InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Anastasia: The Lost Princess ❯ A Breaking Understanding ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Three: A Breaking Understanding

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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Miroku was jolted out of his sleep when Ome's loud scream permeated the peacefulness of the night. He threw on his old style-sleeping kimono over his clothes to keep out the chilliness of the old palace and raced up the two flights of stairs. He barged into her room to see her rolled up in a ball shaking madly. "Ome?"

"Th-There was someone… in my window…" She stuttered, pointing tremulously towards the window straight across from the mattress she had been sleeping on. Miroku's eyebrows fixated in worry until he saw a shadow loom across window. He shook his head and marched over to the glass panes and opened them a crack. He then heard some more rustling up above and knew what it was. To divert the peeping Tom's attention, he picked up a stray twig that had been lying in the corner of the room Ome had been sleeping in and threw it out the window. He then proceeded his action fully by shoving the windows to their fullness and open capacity, an all knowing grin perking across his features when he heard a yelp and saw the figure fall from above, cursing and spluttering obscenities on the way down.

"Inuyasha, you'll never get a woman's proper attention if you try to get at them that way!" Miroku shouted down below when he saw the hanyou grip a window ledge to stop himself from slamming into the ground and broke it, climbing through. The young man was chuckling and turned to see Ome gone but a faint wisp of the fabric of her large overcoat as it breezed out the door. This should be interesting, he thought in amusement as he followed to see the fight that would ensue.

Shippo appeared out of a separate room, rubbing his little eyes. He leapt onto Miroku's shoulder and did a jaw-cracking yawn and asked him drowsily what was going on. The young man was about to answer the kitsune when an argument spilled from down below before the words left his lips. Miroku dashed to the balcony and looked down, seeing Inuyasha and Ome standing on the floor below.

"Do you commonly stare into a girl's room when she's sleeping? Is that where you get all your pleasure?" The orphaned young woman roared, her eyes angry looking and even more so from sleep deprivation. Inuyasha growled, his face equally furious.

"You have my jewel shard and I want it back!" The hanyou screeched into her face, causing her to flinch but Ome did not back down.

"Jewel shard, jewel shard, JEWEL SHARD! THAT'S ALL YOU EVER CAN SAY TO ME!" She snapped, reaching up to grab him by the collar of his shirt. She pulled his head down more so she was glaring up into two clear, amber orbs that were flickering from his fury and something else. "You know what? You haven't even given me a chance. All you can do is accuse me of taking your jewel shard…" Ome trailed off, releasing his shirt and the breath that she had been holding. Inuyasha was still as she raked a hand through her extremely mussed bun and bangs. "I thought we might be friends, but I see all you want is my jewel shard."

"Now you're getting it," The hanyou snorted as he crossed his arms. He looked away but his attention was quickly drawn back to the young woman who was standing in front of him. He heard sniffling and his whole body went numb. Oh no… What do I do now? She's crying! He thought in panic as he watched her.

"You're a jerk…" She said, her voice thick as she gazed up at him. Her dark eyes were lined with a sheet of tears that she wasn't going to let spill. "A mean, arrogant and selfish jerk and I don't want anything more to do with you," she told him, her voice extremely stressed and serious. "You can have my jewel shard if that's what you want but not until I have a home somewhere where I can go and get away from you!" she finished in a sob as she fled up the stairs, nearly tripping over herself in the process. She raced down the hall to her room, passing the distraught pair of Miroku and Shippo and slammed the door soundly. Shippo followed after her, knocking on the door and leapt inside hastily when he was granted entrance.

Miroku peered over the balcony to see Inuyasha rooted to the spot that he was in and started to clap slowly, a smug and guilt-depriving look on his face. The inu-hanyou glared up at him and bared his white fangs but his face washed of every emotion when Miroku's words hit him. "Well done. You've just lost your pride as a man," he said slowly. "For all that you claim to be smart, you are very stupid, Inuyasha," he added over his shoulder as he turned and went up the stairs to his own room, leaving the hanyou alone with his thoughts.

"I thought we might be friends, but I see all you want is my jewel shard…"

Damn it, Inuyasha thought as he felt guilt weave its way into his chest. She wanted to cry but she wouldn't. How narrow-minded am I?

"She's got the rest of the shard, damn it! It belongs to me!"

"If this doesn't work though, I'm going to kill her and take what I want, you got that?"

"You have my jewel shard and I want it back!"

"Jewel shard, jewel shard, JEWEL SHARD! THAT'S ALL YOU EVER CAN SAY TO ME!"

Kami-sama… He thought as he shook his head and sat down against the wall, resting his arm on his knee in thought as the old palace became quiet once again.

