InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages ❯ A Small History Lesson ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, or Miroku. There, I think that should cover it. After all, what other characters would someone believe I'd actually want to claim ownership of? One of the girls? *laughs*

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Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages

Chapter Seven

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"Oh, that poor dear! What do you suppose happened to him?"

"What a scoundrel! I bet that hanyou had something to do with hurting him!"

"No! Should we call the police?"

"Maybe we shouldn't. What if he gets angry and attacks us?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at all the not-so-quiet whispering going on around him as he toted Miroku's limp body through the café, heading straight for the counter so he could dump his unwanted burden. Each old lady he passed either pulled away from him in horror or got daring and whacked him with her purse. One had the nerve to actually feel him up.

Reaching his goal, Inuyasha dropped him into a chair and called out to whoever might be working that day. "Oi! Someone get out here and take care of your boss! He's not my problem anymore!"

A moment later Kagome trailed into the room holding Rin's hand. "Inuyasha! Couldn't you have gone around to the back instead of waltzing through the front door? You probably scared these poor ladies to death!"

"Feh. They didn't seem all that scared to me." He rubbed a sore spot on his arm and fleetingly wondered if one of the old hags was carrying bricks in her purse.

Kagome politely apologized anyway for the disturbance before settling down at one of the tables closest to the counter. A moment later someone finally emerged from the back.

"Took you long enough." Inuyasha grumbled to Shippo. "Don't you care about your boss at all? If he dies, you won't have a job."

Shippo ignored Inuyasha and instead smiled broadly at Kagome in greeting, his kitsune tail swaying happily. Only sixteen, he worked at the café during the day on weekends and in the evenings during the week. All the ladies loved him as though he was one of their own grandchildren.

"Hello, Shippo!" Kagome smiled warmly at him, giving Inuyasha a little stab of jealousy. He knew very well that the kitsune boy had a crush on her although she was four years older, so the affectionate way she tended to talk to him didn't set very well at all.

"Kagome! I didn't know you were planning on coming by today!" Shippo shot a glare at Inuyasha. "What are you doing with that jerk?"

Kagome lightly kicked Inuyasha's leg under the table when he started to growl. "Actually, I'm here with Inuyasha and-" She stopped and stared blankly at the empty seat next to her. "Uh, where did Rin go?"

A small giggle was heard from a few tables away, and everyone turned to see a small group of women that seemed intent on smothering Rin's small form. She was enjoying the attention, though, so Kagome decided to just leave her where she was for a while.

"Anyway…" She turned back to Shippo. "I'm here with Inuyasha and Rin, that little girl over there. She's going to be staying with Inuyasha for a while! Can you believe it?"

With wide eyes, the kitsune looked back and forth between Rin and the grumpy hanyou sitting at the small table in front of him. "You're joking, right? He can't even take care of himself properly! Last night he actually called Miroku wanting him to give him a j-"

"Can we order something to eat sometime this century?" Inuyasha interrupted him hastily. The last thing he needed was for Kagome to find out about that little conversation.

Kagome just smiled dryly and decided to let Inuyasha's bad manners pass for once. She really didn't feel like seeing Shippo get knocked unconscious along with Miroku. "We are all pretty hungry! Just make sure to note on the check that it's Miroku's treat today."

Shippo sweatdropped at that, easily able to guess why this meal was going to be paid for by his boss. He opted not to say anything.

After Kagome and Inuyasha ordered, they both sat and watched Rin bask in the attention she was getting.

"She sure is cute." Kagome finally commented. "How did you end up with her? It's obvious you're not related to each other, even though she calls you her uncle."

Inuyasha took a deep breath before exhaling, trying to decide what had to be told and what he could get away with not revealing. Inuyasha was never one for talking about his past or his family to anyone and that was proving to be a hard habit to break.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure how it happened either." He finally admitted. "My brother's just got a really twisted sense of humor I guess."

"Brother?" Kagome gave him a curious look. She never knew he had a brother.

"He's not really my brother, just my half-brother. We both had different mothers and his mother was a demon along with our father. That obviously makes him a full demon."

"Don't you have anything to do with your family? You've never talked about them."

Inuyasha slumped down into his chair. "Yeah, well, I was getting to that."

"Sorry, please continue."

Inuyasha shifted uneasily at getting into such a personal conversation with Kagome, not to mention the fact that she was staring so intently at him. 'Sure, now is a great time to start acting like an idiot around her again! Pull yourself together and try to forget who you're talking to!' Easier said than done.

"When my mother was still alive, I lived with my family. But after she- after she died, I left for personal reasons. Sesshoumaru, my brother, hated me anyway for being half-human and my father and I just didn't have much to do with each other. We'd had a fight before I took off." Inuyasha chose not to elaborate too much, sticking to the basic facts. "So now my father's been dead for months, and up until yesterday I hadn't seen or talked to Sesshoumaru in over a year."

Kagome had to work really hard not to bombard him with questions. He was being so careful to leave out details and she couldn't help but feel a personal interest in his past that caused her to want to know more. Wisely though, she kept quiet and let him talk.

"I guess he has some sort of business trip or something he can't take her on, although the bastard really wasn't clear on that." His voice started to take on a sarcastic edge. "For all I know he could be off vacationing in Hawaii right now, although knowing him, he probably wouldn't know what a lounge chair was even if it bit him on the a-."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome resisted the temptation to laugh and instead tried to look stern. "Could you please just stick to the subject?"

