InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bed Ridden ❯ Blacked Out ( Chapter 3 )

General Info: Round Robin #1 for Monk_and_Miko

Title: Bed Ridden

Summary: He's lived through a cursed hand, demons, and a hanyou with an attitude-but can our sixteenth century Houshi take the stimulation of the twentieth century? (MK)

Rating: PG-13

Chapter Author: Rurouni Star

Chapter Summary: Darkness, opportunities, and things that go bump in the night. (get those nasty thoughts out of your head, Miroku!)

Disclaimer: No. I wish, I wish, I wish, but no.

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Chapter 3: Blacked Out

Dinner at home was much better than she could remember it being. It must have been partially the fault of bad hospital food (which, she wished she could guiltlessly remind Miroku, was his fault) and partially the fault of the very polite, very well-spoken monk that had joined them at the table.

He was acting… almost normal. Miroku slid near effortlessly, almost disturbingly well, into their family. As though he really was a part of it, one that had just been missing for a bit- perhaps on vacation. As though the dish her mother set out for him had been waiting just for him.

Kagome chanced a look his way, some strange curiosity driving her to see it again.

"Amazing," Miroku said, not a little bit of mirth masked beneath the tone of voice. "So your highest score is… three trillion, five hundred billion…" he trailed off suggestively, as though he had lost track.

Souta took him up eagerly. "Sixty thousand and four!" the boy finished proudly. "And I got that in two days!"

The monk was trying hard to look impressed, she could tell. The edges of his mouth quivered with the effort of holding in a smile - she'd seen the expression on him before, when Inuyasha had lost a fish and been pulled in after it… when Shippo had shown those awful drawings to him and he'd purposely complimented the cat within her hearing range.

Though she'd meant to look away again, Kagome found herself mesmerized by the chance- the hope - that maybe he really would smile at some point instead of making everyone else smile for him.

And that just led to the shocking thought that not only was he much too mature and much too comfortable with her family… but he was still a teen. Only about three years older than her.

"…and what would your high score be, Kagome-sama?"

She blinked and felt the blood rush instantly to her face. They were looking at her now…had she been caught?

Miroku awaited her answer patiently, however - apparently he hadn't caught onto her embarrassing slipup.

"In Super Undead Ninja Vampires?" she asked skeptically.

Souta snorted. "Sis doesn't play those games. She says they're really immature."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "They are. Whoever heard of a whole clan lucky enough to learn to be shinobi and all get bitten by vampires?"

Her little brother frowned. "I told you it was all a conspiracy by the big bad guy…whatever. You're just scared to play me."

Miroku chuckled. "Somehow I don't think that's the case," he murmured.

Souta looked at him with a crestfallen face. "So you do think it's immature?"

The priest was caught by surprise. Apparently, he hadn't been expecting the boy to hear him. "Oh - no!" he hastened to assure him. "No, not at all." Miroku paused. "I just haven't known Kagome-sama to be frightened of very much at all."

Kagome's mother smiled warmly. "That's awfully nice of you to say so," Mrs. Higurashi said. "But I seem to remember a time when she was six-"

"Ah! No, mom, you wouldn't!" Kagome panicked. Ugh, did she have to talk about this with every guest she ever had over?

"Oh?" Miroku asked, a note of interest in his voice. "What's this?"

Mrs. Higurashi brightened, but Kagome's grandfather beat her to the story. "Why, she saw a movie once when she was watching TV… it had her so scared, she had to have us check under her bed for monsters for months afterward! In fact, I'd almost think her fear of the dark comes from that one…"

Kagome moaned. It was a double whammy now. She would never live this one down. She dared to look up from the comfortable darkness of her crossed arms, only to find Miroku holding that laughter in again - just in relation to her this time. It wasn't so amusing when it was directed at you…

"Fine," she said sullenly. "Laugh it up, why don't you? I happen to know a certain priest that's deathly afraid of snails…"

Miroku twitched, the almost-smile gone again. "That was completely uncalled for," he muttered.

"Well," she announced loudly, mostly to let everyone know she was unhappy at the moment. "I'm going up to take my shower. Thank you for the food."

With that, she slid from beneath the traditional floor-table (usually only used for formal occasions, but set out to accommodate Miroku this time around) and walked out the door of the kitchen. The door slid shut behind her with the snap! that heralded a short sulk in a warm bath.

There was a short silence at the table.

And then:

"Wanna play me at Super Undead Ninja Vampires?" Souta asked hopefully.

Miroku tore his hungry gaze from the door (he was sure she'd mentioned the shower as an artificial hot spring once or twice!) and grinned.

"You're on."

**

Kagome hummed quietly to herself as she soaked wearily in the tub. She hadn't realized precisely how tense she had been until her body hit the hot water - and went utterly limp with relief.

Well, hovering over a half dead friend for three days tended to do that to you, she thought tiredly to herself. God, if it had been just a little off… if it had hit the wrong place…

"He wouldn't be here," she whispered.

A rumble of thunder punctuated the statement eerily.

It was a revelation; for all that it had been a revelation the first time she'd thought about it and the tenth and the hundredth. Having a hole in his hand was one thing - they could do something about that - but dying in battle…

She'd drawn her legs up in front of her before the thought could even complete itself, a sniffle forcing its way from her body. Miroku - kind, wise, invincible, wise-cracking, impious sometimes-jerk - he'd almost died. Died young, she realized, the terrible idea having to form all over again just to accommodate the new concept.

