InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Matter of Trust ❯ August Worries ( Chapter 13 )

A Matter of Trust

By: TuxedoUranus89/InitialA

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own InuYasha. Stop siccing the lawyers on me!!

LiveJournal Community: http://community.livejournal.com/tu89_ia_fanfics/

Author's Notes: Oh my, getting yelled at for calling my own chapters fillers is kind of thrilling. XD My reasoning is this: If I'm bored with how a chapter is going, I think of it as a filler. But now I'm not going to be bored, because I have fun, exciting things planned for this chapter. At least, the three paragraphs of ideas I have jotted down propose fun things… Let's let you be the judge, ne? (oh, and the whole lack of AC thing… yeah, I'm drawing on my own experiences from living in an AC-less 4th-floor dorm room in the middle of August XD It isn't fun)

 

Shippou kissed Kagome's cheek before they left that morning. “Stay safe, Kaa-san.” He told her, winking.

Kagome smiled brightly, touched at his affectionate term. “Have a safe flight home; give your daughters our love.”

Itazura grinned. “We will, and we'll bring them with us next time, after the pup is born. And you—” She rounded on InuYasha and poked a finger into his chest. “You had better call us the minute she goes into labor. Your ears are mine if you don't, buster!”

The hanyou cocked an eyebrow, smirking. “You'd have to catch me first.”

Kagome stepped between them to stop the fight before it began. “I'll make sure he does, don't worry. Now you'd better get going, you'll miss your flight!”

InuYasha helped the two kitsune with their luggage, as he was leaving for work at the same time. Kagome moved to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head and met her lips with his. “You know, with them going, we can be a lot louder now…” He murmured seductively.

She giggled, and swatted his arm. “That can wait, Sesshou-maru put you up with those other clients, remember? You'd better get going if you'll be home for dinner.”

He whimpered slightly, lowering his ears and pouting. She giggled again, and pecked him on the lips. “Later; don't give me the puppy face. Get going, or you'll be a huge grouch when you get home.”

Huffing slightly as he balanced the suitcases he held, he retorted, “I'll just have to be grouchy and horny all day then. You're getting it when I get home, wench.”

She smiled and gently pushed him to the door. “I'll look forward to it then, now scoot!”

She'd just closed the door before she opened it again, and called after him, “And don't forget to tell Sesshou-maru our choices!”

His vague “Keh” drifted back to her, and she made a mental note to call Rin later, as she was sure InuYasha would sooner go tell his brother to off himself as a result of his extra workload that day. She leaned against the closed door with a sign, wishing the electricity would turn back on. It was growing uncomfortably warm without the air conditioning. Nothing I can do but wait, I suppose… She thought, thinking of running a cool bath and relaxing with a book for the morning. Or maybe just most of the day, whichever idea appealed the most. Sighing with happiness at the thought, she went to start the bath, and find the most raunchy romance novel she owned.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She was asleep when he came home. He was surprised that the windows were open, but then again, even the slight breezes that drifted through were probably better than sitting in a slowly-warming hotbox. She'd even found the old fans in the storage room; they were rattling noisily, much to his throbbing head's annoyance, but it was to be expected from old appliances dating back to the 70s or so. He was actually surprised they worked at all, but nothing surprised him more than his mate lying naked on his bed, no covers at all, with damp cloths on her forehead, stomach and legs; an ice-filled glass of water sat sweating on the bedside table. His ears lowered at the slightly pained look on her face, and thought how miserable she must be feeling. He guiltily looked at the clock, and shed his clothes, too worn out from the battle of wills of the day to want more than to kiss her lightly before laying near her, breathing in her calming scent. He slipped into sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, but when he awoke to her getting out of bed, it felt like only a few seconds had passed. “Kagome…?” He mumbled, opening an eye.

She looked back at him tiredly. “Sorry… Go back to sleep, I need another bath…” Too tired to be more than a little confused by her words, he fell back asleep almost instantly.

