InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bishies Without Shirts ❯ Pretty in Pink ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4 : Pretty in Pink

"You've got it all wrong!" Kagome said, pleading her case. "It's not THAT kind of boy! It's my cousin Jun from Yokohama. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that he's here. He's very sick, so his parents sent him here to the shrine to relax and be spiritually cleansed."

"Oh!" Eri said. "Why didn't you say so before? In that case, Kagome-chan, I insist that you at least introduce us to your cousin, and then we'll be on our merry way."

"Is he cute?" Yuka asked, giggling.

"He's my cousin!" Kagome said indignantly. "And besides that, he's eleven! But I'm afraid that you won't be able to meet him anyway…he's sick and he needs his rest."

"Oh, the poor thing!" Yuka said sadly. "Maybe we can cheer him up!" The three girls started for the stairs. Kagome darted out in front of them, blocking their path.

"Did I mention that he's also very contagious?" she said quickly.

"Really?" Eri said, looking unsure. "What's he got?"

"Ummm, Parvo!" Kagome blurted out.

"Parvo?" Ayumi said uncertainly. "Isn't that a puppy disease?"

"Well, yes, puppies do get ONE kind of Parvo, but people can get it to! In fact," Kagome said before faking a huge sneeze, "I haven't been feeling to well either, now that you mention it…" Her three friends backed away from her slowly, heading for the door.

"Well, Kagome-chan," Eri said nervously, "If it's really THAT contagious, then maybe it is a good idea if we leave your cousin alone until he feels better."

"Yes, that's probably… *Cough! Cough!, Excuse me!* …best. I'll introduce you to him another time." Kagome said, smiling and advancing on her now retreating friends.

"Of course, of course!" the girls chorused, rushing out the door. "Sayonara, Kagome-chan!" As soon as they had closed it, Kagome breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you gods!" she whispered. "Thank you! They bought it! And they left! And the boys were so quiet! Wait a minute…" Kagome suddenly felt a sliver of icy dread stab her through the heart. WHY were they being so quiet?

"Inuyasha?" she called up the stairs. No answer. She thought about calling Sesshoumaru's name, but she would have felt ridiculous doing that, so she started up the stairs instead. As she climbed, she said a silent prayer. 'Gods please let them both still be alive and the house still in one piece when I get up there.' She knocked lightly on the bathroom door, and when no one answered, she opened it a crack and peeked in. Seeing that it was unoccupied, she opened the door and quickly inspected the room. The floor was a little wet, but other than that, it was not to bad. While she was in there, she checked the medicine cabinet, and as luck would have it, she found something useful in there. 'Now where did they run off to?' she wondered. One look at the floor in the hallway gave her the answers she needed; two sets of wet footprints leading to her bedroom. 'Of course Inuyasha would go in there.' She thought. 'That's probably where he feels most comfortable.' Still, she couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect of having two full grown, rival male demons in her fuzzy, little, bubble-gum-pink bedroom. 'Everything better be exactly the way I left it!' she thought anxiously. She walked in to discover Sesshoumaru lying on her bed, facing the wall, and Inuyasha sitting on the floor, staring at Sesshoumaru's back.

"Hi." Kagome said softly, entering the room. "Are you guys feeling any better after your bath?"

"No." Inuyasha groused. "I still itch like crazy, and these pants are really small and uncomfortable, and Sesshoumaru stole the bed and -"

"Ok! Ok!" Kagome interrupted. "I get the idea! You're unhappy! Sheesh! I'm doing the best I can! I've been kind of busy trying to keep you two from being discovered!"

"Are they still here?" Inuyasha said nervously, glancing at the bedroom door.

"No, they're gone." Kagome said. "Don't worry about it, I know how to handle them. Anyway, I brought you something that might help with the itching." Inuyasha's ears perked up at the prospect.

"Yeah?" he said.

"It should." Kagome said, holding up a small, pink and white bottle. "This is calamine lotion. It's supposed to help with poison ivy, mosquito bites and chicken pox."

"I thought you said chicken pox was a HUMAN disease." Inuyasha grumbled miserably.

"I thought it was." she sighed. "And I'd still think so if you were the only one suffering right now. After all, you're half-human, don't forget."

"Feh. Like I could." he grumbled.

"Well, regardless, Sesshoumaru has been affected as well, so I guess it isn't just a human disease after all. But don't take my word for it; I'm hardly a doctor. I'm just guessing here! Now turn around." She instructed the itchy hanyou, "I'm going to put this stuff on your back, and then you can do your front."

"What about Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha said as he turned his back to her, draping his long, silver hair over one shoulder to give her full access of his back.

