doorway. His eyes quickly went down the hall, hoping that Kagome didn't wake and think he'd left her. He knew she wouldn't be too angry from experience if he had a good reason, so he hoped she'd expect this as one. He wasn't quite sure how she'd react with how dependant she'd become because of that bastard Urameshi.

 

“One can never tell with you, Hiei,” Kurama said, leaning back slightly as Hiei settled himself beside him. He turned his head, and then smiled a little. “But I suppose that Kagome could, even if you tried to hide it.”

 

“Hn, I'm beginning to think you've lost a couple screws,” Hiei replied. Crossing his legs, he made himself more comfortable, before giving Kurama his full attention. A slight sneer formed on his lips, and he continued, “Now, tell me what you really want, Kurama. Stop avoiding the subject.”

 

Shaking his head, Kurama said, “That was what I came here to see. I wished to truly see where you'd gotten so far, and if you needed any type of advice.”

 

“I believe I should come to you for advice, but since I've been doing more things with her for quite some time, I believe I already know how to handle this situation,” Hiei snorted. “Besides, if she wanted to, she would tell me what she wanted and—”

 

He sighed, stopping Hiei's sentence, and watched as a slight understanding formed in his eyes. Nodding to himself, Kurama leaned back some more, his head falling a bit to one side. “She's changed, though, hasn't she?” he asked.

 

“Some,” Hiei muttered. “She's more insecure, but I have given her no reason to hold onto that insecurity. In time she will get better.”

 

“Do you know that, or do you just hope she will?” Kurama asked.

 

Hiei scowled, thinking that was the dumbest question to ever come out of Kurama's mouth. “I know she will.”

 

Kurama nodded, “At least you're optimistic.”

 

“It is not my fault you're being pessimistic about this situation,” Hiei said. “Besides, Kurama, why don't you go deal with your own love life, instead of meddling in mine?”

 

Kurama smirked. “Well, I have found Keiko. She's staying with Yukina currently, and she was working in the bakery with her when I went by. I planned to stop by the next day or so.”

 

“Urameshi's wife is staying with Yukina?”

 

They both turned there heads when there was a gasp, and found Kagome standing there in a shirt that seemed to be a little to tight on her, and a pair of boxers, both of which looked to be Hiei's clothing. Her face was red, her hands were clenched, and she looked horrified.

 

“Kagome,” Hiei said, beginning to stand.

 

“He-he's married?” she whispered. She slid to the floor in front of them, her hands in between her legs, as she stared at the floor. She looked completely broken for a moment, but the slight shaking of her shoulders was very strange, almost like she was trying to laugh but unable to.

 

Hiei took a cautious step toward her.

 

“He's married,” she whispered again. “I-I didn't…”

 

Hiei stopped, at a loss of what to do. He'd never seen her act this way, and he didn't know how to help her. His heart clenched at the image she was creating around herself, and took another step forward. However, he stopped again when she suddenly lifted her head. He took a step back suddenly at the raging anger he saw in her eyes, and knew that even Kurama had tensed up, seeing it from the corner of his eye. He knew that look in Kagome's eyes, he'd had it directed at him once, and he'd done everything in his power to avoid it if at all possible. It was a look that told everyone someone was going to be hurt.

 

“That's fucking lying, cheating bastard,” she cursed.

 

Both of them tensed further at her words. Kagome was not known to curse more than once in a sentence unless she was truly ticked off. Hiei tensed further, however, watching as she went to rise.

 

OoO

 

Rolling his eyes, he listened as she went off into detail about her sister. Personally, he could give a rat's ass about her stupid little sister, but the look she'd given him made him feel weird. Like he'd suddenly burst into flames if he didn't at least hear her out. So, he sat there, listening as Kagura continued to talk about her little sister who had been pulled out of an abusive home in order to stay with her elder sibling. Apparently Kanna didn't talk much because of it, but when she did, she always had something important to say. He really didn't care, but he felt kind of bad for the kid as Kagura continued, and gave a couple of comments. After that, though, she went off into her little tangent.

 

“Oh, Inuyasha, I still can't believe you agreed to this,” Kagura said, her lips tilting slightly. She'd never felt so happy. “I mean, I know how much Kikyo meant to you.”

 

“That bitch,” he huffed.