**

Ome awoke the next morning to the sun's rays pouring into her bedroom and into her eyes. She groaned and rubbed at them, hoping the bright light would just disappear and leave her alone because she was depressed and wanted to sleep some more. Another reason was she didn't want to see Inuyasha's face anymore. He was such a selfish and mean person and she didn't want to associate with him.

"Ome? Are you awake?" she heard Shippo's chipper voice on the other side of the door. Her brow furrowed in confusion. When did he leave during the night? She thought in confusion but shrugged it off, seeing that he was all right.

"Yes, Shippo. I'll be out in a few minutes," she answered him as she flipped the blankets off of her mattress and got into her large overcoat and big, bulky old boots. She took her hair down from her messed up bun and ran her fingers through her unruly hair and then threw it back into place, not caring what she looked like. It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone, she thought as she opened the door and saw the little kitsune waiting for her patiently.

"Are you ok from last night, Ome-chan?" The small youkai asked her, his voice slightly worried and curious. She nodded to him and picked him up. She carried him down the stairs, pulling her coat together briefly from the chilliness of the palace. She saw her breath in this place.

"Inuyasha's an idiot. I think we both know that," she whispered to him but nearly fell forward from shock when she felt warm breath on her neck.

"I think you should also know that he can hear almost every breath you take and every word you say…" she heard the hanyou's voice say into her ear. It sent chills down her spine and a blush rose to her cheeks suddenly but she swallowed and continued on, letting out a small `hmph!' and rose her nose in the air, walking on to find Miroku.

"Moron," Ome heard Shippo mutter and giggled while she patted him on the head. She whispered something in his ear and at the exact same time, they both turned around and stuck their tongues out at Inuyasha. He growled and started to shout at them in annoyance, telling them how stupid they were and such, but they were laughing too hard to hear anything that he was saying.

"What's this? Commotion so early in the morning?" Miroku's rich voice came from a far hall as he poked his head out into the open. "Good morning, Ome and Shippo," he said with a warm, probably too friendly smile, but his gaze dulled when he looked to Inuyasha. "And a morning to you, one that we can not refer to as man anymore," he finished, motioning for the young woman who was carrying the kitsune child to follow him down the hall.

"Has EVERYONE turned against me?" Inuyasha roared after them, his voice conspiratorial. He growled, feeling uneasy since the encounter with the scrawny orphan girl the night before. He then pushed aside his feelings and entered into the kitchen, everyone was now eating in front of the old dusty fireplace. His amber eyes focused on Ome as she ate. There was a shadow under her eyes and something panged in Inuyasha's chest. Did… did I do that? He thought, feeling his paranoia exploding in his insides. Maybe I should apologize… He was broken from his stare when the orphaned young woman's dark eyes met his in confusion and annoyance.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Do you have something against me?" She snapped at him but then grinned at how angry he was. Miroku chuckled as he brought some more cold rice up to his mouth, using his chopsticks.

"She is a feisty one, isn't she, Inuyasha?" He asked the hanyou in amusement, watching as the young man practically flipped out.

Nope! I'm definitely not going to apologize! "Feisty?!" The inu-half breed roared and let out a sound of extreme exasperation, mixed with frustration. He stomped out of the old kitchen, leaving the three companions alone. Shippo just watched him and shook his head, his red bangs flipping slightly.

"He's a big dummy," The kitsune child mumbled as he continued to stuff his face. Ome ate a little bit more but then set down what remainder of rice she had left, her chocolate eyes going to the door in which Inuyasha had hastily made his exit minutes before. She sighed and got to her feet, meeting Miroku's quizzical stare.

"Where are you going?" He asked, his mouth slightly full of rice as he, quite promptly, accidentally spat some across the room. Shippo gawked and jumped out of the way of the coming rice blob and leapt onto Ome's shoulder, quivering.

"Ew!" He whined and covered his nose. "Human saliva can smell so bad sometimes!" He said and hopped down from Ome's shoulder when she told him she needed to be excused. "Miroku, you're rude," he complained as the young man started to clean up his masticated chunk of rice.

Ome closed the door to the kitchen behind her and searched around the halls for the hanyou, though she probably wouldn't admit that to his face. What was with him anyways? He was being rude to her and he was calling her names and then he started staring at her like a stalker! And, to top all of that off, all he could think about was the jewel shard that she had in her pocket. Talk about narrow minded… She sighed. Things were not going very well, that's for sure. She brushed a piece of hair that had fallen out of her extremely messy bun behind her ear and slowed her walking pace a bit as she lessened it to only a small stride.