"Well, I'm obviously going to have to put it on him, too." Kagome said, kneeling behind him. She poured some calamine onto a cotton ball and began to rub it onto his back in long strokes, causing Inuyasha's ears to twitch in relief as the cooling lotion was applied and the itch seemed to fade away, momentarily forgotten.

"You're actually going to touch him?" Inuyasha asked, disbelieving.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome warned, but then she amended with, "Does that feel any better?"

"Yes." he admitted, the relief apparent in his voice.

"Ok, your back's done." she said, standing up. "Let me put some on Sesshoumaru, and then you can have the bottle back to do the rest of yourself." Kagome walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, looking down at Inuyasha's older brother.

"Sesshoumaru…" she whispered, placing a hand on his forehead. His hair was drenched, but she couldn't tell if it was from sweat or the bath. On the plus side, he seemed to be cooling down a bit. She opened the bottle of calamine lotion and poured some onto a clean cotton ball.

"This will soothe the rash." she said softly, swabbing his chest. He remained semi-conscious the entire time; his eyelids fluttered but never opened to look up at her. As she cared for him, she was struck by how beautiful he truly was. The soft, smooth lines of his face and body held a strange, alien beauty that somehow managed to be both masculine and feminine at the same time. It was otherworldly. She wondered, as she often did when she saw him, how someone so captivatingly beautiful could be capable of such cruelty.

"You've been doing that for an awfully long time!" Inuyasha said suddenly, breaking in on her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" She said, standing up and handing the open bottle back to Inuyasha, who immediately dipped a finger into the bottle. When he brought it out again, a shocked look appeared on his face.

"PINK?!" he gasped. "You didn't tell me this crap was pink! I'm all pink?!"

"Would you rather itch?" Kagome said testily. Inuyasha grumbled something incoherent, then began to rub the lotion on his bare chest.

"I didn't think so." Kagome said. When he was finished, she took the bottle from him, capped it, and placed it on the nightstand. Then she turned back to him and asked, "Now, do you need anything else while I'm up here?"

"I'm hungry." he grumbled.

"Alright, I'll go make you something to eat." she said.

"And I'm starting to feel dizzy." he added.

"Ok, I'll get an extra pillow and futon from the hall closet. You stay here and rest. Don't bother Sesshoumaru." She stared at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"Feh."

"I'll take that as a yes." she said, then left the room and went downstairs. Inuyasha sat silently brooding, while he stared distrustfully at his sleeping brother. Dammit, he was hungry! And why did Sesshoumaru get to lay on the bed? Just cause he got sick first? What the hell? Why did he get special treatment? Sesshoumaru tried to kill Kagome all the time! He had only attempted it once! Minutes passed and Inuyasha became more and more agitated. Where the hell was Kagome with his food? To make matters worse, the calamine lotion had begun to dry and flake off. He was starting to itch again. Well, the bottle was right over there… Inuyasha got up and walked over to the nightstand. He picked up the bottle of lotion, and as he did so, Sesshoumaru rolled over and stared at him, his face expressionless.

"It itches again." he said flatly. "Give me the bottle."

"Screw you! I got it first." Inuyasha said angrily.

"Give me the bottle, whelp." he said again, his voice becoming soft and deadly. Inuyasha scowled at him, insolently.

"Make me."

Kagome was in the kitchen, happily stirring chicken noodle soup in a pot on the stovetop, when she heard a loud crash overhead, followed by shouting and footsteps running down the upstairs hall.

"I knew it was too good to last." she sighed, turning off the stove. As she tromped up the stairs, the first thing that she noticed was her bedroom door, or rather, the gaping hole where her door should have been. By the time she reached the top step, however, she had spotted it lying on the floor in the hallway. As for the hallway itself, it was best described in one word; pink. There was pink everywhere. She followed pink footprints down the hall, stepping over what looked like the remains of Jii-chan's robe on her way, to her mother's bedroom, where there was a big, pink handprint on the door. She flung the door open to find them both mostly naked on her mother's bed. What little clothing remained was hanging off them in rags, each sliced from the other's claws. They were dripping pink from head to toe with calamine lotion, their normally snowy locks now cast in a rosy hue. Sesshoumaru was standing over his brother, his eyes glowing blood red, his one remaining hand around Inuyasha's throat. Inuyasha had both hands around Sesshoumaru's wrist, attempting to pry the fingers off of his windpipe. When the door flew open, revealing Kagome, they both froze. Kagome stood frozen herself in the doorway, her mouth hanging open. She prayed that she was dreaming when, from somewhere downstairs, the far-away sound of the front door slamming reached her ears. But then she heard the unmistakable voice of her mother calling:

"Kagome! I'm back!"