The hayou looked rather sheepish as he continued. "Anyway, to make a long story short, Sesshoumaru pops up out of the blue, offers me a job, and walks out of my apartment after I refuse to hear him out."

"He left, just like that?" Kagome couldn't help but say something now. "But how did you end up with her if he didn't push the subject?"

"He left her sitting in my bedroom. So now I'm stuck with a little kid and I don't have a clue what to do with her!"

Laughing, Kagome patted him on the arm. "Don't worry about it, children are fun! I'm sure you'll enjoy having her around once you get used to her. And I'll even help you if you'd like!"

Inuyasha stared at Kagome, unsure of what to say. "You'd really do that?" His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest and he was sure she must be able to hear it. He wanted to be happy about it, but… 'Does she really mean it, or is she just doing it because she thinks I'm so pathetic?'

Kagome noticed the insecure look on his face. He was acting like a child who was afraid that if he tried to take the piece of candy someone was holding out to them, then it would suddenly be snatched away.

'Whatever happened in his past with his family must have really hurt him. No wonder he doesn't seem to be all that ready to trust someone to stick around and help him.'

"I swear I'll help you Inuyasha." Kagome stated firmly. She even reached out to pat one of his hands reassuringly. "I'd never abandon one of my friends when they need help."

For once, Inuyasha actually had to fight the urge to smile.

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~*~*~*~*~*~

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'Damn you, Kagome!' Inuyasha wanted to shout out loud. 'Where the heck are you? I thought you said you weren't gonna abandon me!'

The hanyou was sitting and glowering at the little girl seated before him on the floor of his apartment while she looked back at him expectantly. It was obvious from her look that she was waiting for something, but Inuyasha wasn't making a single move.

"You're supposed to sit on the floor, not on the couch." Rin helpfully suggested.

Inuyasha stubbornly crossed his arms and didn't budge an inch.

The day was growing late since the group had eaten lunch at Miroku's humble little café, and now Inuyasha once again found himself alone with the 'runt' as he now so affectionately called her. Kagome had run off, promising to be back as soon as she finished a personal errand and help him put Rin to bed for the night.

"Come on, Uncle Inu! We don't have all night!" Rin reached out and tugged on the leg of his jeans insistently.

"For the last time, I'm not gonna do it!" He declared forcefully, hoping she'd give up and leave him alone. "Can't you think of some other game to play? ALONE?"

Rin sniffed lightly. "But I can't have a tea party alone! Pleeeeze, Uncle Inu?"

Inuyasha was REALLY starting to regret hiding her stupid teddy bear when she wasn't watching, but he couldn't risk letting her see it, especially after what had happened while she was in the bathroom earlier.

'Ugggh, that bear is so creepy! If I didn't know better I'd swear it was Sesshoumaru's tail with arms, legs, and a face!' Inuyasha grimaced at the thought of Sessy-poo, the pale-colored teddy bear Rin had seemed so attached to. 'Like I'd ever feel sorry that I "accidentally" slashed off one of its arms! It was staring at me and I couldn't stand it! It's not my fault that it looks like that bastard brother of mine!'

"Uncle Inu?" Rin's voice broke into his musings. "You REALLY don't know what happened to Sessy-poo?" She now looked even closer to tears than she had before when she'd found the bear missing, since her Uncle Inu wouldn't play with her.

Inuyasha cringed, feeling guilty. There was no help for it. Either he needed to come up with a good excuse, or distract her by playing with her. Could his life get any worse?

"Fine, I'll play with you, but just for a few minutes!" He dumped himself off the couch and into the floor. "But I get to drink out of the mug, and I don't want any 'cookies'! Got that, runt?"

Squealing happily and forgetting her tears, Rin let him have what he wanted along with some imaginary tea. She also kept the disks/cookies for herself.

"So how was your day today?" Rin questioned politely.

"Bad."

Rin reached out and patted his hand. "Aww, that's terrible! Would you like a cookie?" She forgot his earlier demand and held out the small plate to him.

Before he could oh-so politely refuse her offer, the front door was suddenly flung open by Kagome without warning, since he'd forgotten to lock it earlier. Using his hanyou reflexes, he was off the floor like a shot and back on the couch before she could walk in and see him actually having a tea party.

"I'm back!" Kagome cheerfully called out to both of them. "Isn't it about your bedtime, Rin?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha was rather flustered over almost getting caught, along with the fact that Kagome had just walked right into his apartment as if she belonged there. Almost as if they were *blush* MARRIED or something.

Rin was pouting over the loss of her playmate and the mention of the word bedtime. "Do I have to? I want to stay up and play with Uncle Inu!"

Kagome raised an eyebrow and looked at him questioningly. "Oh really? Dare I ask what you were playing?"

Inuyasha sank down in the couch and refused to look at her. "Nothing."

"We were having a tea party, Aunt Kagome."

Inuyasha started choking in embarrassment while Kagome laughed. The clueless girl didn't guess exactly what he was embarrassed over, though.

'AUNT Kagome? Is this kid out to totally ruin my life?' Inuyasha wished for a moment that the floor would open up and swallow him, but then changed his mind when he remembered he'd only end up in Kagome's apartment anyway.

It looked like there was no escaping the hand that fate had dealt him.

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I just have to point it out, I can't help myself! My favorite line in this whole chapter had to be the one about Sesshoumaru and the lounge chair. Although I loved the part with 'Sessy-poo' as well. Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter! Be sure to drop me a review and tell me what you think!