Dimly, the thought crossed her mind that he had to have been thinking the same thoughts even as he woke up in that unfamiliar hospital bed; actually, it was possible that he thought them every day.

How utterly depressing. And how utterly enlightening.

The tap-tap-tap of raindrops on the roof made her shiver. At least… she thought it was the weather that made her shiver.

"Hmmph," she muttered, hands tightening over her legs. "Keep things in perspective, Kagome. He's a pervert. He's bugged at least twenty women about bearing his child." The comfortable reality snapped back for a moment, the tingly ideals she held of all of her companions reformed in her mind. But it couldn't possibly hold beneath the new fright. I don't… I don't want him to die. I don't want anyone to die. But I didn't think it was really possible up until now…

No, Miroku just wasn't the type to die. If such a thing existed.

It was with this thought firmly in mind (notgonnadie, notgonnadie) that she rose from the tub, intent on apologizing for her rude exit from the table. Kagome's hand reached for a towel…

And the lights flickered unexpectedly.

She froze.

**

"Hah! I've nearly got you!"

Miroku squinted at the screen as though it would reveal some new secret to him as to why Souta had pulled him down to a mere six hit points while the boy himself still retained a full twenty.

Nothing made itself immediately clear.

The monk sighed, ready to try the last ditch attack - distraction and destruction. His arm snaked behind the boy, ready to tap his other shoulder…

There was a fizzling sound - and a clap of thunder.

The screen blinked once.

And the undead ninja stopped moving.

"Oh man!" Souta complained loudly. "It's frozen!" He leapt up from his seat, moving for the reset button-

And the room went completely dark.

Miroku closed his eyes tightly, surprised, and then blinked furiously to adjust them. There was… a black shape here and there… perhaps a Souta-shaped blob...

A blood-curdling scream rent the air.

The priest leapt to his feet immediately, a bolt of concern going through him. Well… so he was aware that this might be his only chance ever to innocently barge in on a bathing Kagome. But that was, as they said, all in the details. Before Souta could say a word, he was rushing up the stairs, calling.

"Kagome! Kagome, are you all right?" He came to the door they'd specified as the bathroom and bit his lip, wondering if he might knock first.

"Sh-shit! Don't! Don't come in!" Miroku blinked, shocked to hear such language from the girl that had constantly admonished Inuyasha about his own cursing.

He didn't have to wait long for the door to bolt open, though. A dark, wet shape hurtled through it - and hit him dead on.

Another scream, this time much too close to his ears for comfort. Miroku held onto Kagome's thrashing form tightly, though, trying desperately to hush her as he held her by the shoulders.

"It's okay, Kagome-sama, it's just me."

The girl moaned. "Oh god, don't scare me like that! I thought…"

He finally smiled, but it wasn't visible in the darkness (no, no, don't think about the darkness…) "You thought I was the monster from under your bed?" he asked mildly. "Perhaps that I had manufactured this voice to pull you out from the bathroom and eat you?"

Miroku could feel her glare, even if he couldn't see it.

Kagome pulled an arm away from him to hitch up her towel uncomfortably. He realized this with a blink of unexpected pleasure.

But she was saying something now, just beneath her breath. As though she didn't want him to hear, but at the same time didn't want to stay quiet beneath the humiliation of his tease.

"What was that?" he asked, genuinely concerned now despite himself.

"I…" She shifted, the one arm still in his grip quivering. "I thought you might be Naraku."

He blinked.

"Ah… Kagome-sama…"

"I know!" she snapped. "I know he's five hundred years away, okay? It's just… the dark does weird things to me. I start thinking stuff that couldn't possibly be true and all kinds of silly idiociEEES!" Her voice squeaked as he slipped an arm around her comfortingly, squeezing her shoulder gently.

There was a short silence, in which she thought he might be contemplating slipping the hand lower. But… "Don't worry," he murmured cryptically. "That... happens to all of us."

Kagome blushed, and for a moment, she found herself wondering whether he was going to take advantage of the (obviously) dangerous situation. But… his hand seemed to stay put. Well. As though that weren't bad enough.

The girl found though, to her surprise, that the will to move just wasn't there. The dark was out there. But here… strangely, even though it was still dark with that hand on her shoulder, here it was warm and safe. Something inside of her muttered about having to go see a psychologist soon. When had she ever thought of Miroku as safe?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

She sighed. She still had to get dressed.

Something she really wasn't sure how she'd managed to forget in Miroku's presence. "Thanks…" Kagome said uneasily. "I'm sorry, though. About earlier. I shouldn't have gotten so angry about such a stupid thing. Besides, it's true."

He arched an eyebrow, and she wondered for a moment if it was a good thing that she was close enough to see it. "About the phobia or that there's really a monster under your bed?"

Kagome made a disgusted noise and pushed him away hard.

A gasp of pain made her curse herself a moment later.

"Ah! I am so, so, so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" She knelt beside his slumped figure, panicked. …right until she felt the questing hand on the outside of her towel… on her backside… She twitched.

A yell of a completely different sort came down the stairs then, just as Souta finished lighting the last candle his mother had told him to. He decided he didn't want to know. Besides, they were in for a long, long night. Especially without Super Undead Ninja Vampires… what a bummer.

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Next Author: Crash

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