When the sun came up, he was, unfortunately, awake almost immediately from habit. His body was screaming for more sleep, and the added heat coming in from the windows wasn't helping him feel any better. He prayed to any gods listening that he could get home, get some sleep, get cool, and possibly some ass that night. He looked over at his mate, who had circles under her eyes, though she appeared to be sleeping; it didn't seem that she'd gotten much more sleep than he had, though for different reasons. The cloths she had on were dry, and she had a pained look on her face, so he forced himself out of bed to at least dampen them again for her; one of them should be rested, anyway. She sighed when he placed the cold cloths in their original spots, and blinked up at him blearily. “Inu…Yasha…?”

He smiled, and kissed her cheek. “Go back to sleep, mate. You need it.” She nodded tiredly, and relaxed against her mountain of pillows.

He slept through his lunch break. Usually he worked through it, having no need to eat as often as his human underlings, but today he was too tired to care. Plus, the office was on another side of the city, where they'd already restored power, and the blessedly cool temperatures of his office, in addition to the plush leather couch Rin had insisted he have for some gods-be-damned reason, were too inviting for him to relax for the hour usually devoted to working. His shrill phone woke him at the end of the hour, and he grudgingly went back to work.

The only change from the night before was that the electricity had finally been restored. It was apparent that it had only happened recently, though, as the apartment was still sweltering hot. Kagome had fallen asleep in the bath, which wasn't as dangerous as it sounded because the water barely reached her breasts. Tired as he was, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of her, his water nymph dozing in her element; at least, that's how he privately had always thought of her, with her love of baths and hot springs. He shed his shirt, reaching into the water to drain the bathtub and gently lifting her into his arms. She stirred, and looked at him bewilderedly. “Did I… I fell asleep?”

He merely nodded, and gently stood her on her feet, lightly patting her dry with a towel. She shrugged off the uncomfortably warm material. “What time is it?”

He didn't meet her eyes. “After midnight…”

She sighed. “Did you eat at least?”

He glanced at her. “Yeah. It was good, thank you. Come on, at least if I'm sleeping I can dream about killing Sesshou-maru…” He kissed her forehead and led her to the bedroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

With the exception of the blackout, most of August was the same as it had started out. InuYasha rarely made it home in time for dinner these days, swamped with the extra workload Sesshou-maru had assigned to him, and Kagome spent most of her days cleaning and re-cleaning the apartment. Some days she went to her mother's house to have her sooth her fears about the upcoming labor, and others she went to her Lamaze classes, also with her mother. He felt guilty, but unless he shoved off his work to an underling, he wasn't able to take the time off needed to go with her; had he not had an aversion to shirking, or an aversion to showing weakness in his brother's presence, he probably would have shoved most of the paperwork to his assistants. The days he did make it home for dinner, she was always surprised, and also did her best to be cheerful for him, offering her own tension-relieving massages for him. During one of these shoulder rubs, which often led to ear-rubs as well, and then on to other kinds of rubbing, he thought of the irony that once upon a time he could go days with little sleep and food, battling countless demons along the way, but shove a mountain range of paperwork and three cities' worth of morons babbling nonsense in his ears all damned day and he was done for. He also thought guiltily of his mate, left at home with nothing more to do than cook for him and grow more and more nervous about her due date and her ever-growing belly. She never said as much, as they only really saw each other in the mornings these days, but he could smell her anxiety and worry.

Kagome, on the other hand, was busy making lists. Lists of things she had, things she needed, things she might need, and things she probably might need but would never get around to using. Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi had all called her and asked when she wanted to go on their outing, and what she wanted them to get for her. Those phone calls, fifteen in all, and several three-way calls, had been more stressful than anything else had been so far, and finally had just promised to make several lists and give them to them when they went. It was nearing the end of August at this point, and she hadn't finished the lists; to complete her happiness, in addition to scribbling countless items and calling her mother to ask about different baby-items that she was probably forgetting, she'd dropped a plate that morning, tripped over a shoe she'd left out in the hall, bumped into a doorway or a wall at least four times, stubbed three toes on the coffee table, and almost had slipped and fallen in the shower. She thought grimly of this stage of clumsiness, and hoped it meant the baby was coming sooner than she thought, and she could be relieved of this for a few years. She also hoped that her next pregnancy went better than this one had, but after talking about it with her mother, she decided to just make things better for herself by being pregnant in the fall and winter.