 

She blinked, and lifted an eyebrow at his words. “I was under the impression that you two were still at least in each others good graces. Was I wrong?” she asked. She wasn't sure, but she felt like she was becoming apart of something that she didn't want to be apart of, and Inuyasha's attitude was making it worse with each passing moment.

 

Inuyasha nodded stiffly, hating that he had to say this. “Hell yeah, I couldn't stand that bitch any longer. She may think that I'm still going to put up with her ass, but I'm not even going near her. I'm still kind of surprised that I got enough courage to tell that hag what I really felt.”

 

Kagura grinned a little at his choice of words, and then leaned onto his shoulder some. “Well, then I guess I don't have to worry about you suddenly changing your mind when it comes to this relationship. Though, I do hope you can accept the fact that I am an independent woman and I will not be hounded like some piece of meat,” she nodded.

 

“Feh,” Inuyasha replied.

 

“I mean, I don't want to see the same thing happen to us that happened between my father and mother. My mother was always so weak, she hung onto every little thing, and my father could never pull his head out of his past. They were both always accusing each other of cheating on one another, and then in the end I could have sworn my father was ready to just pull out the shot gun and end it all by taking her life. He was too cowardly to take his own, but he also wasn't man enough to just admit that he was actually cheating on her, and only accusing her of it because he was,” Kagura shook her head. “It was a terrible thing to watch, especially once they split apart and my father married Kanna's mother. He just got worse and worse, always talking about how if women in his life had done it once they were going to do it again and all that crap. Even when she hadn't done anything, I mean—Am I boring you, Inuyasha?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I am, aren't I?” she laughed. “I'm sorry, if you had simply told me, I wouldn't have gone off like that. You know, you do have a say if we're going to have a relationship, Inuyasha. It shouldn't be all about me. You have rights as well, and though I like my space, I think you should be able to say something as well,” Kagura explained. “We're never going to make this work if we can't work together, after all.”

 

He blinked at her, watching as she cuddled closer to him. He was confused all of a sudden. He'd known Kagura to be bitchy and always talking about how a man could never complete her, yet now she was suddenly into the idea of making it work. He blinked again, thinking about his actual relationship. Now that he'd listened to her say that, and he'd thought about it for a moment, he noticed that Kikyo had most of the say in their relationship. When did that happen? He thought for a moment, and then tightened his arm around Kagura, thinking that it had become that way. Somewhere along the way, it hadn't been an equal relationship, but Kikyo wearing the pants all the time. He snorted to himself, thinking that they'd need to talk about that sometime.

 

“Inuyasha?” she said. She snapped her fingers in front of his face again, and scowled when he didn't response. Sighing, she muttered angrily to herself, not realizing that he'd finally turned to her.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Oh, now you're paying attention to me?” she said. “I'm surprised.”

 

“Sorry, I was thinking about something,” Inuyasha replied.

 

She nodded, “I see. I guess you're entitled to think to yourself, too. I shouldn't hold your attention every minute that we're together, just as you shouldn't hold mine. We should be as free as the wind when it comes to things like that, but held by chains whenever we truly need attention. Right?”

 

“Ah, yeah,” Inuyasha said. Now he was really confused. He didn't know what she was talking about, since he hadn't been really paying her much attention in the first place. In fact, he'd been silently cursing at Kikyo for putting him into this situation, even though he loved her. Sometimes, she just had the craziest ideas, and this was one of those times. He didn't like this, and he hated the fact that his real girl wasn't on his arm. Kagura was just an annoyance.

 

“I mean, if our hearts are truly held by someone else, then it is only right that you feel as if you're so tied to them you need to do whatever you need to in order to make them happy,” she sighed. “There must always be times whenever—”

 

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Inuyasha's mind supplied for him. He stopped paying attention to her, and finally rested his head on top of hers; silently praying to everything on the planet she'd shut up soon. Then, hopefully she'd stay silent, instead of talking as if she knew anything about romance. Kikyo was romantic; she knew everything there was about romance, while Kagura simply went off on herself. Kagura was not romantic, she was not easy to be around, but she was an annoyance that was for sure.

 

For a moment, though, he almost felt like she was trying to hint toward something.

 

OoO

 

She struggled against him, her fingers digging into the arm he held around her waist. “Let me go!” she hissed. “Let me go so that I can hurt that fucking bastard! How dare he act as if he is single, when he has a wife!”