Inuyasha was sitting on a rafter on the ceiling when Ome's scent wafted into the room along with the pattering of her small feet. He leaned over curiously to watch her, wondering what she was doing and why she was not in the kitchen anymore. But, curiosity killed the cat because he leaned too far forward and lost his balance, letting out a surprised sound that echoed across the large ballroom of the palace.

Ome gasped as her heart jolted at the sudden noise and immediately looked up to see Inuyasha swing himself up onto the rafter again. She deflated. Just what the hell was he doing up there anyway? "What are you doing?" she called up to him, her voice filled with slight suspicion and mild wonder.

"Getting away from you, what does it look like?" Inuyasha spat back, reclining back onto the rafter comfortably like he had been sitting before the young orphaned woman entered the room and perked his curiosity.

Ome raked a hand through her all ready stressed out hair as she let out a long, irritated breath. "Look, I know you don't like me very much but we need to get along. I don't like the tension between us. Just what do you find wrong with me?" Ome asked, her voice slightly exasperated as she crossed her arms in pout style.

"One, you're an annoying little girl who wants her way all the time. Two, you've got my jewel shard and three, you've got my jewel shard and you're not giving it back to me," came the humored response, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ome nearly blew a gasket.

"You want the damned jewel shard? TAKE THE FREAKIN' THING!" she screamed as she ripped it from her pocket and chucked it at the ground, watching as it shattered into miniscule little pieces. Her mouth gaped open when the little pieces became a bright pink and started to fly out the open window and any open area. "Kami-sama!" she yelled in fright and anger with herself for breaking the only heirloom she had from her past and ducked down when Inuyasha leapt from the rafter and tried to chase the tiny shards before they escaped but he had no luck. Soon, they were all out of sight. Inuyasha turned and looked down at Ome, who was still crouched on the floor.

"Do you have an idea what you just did?" he growled, his amber eyes darkening as his claws dug into his fists, drawing blood. "You broke my ####### jewel!" he screamed, his voice frightening the orphaned young woman as tears came to her eyes.

"Well," she managed to get out as she looked up into his furious face. "I don't care…" she sniffled as she stood up. "Are you happy now? If you want the jewel so much then go get all of the pieces, you idiot!" she screamed at him as her tears went in all directions. "I was going to apologize for the earlier incident but-"

"You're not forgiven! You never will be! NEVER!" Inuyasha roared at her and instinctively reached out and picked her up by the collar of her large overcoat. He caught himself doing this and stopped when he saw the fright on poor Ome's face and the all ready looking about brokenness of her appearance. She sniffled and bit her lip to stop her tears, but they wouldn't cease. He set her down on the ground and immediately saw her gaze go to the ground. Inuyasha's chest tightened and he gently placed his hand under her chin and brought it up so he could look at her face. "I… I didn't mean that…" He whispered, drying some of the tears he had earned from Ome.

Not knowing what else to do, Ome rested her head on his chest slid her arms up to join her head when his own arms encircled her. This was strange… Inuyasha was holding her… yet she felt safe instead of annoyed or angry. She sobbed a bit into his warm and muscular chest, apologizing for everything. The hanyou did not know how to cease her tears but realized, he had broken her spirit because all he had been focusing on was the jewel. He had totally disregarded her feelings on this whole situation and only had been thinking of his own.

"I'm such a fool…" Ome whispered thickly as she dried a tear with her fist.

"That would make two of us…" Inuyasha replied just as softly as he drew back and looked at her. Ome nodded and finished wiping her tears.

"I'm kind of tired… I think I'm going to go up and sleep some more…" she told him when she felt a blush rise to her cheeks at his gentle expression.

"Yeah…" Inuyasha replied, somewhat dumbfounded himself. With puffy eyes and some of her hair sticking to her cheeks from her tears, dare he think this, she looked rather alluring. She looked vulnerable and unprotected… What are you thinking, fool? She's just a scrawny girl!

As Ome went up the stairs, Inuyasha leapt up into the rafters, both pondering on the incident that had just taken place. Yes, the jewel had been broken… That seemed to be the climax of their little event… but… The conclusion afterwards…

Inuyasha's thoughts weren't even on the jewel at the moment… More of Ome and how he had pushed her to tears twice all ready…

Miroku had been spying the whole time on the little maneuver smiled softly and shook his head. "Ah yes. It has to start somewhere…" he muttered, returning to his post in the kitchen as Shippo called his name for assistance.

(A/N: Sorry about the late update! There have been some viruses on my computer that Norton Anti-virus just caught so I haven't really been able to type or get on my computer. I hope you enjoyed the little bit of Inu/Ome-ness I put in here ;). Please review! The next chapter will be up in about a week or so… Maybe two weeks because finals are coming up and I have 4 A.P. classes! Well, see ya! -RayJay)