Noting the clock on the wall, she surprised herself by seeing that it was already after eleven, and she hadn't fallen asleep yet. Patting herself on the back, she decided to get going while the going was good, and put away her lists, telling herself that anything else not on them, her friends would most likely just get for her anyway. She slipped into InuYasha's old haori, her favorite nightgown these days, and curled up under the covers, hoping that she could get enough sleep to keep up with her friends in the morning. She was dozing when he came home, late as per usual these days, and smiled when he slid under the covers next to her. “I missed you…” She sighed, as he slid an arm under her neck.

“I'm sorry… I'm trying, I really am.” He murmured, kissing her shoulder.

“I know, koibito… Oh, and don't forget… about me and the girls going out tomorrow… and there will be baby stuff everywhere…” She yawned, snuggling against him.

“You'll have to remind me… because I'll probably forget by morning…” She merely nodded, content to fall sleep in her mate's arms.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Oh, this is adorable!!” Eri squealed, holding up an infant girl's dress.

Kagome hid a grin. “We don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl, Eri, you can't buy stuff like that!”

Her friend pouted. “Oh, come on, it's too adorable to pass up!”

Rolling her eyes, Kagome took the dress. “Ok, ok… how does it look?”

She laid the dress out on her stomach, and her friends burst into laughter. “It suits you, Kagome.” Ayumi smiled, and looked at the mobiles hanging across the aisle. “Have you got a mobile for over the crib yet?”

Kagome looked over at them, and shook her head. “No, I can't say I have. I never thought about it, nor did I think they made those anymore.”

Yuka sighed wistfully. “You're so lucky, Kagome-chan… Your own little family just starting out, I'm so jealous!!”

Kagome was looking at a peculiar mobile; it was different than the others in the fact that it was decorated in more of a Japanese-cultural way. There were small origami cranes, and little crescent moons with rabbits on them, small peaches, strings of cherry blossoms, and on the base of the mobile was a kitsune spirit, mischievously looking over the strands below it. She smiled at the hints at folklore and traditional ways, and thought it fitting to get it. “I like this one. Grandpa would too, he might actually think I listened to his myths once in a while.”

The other three women looked at each other and shrugged; it wasn't as cute as some of the other mobiles, but they chalked it up to Kagome's upbringing. Their next stop had the girls looking at things like baby strollers and car seats. They found one that could double as both, with just a few latches separating the carrier from the stroller, and for convenience's sake, bought it and arranged for a delivery at the apartment. Another store was for furniture, but Kagome insisted that there wasn't a need for it; however, she relented at a rocking chair, as InuYasha didn't own anything like it, not even a La-Z-Boy. They were having so much fun laughing and going from store to store that Kagome didn't even realize it was well into the afternoon and they'd only had pretzels earlier. She insisted they stop to eat, as she was also starting to realize her feet were killing her, and they stopped into a nearby restaurant. I suppose laughter is the best medicine… I never even noticed my feet hurting, or how hungry I was! She thought as they ordered.

Yuka rounded on her first. “So, Kagome-chan, how's your lover boy?”

Kagome blinked at this sudden change in topics. “Well, when I saw him this morning he looked ok. He's been working a lot lately, though, he got another client added into his repertoire and hasn't made it home much until late.”

Her three friends looked at each other with eyebrows raised. Kagome immediately knew what they were thinking. “You guys! InuYasha isn't like that, he would never do something like that to me!”

