InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Ashes and Dust ❯ An Unexpected Day ( Chapter 3 )

I do not own Inuyasha & Co.

Chapter 3

An Unexpected Day

Kagome stepped outside in the early Monday morning with her brown leather purse draped over her shoulder. She'd been having meetings often early during the week at the unemployment office, as well as with her college to get things set up for her schooling. She took a deep breath and looked at Inuyasha's home. Each time she left in the mornings to head out to town, he would go off on his daily jog, and she watched from her bedroom window with the hopes to see him. She'd seen him leave his house often enough during the times she'd leave, and he'd greet her as he ran past. It certainly was a rarity that she'd leave her house without seeing him do something outside.

Today, however, she made it down the steps and onto the sidewalk without seeing him. The oddity of that caused her to continue looking back whenever she heard a sound behind her, thinking she'd just missed being within talking distance of her interesting neighbor.

Before she knew it, she was all the way down the street without a sight of him. She felt uneasy about her morning already. She continued her walk around the corner to the street leading to the train station. The long street was lined with quaint shops; such as bookstores, clothing boutiques, and a small sidewalk deli that served meals from breakfast `til dinner time. As she walked past the deli, the door swung open suddenly and caught her off guard. She stepped wrong, and her right ankle wobbled on a nasty crack in the concrete she always avoided. Her ankle popped loudly.

She yelped and lost her balance, but never hit the course concrete under her feet. She looked up to see the person she'd hoped to see—Inuyasha. She looked and noticed his eyes and the red and black bandana just above his black eye brows.

“Are you all right?” His arms held her in a low dip as his long, course silver hair enveloped her face and his.

She gasped and a tear fell from her right eye as she shook her head. “My…. My ankle…” her hands gripped his red tank top.

He gently laid her down onto the hard ground and she let go of his tank top. “Which one is it?”

She gasped as he gently lifted her right leg just below the knee. “Mm…” He lowered her leg and felt her ankle while she gasped at the pressure he applied. He searched her ankle for any breaks.

“Well, judging on the swelling and the tenderness, you only sprained it.”

“Shit…” He gave her a look of surprise. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I never thought I'd hear that come out of your mouth. But then again, seeing you dressed as you are, it looks as if you're on your way to a meeting.” She looked down at her royal blue, knee-length skirt as it hugged her hosed legs.

“Yes, a very important one, in fact… And now I'm going to be late because I believe I've just missed the train…” She ran her hands down the three-quarter length sleeves of her royal blue colored blazer and adjusted the red shell beneath.

“I'm sorry, this happened because I left the house earlier than usual today.” He shook his head and gritted his teeth behind his full lips.

“I'm not going to blame such a situation on you, Inuyasha. I'm actually glad it was you who opened the door. If it wasn't you, I may have hit the ground and gone unconscious.”

He smiled and gingerly lifted her up to stand on her left foot while bracing her. “I'll help you to the pharmacy to get a bandage for your ankle. If you need to, you can use my cell to call the office and let them know what happened.” He pulled his cell phone from the right pocket of his black cargo shorts and offered it to her.

“Oh, thank you.”

She took the flip phone from his hand and grabbed the business card from her purse with the phone number. She flipped the phone open to see an old picture as his wallpaper; it was a shot of a painting of a beautiful woman that appeared to be over a hundred years old. Her straight, long, black hair was draped over her shoulders clad with layers of robes. The outer robe was decorated with a floral pattern. She was young and beautiful. Her cheek bones were defined and her eyes tender. Her small mouth accented by deep colored brush strokes, and it seemed as if she was looking through Kagome's soul.

“Something wrong?”

Kagome looked up at him from the wallpaper. “Oh, no. Who is she?”

“My mother.”

“Oh…” She then typed the number in and pressed send. She explained her situation and they decided to reschedule her meeting.

“Well, that's a good thing, especially since you're not going to be able to make it on that ankle. Here, I got ya.”

He braced her left side with his left hand and his left leg acted as her right as they made their way to the drug store just a few doors down.

He sat her down in the bench against the wall beside the counter and proceeded to ask if crutches were available and a representative led him to the section of the store behind long and tall shelves where the wrappings were located along with a set of standard crutches and cold compresses on the other side of the deep store.

Once everything was gathered, Kagome grabbed her purse and was about to stand when Inuyasha pulled his wallet from his other pocket and pulled money from within the folds. Shock spread across her face at the fact that he was buying her supplies.

He got his change, folded it into his wallet, and slipped it back into his pocket. He looked down at Kagome to see the shock and said, “What?”

“Nothing.”

He knelt down before her and slipped off her shiny black flat. He tore open the packaging of the bandage and properly wrapped her ankle. Once her right ankle was properly wrapped, he stood and set the crutches in front of her. She grabbed the handles of her purse and slipped it onto her right shoulder. She put her hands onto the crutches and lifted herself up. She lost her balance a little when her purse fell from her shoulder and down to her elbow. He lifted the purse handles and slipped the purse down her forearm.

“I'll carry your purse for you.” He held the crutch with his right hand as she lifted her hand from the padding to slip the purse from her hand.

“Thank you again.” She smiled up at him. He turned and stepped beside her as he helped lead her from the store and onto the concrete to help her get home.

It was a nice but slow trek back home on such a beautiful and mild morning. They hadn't said much, as nervousness began to fill Kagome's stomach with jittery butterflies.