 

Hiei kept his hold firm, feeling her continue her struggles, trying to get to the door. He knew that she wasn't one for violence; that she only went into a violent phase herself if she was very pissed off, or if it was simply playful violence. Never, though, had he seen her react so strongly to something, and this was rather surprising. Especially when her elbow nearly knocked his teeth out, and he tightened his hold in order to keep her still. Her foot slammed against his shin, and he grunted, silently asking his friend to intervene. Yes, he wouldn't mind seeing Yusuke's ass kicked by his girl, but he didn't want her to end up in jail, or worse, either.

 

“Let me go, Hiei!” she nearly screamed. “I'm going to give that man a piece of my mind. I'm not going to hurt him—much.”

 

“Perhaps you should think about this before you go off doing something you may regret later, Kagome,” Kurama suggested. He noticed that Hiei seemed quite reluctant to allow her to go off on her fit of violence. But he winced slightly when he saw her elbow ram into his ribs, wondering if that was going to leave a bruise.

 

“Fuck you!” Kagome snapped.

 

Kurama blinked, stunned by the sudden change. Never had Kagome turned on him, cursing at him. She's always treated him as if he were family, yet she'd suddenly turned upon him simply because she was angry. Kurama allowed his eyes to harden, and stepped in front of her while she struggled in Hiei's arms. “Listen to me, Kagome. This is not you. You shouldn't allow your foolish fit of rage to control your actions. Yes, I may even wish to hit Yusuke, but you must think about this. It is best to do things slowly, allow them to progress and watch as it does, and wait for the moment when he will get what is coming to him. Now is not the time for you to do this, though you may wish to.”

 

“Shut up!” she snapped.

 

He grabbed her chin, watching as she suddenly jerked against him at his sudden assaulted. “Then listen to what I'm saying,” he said, his voice hard. He may not like being so rude toward her, but she needed to understand that she could not do this at this time. Doing so could have very bad consequences for her, especially if she attacked Yusuke in his own home.

 

She stopped, her angry posture beginning to soften. She turned her head, feeling Hiei's arms loosen, but he didn't move from her. Shaking her head, she said, “Think of what she's feeling, though, if she knows. I… I…” She turned, wrapping her arms around Hiei and allowing her knees to give out. “I'm so sorry,” she whimpered.

 

Hiei patted her head a bit, still at a loss of what to do. “You said you would try,” he reminded her softly.

 

She looked up, her eyes feeling with tears. She smiled a bit, and then nodded. “I will.”

 

“Good,” he replied.

 

“I'll try, so that the next time I see him, I won't break down,” she whispered. “I want to make him pay. Not for what he did to me, but the fact that he made it seem like he wasn't with someone. If I had seen a ring on his finger…” she paused, “I would never have done anything. I'm so sorry I'm blind, Hiei. I'm so sorry.”

 

Kurama's eyes softened, watching her cling to him. However, he felt at that moment that she would get better. Hiei was giving her support, and she was beginning to fight against the feelings she felt. Not for herself, but simply because of the other woman that may have been hurt. He sighed, and then closed his eyes. Kagome was always thinking about others over herself, which was proven when she'd apologized to Hiei just moments before. She wasn't thinking about herself, but the other woman that may have been hurt, and most likely had. She needed to see, and she might already, that this was Yusuke's fault for apparently taking off his wedding ring in the first place.

 

Hiei's hands tightened a little at the words that fell from her mouth. Yusuke wasn't wearing his wedding ring, which gave him another perfectly good reason to beat the crap out of him. Not only had his hurt his girl and his actions continued to do so when he wasn't even near, but he'd played with her. He should have realized Yusuke wasn't wearing his stupid little ring, but apparently he'd been in too angry to think about it. He was lucky he hadn't thought about it, since it would have been something in Kagome's story that didn't add up, since she wouldn't willingly go with a married man. He probably would have left her on the street that night, instead of taking her home, and Yusuke was fucking lucky that he hadn't thought about it at the time.

 

“I'll try,” she muttered. “I promise I'll try.” She still wished to hit Yusuke a few times, but she knew that she couldn't do that. She couldn't leave Hiei alone, for she'd hurt him that way. She thought about it, and realized that she was hurting him by hurting, as he'd mentioned. She hated the fact that she was hurting him, and promised herself that she would get over this. She would, and then she'd make sure she never hurt him again. After that she'd hurt that blasted man who'd lied to her and possibly made her hurt another woman.