Ayumi spoke first, though quietly. “You were the one who always said he ran off to his ex-girlfriend, Kagome…”

The other woman opened her mouth, and then closed it. She thought about it. “It's not her, because she died…” She mused, ignoring the gasps from her friends. “He wouldn't though, not with me being pregnant and nearly ready to give birth…”

Eri looked worried. “You guys were broken up though, for a long time…” Kagome bit her tongue, thinking, You really don't know the half of it…, but let her continue. “I mean, who's to say he didn't find another girl in that time? Sure, he could be saying he's working late hours, but you know what they say about the yuppies these days… Starter marriages, it's all about starter marriages, and then they get mistresses, who turn into their real marriages. Or at least their second starter marriages.”

Kagome's heart hurt to think about it. InuYasha had told her their mating would last forever, they'd be bonded to one another for life… but had he lied? “He… he wouldn't… I mean, I was right there at that ball when his brother was threatening to add on another set of clients as well as these ones! He couldn't possibly be…”

The word `cheating' stuck in her throat. Her friends looked at her with pity. She unconsciously brought her hand up to her swollen stomach, and bit her cheek, thinking about it. She didn't really know what went on in his office, after all. It wasn't as if she was one of those wives who called their husbands at work all the time over mundane things, she knew he had much more to do than worry about her not knowing where something was; she'd just find it herself, and hope she didn't knock anything over in the meantime. However… Her head snapped up. “He hates how the maid moved everything around even after he told her not to, but he kept her on anyway.”

Her friends gasped. “How cliché!!” Yuka exclaimed.

“The rich man screwing around with his poor maid?! Kagome-chan, have you seen this woman? She'd have to be a real Playboy bunny to surpass you!” Ayumi told her reassuringly.

Kagome nodded. “I… I fired her, weeks ago, when she moved something again, when I told her not to… I told her I could keep my own house clean, but I gave her a good send-off check to make up for it…”

Eri raised an eyebrow. “Does he know about it?”

Kagome shook her head slowly. “No… No, I kept forgetting to tell him, or I purposely didn't because he'd just argue with me about doing housework while pregnant…”

Yuka pursed her lips. “Have you guys been… doing anything?”

Blushing at her forwardness, Kagome shook her head. “Not lately… he's been working, and I haven't been sleeping well, so I'm usually asleep when he gets home…”

The girls looked at each other with suspicious, knowing looks. Kagome bit her lip again, as their food was served. Suddenly, she didn't have an appetite anymore, but she forced herself to eat a bit of the pasta for the baby's sake. Was he really cheating on her?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He'd been surprised at the small amount of packages that were in the apartment, he'd been expecting more, but she'd explained, rather off-handedly, that the bigger things were being delivered within the next week or so, and not to worry about it. Several days later, however, his surprise was more directed not towards the growing number of boxes in their living room, but to what felt like a cold-shoulder treatment from his mate. She'd been distant the last few days, but InuYasha had just thought it was because she was finally getting tired of him working so much. So, he'd made up his mind to make damn sure to be home for dinner the past two nights, and even that hadn't helped. So now he was thinking it was another hormone thing, or a lack of chocolate thing, or some other damned female thing, and he knew he didn't like it one bit.

So today was the day he'd unveil his master plan, and hopefully break her distance again. He was coming home extra-early, (it was nearing three), to begin making her favorite foods for a dinner he hoped she wouldn't forget. After nearly tripping over yet another package in the foyer, he was very surprised to see Kagome standing on a small ladder, dusting the higher shelves and Tessaiga. “Wench, what the hell are you doing?!” He exclaimed bounding over the furniture to lift her down to where she wouldn't fall.

“It's dangerous, and I've told you a hundred times to let the maid do the cleaning!”

He was surprised when she glared at him. “I think I can clean my own damn house, InuYasha! Or haven't you noticed that I fired the maid almost a month ago?”

That surprised him. “You… you what? You fired her? In all the gods names, why??!”

She crossed her arms over her chest, looking ridiculous in her kerchief and feather-duster in hand over her enormous stomach. “You said so yourself, you hated how she moved everything around. Well, I was here one day when she came, and she moved something I told her not to. It irritated me, and so I finally just did what you didn't have the balls to do! If you're wondering, I gave her a nice send-off check to ease the sting of things, though now I'm wondering if I should have at all!”