“So, I take it you've never sprained your ankle before?”

“Yeah… Talk about painful. I think I'm going to be laid up eating nothing but painkillers for a while.” She huffed out as she lifted herself off her right leg.

“Well, for about six days or so, it'll be tender, but you should heal just fine. Just keep it elevated and wrapped with the cold compresses draped over it, and the swelling should go down. Painkillers will help, but eat good food to keep your energy up. Do you have books to read? Video games to play? Movies to watch?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, you're gonna be off your feet most of the time, and you'll be awfully bored if you don't have something to entertain yourself with.”

“Ah, yeah… Well, I do have some DVDs to watch, but I think I'm going to have to sleep in the dining room for a while…”

“Why would you say that?” Inuyasha stopped beside her and looked her way.

“My bedroom is upstairs, and I don't think I could make it up or down on my own…”

“Will you need help getting up there when we get back?”

“Oh, no… You've gone to enough trouble for me already. Mom can help me.” Kagome continued on ahead.

“Are you sure? I'm more than willing to help.” She stopped to look over her shoulder.

Inuyasha stood holding her purse with a straight look on his face and looked her straight in the eye.

“But, you must have things you need to do. Doesn't Kaede need your help? And you go on your daily runs and such…”

Inuyasha closed the gap quickly and stopped beside her. “Old Kaede is a pistol, and I know she can last without me for a few days. Hell, she's the one who really runs the household. She's been a part of my life for quite some, time ever since… Well, never mind. The point is, I have nothing to do during the day.”

“Nothing to do? Are you kidding me? How do you afford that gorgeous, huge house beside mine?”

He let out a loud sigh. “Okay, I don't think that's any of your business at the moment, but I have money, okay?”

“Oh… So, you don't have to work then.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I don't have anything to give you in return. You don't really…”

“Yes, I do, and don't worry about it. I'm not asking for anything in return. It's the least I can do for you since you're in such pain. What kind of man would I be to not care about a woman in pain?” She shrugged and continued on beside him, as she realized he had a point.

~*~

Once they arrived at Kagome's mother's house, she grabbed both crutches in her left hand and he handed her purse to her right hand. He knelt down and lifted her fully into his arms and walked her up the stairs and across the porch to ring the doorbell.

Kagome's mother made her way to the door and put her hands to her face when she saw her daughter holding crutches in his arms. “Oh my! Kagome, what happened?”

She pushed the screen clear and Inuyasha effortlessly stepped past her and carried her daughter into the living room. When she made her way into the room, Inuyasha lowered Kagome onto the floor beside the low table. He grabbed two pillows for her to lean against, and set another under her wrapped ankle.

“I sprained my ankle on my way to the station. I never made it to the meeting, but it will be rescheduled.” Kagome settled herself comfortably.

“Oh, honey… How did this happen?”

“I was coming out of the deli, and my opening the door caused her to lose her footing and sprain her ankle.”

Her mother looked to him as her right hand went to her heart.

“I saw her at the last second and caught her as she fell.”

“Oh, Inuyasha, I'm so glad you were there! Thank you for bringing her home!” She knelt down to lightly hug Kagome and then put her hand on his shoulder. “You have been good to Kagome today. Please let me cook a special dinner for you tonight in thanks.”

“Sure, I would love to sample your cooking, Mrs. Higurashi.” A smile formed on his lips and the guilt faded from his eyes.

Mrs. Higurashi went upstairs to gather more comfortable clothes for Kagome. When she returned with what looked like lounging clothes and one white sock, Inuyasha stepped out from the living room and allowed her to change Kagome's clothes. Once she was done, Inuyasha stepped back around the corner and sat down across the table from Kagome as she turned on the television.

~*~

After the wonderful steak dinner and soba noodles, Inuyasha noticed Kagome had fallen listless while watching an episode of Ninja Warrior. Figuring the pain killers had finally kicked in; he put the cold compress back into the freezer and then lifted her up into his arms.

He looked into the kitchen and asked her mother where her bedroom was. She led him up the stairs. She opened the door at the end of the hall adjacent from the bathroom. He stepped in and her mother turned on the light. She turned down the purple comforter on her full sized bed. Once she stepped aside, Inuyasha gently laid the sleeping woman upon her bed. Her mother grabbed an extra pillow from the hall to elevate her hurt ankle. He set her ankle on the pillow. She moaned a little. He looked to see her head nod off to the left. He covered her with the comforter up to her neck.

“Thanks again, Inuyasha. We really appreciate your help, whether Kagome shows it or not.” She turned off the light and they both exited as she softly closed the door.

“I could never have gotten her up the stairs on my own. She sometimes forgets how old I am. My looks do deceive everyone, but I am in my fifties.”

They'd made their way to the stairs and descended. “You seriously don't look your age.”

“Thank you, Inuyasha.” She stepped down the last three steps and onto the floor.

“I offered to help her get to and from her bedroom, and she tried to reject, but she was in a lot of pain, and I'm not the kind of guy to just leave her be in that condition. I have nothing better to do but work on my muscles all day, so why not use them to help her instead.” Inuyasha shrugged and Mrs. Higurashi just walked forward and put her hands on his cheeks.

“You are such a good man. You are welcome to come by as often as you like.” She smiled and then led him to the door.

“Good night, Mrs. Higurashi.” Inuyasha waved as he left the house and started down the steps on toward his home in the darkness.