He raised an eyebrow. “What's with that attitude?!”

She stomped her foot on the ground. “You know VERY WELL why I should be pissed off at you, you MORON!”

His temper flared. “Listen, wench, I don't know what kind of fire ants you have crawling around in your kerchief, pissing you off so much, but you'd better start explaining yourself before I really lose my temper!”

She laughed, cruelly. “Oh, HO, so he wants to play coy! Well, mister thinks-he's-so-smart, answer me this: why's it so important that I fired that slut??”

InuYasha blinked. “Slut? She wasn't a slut, why are you being like this?”

Her cheeks were flushed. “As far as I'm concerned, any woman sleeping with MY husband, who's doing so behind MY BACK, is a slut! You were cheating on me with her!! That's the ONLY reason you'd keep her on! I know it, don't you DARE lie to me! After all those months I spent thinking you were DEAD, here you were having the time of your life with your MAID, for God's sake! I bet you didn't have any freaking second thoughts about me, or this pup, once you found her, did you!?”

InuYasha was visibly restraining himself at this point. “Fuck, Kagome, what the fuck gave you that kind of moronic fucking idea that I'd be cheating on you—”

His cheek stung as she slapped him. He was shocked right out of being angry at that point: as many times as she'd sat him in the past, he really couldn't remember if she'd ever slapped him; at least, with as much anger and hurt behind it as this one. “You can't even answer my question. Apparently it's… she's really that important…”

She was holding back tears at this point, and could only look at him for one moment longer before she fled, slamming the bedroom door behind her. He heard the lock click into place, and then the bathroom door slamming as well. He went to the door, planning on trying a more calm approach to this disastrous dilemma, when he heard her scream in rage and heartache, and a dull thud, which he assumed to be her fist against the wall. Then came the heaving sobs, the ones that made him feel like his heart was being pulled from his chest. He didn't even do anything, and he wanted to submit, to crawl towards her like a bad pup who knew he should be punished, anything to make her stop crying like that. He let his head fall against the locked door, fighting the inner battle of whether to try to comfort her, or let her get it out of her system. His ears pricked, though, as he heard her inhale sharply, then began to moan, muttering something to herself; he couldn't quite make it out, but she sounded like she was in pain. When she cried out, his resolve broke, and he rammed his shoulder into the door once, twice, before it broke. I can always buy a new fucking door. “Kagome!”

The bathroom door was locked too, but he broke it easier than the bedroom door; he'd only need a new doorknob. Kagome was sitting on the floor, doubled over in a pool of liquid, gasping for breath, and looking frightened. His nose was assaulted with a variety of foreign smells, and he fought the urge to cover it as she looked up at him with wide, scared eyes. “The baby's coming.”

 

((As for the mobile that Kagome bought, I found a few of the more popular Japanese folktales and used some of the symbols in them; there's a few legends of peach-men, many about kitsune spirits, flowers, and of course, there's the rabbit-on-the-moon too. The origami was from a real mobile I found on Google, I thought the cranes were kind of pretty, but needed a little more than just the white paper birds for it to really catch Kagome's eye. Anyway… HAHAHA, CLIFFHANGER. I've been planning that fight and this cliffhanger since like, day one. And I'm kind of… sad it's over now. XD But there's more fun things coming, I promise!! And I'd really, really love to do reviewer responses, but it's like, 2am, and I have to be up in six hours for classes and a mid-term, and I'm probably going to be kicking myself over it, but I really wanted to get this out!! So, very quickly, thank you everyone who's been reading, and thank you for those of you who reviewed, unistar, i_heart_inuyasha, Chikyu, Ygfi, kuro faia shinigami, ShadowStar666, kokoronagomu, FluffyLady, Hentai Strumpet, and CatLover260!!! I hope you liked it, and continue reading!! See you next chapter!!))