InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bishies Without Shirts ❯ Guess who's coming to dinner? ( Chapter 26 )

Chapter 26: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

"I knew it." Inuyasha growled under his breath.

"Behave yourself, dog boy!" Kagome whispered back as she plastered a huge smile on her face and ran down the stairs to greet her friends. "Yuka! Eri-chan! What a surprise…" she laughed before shooting Ayumi a dirty look behind their backs.

Ayumi leaned in and whispered "I'm sorry, Kagome-chan! They were at my house when you called!" Kagome favored the girl with a tiny smile and shrugged. What real difference did it make anyway? Inuyasha was going to have to meet them all eventually…this way he'd be able to get it over with in one shot. She turned back to see her friends practically drooling over Sesshoumaru, who didn't look as if he minded nearly as much as he should have. Yes, tonight her friends would finally meet Inuyasha, but first she'd have to get rid of Mr. tall, dark and inhuman.

"Introduce us to your adorable boyfriend, Kagome-chan!" Eri squealed.

"He's so tall!"

"And look at all that hair!"

"Oh, I love that shirt!"

"He must be a real tough. How did you lose your arm? In a motorcycle accident, I'll bet!"

"You're so lucky, Kagome-chan." Yuka whispered loudly. Sesshoumaru stood under the girls' adoring scrutiny, his mood fluctuating between annoyed and amused at any given moment. They were very loud and very stupid, but he had to admit that they had good taste. What made him smile, however, was the low sound of growling that was coming from the staircase as the girls fawned over him and congratulated the wegome on her excellent choice in men.

"No, no guys!" Kagome interrupted the second she could get a word in edgewise. "This isn't my boyfriend! This is Sesshoumaru. He's my boyfriend's older half-brother. He's visiting, too. He's sort of a friend of the family, and he was just leaving, weren't you, Sesshoumaru?"

"Dragonball Z is on." he explained. Then, without another word, he turned and left the room.

"He's going to watch cartoons with your little brother? That's so sweet!" Ayumi cooed, hugging her arms.

"Are you sure he's not the one?" Eri teased, peeking to get a good look at Sesshoumaru's backside in his tight jeans as he left the room. "That hair is too much! And the way he dresses! Was that a feather boa?"

"Uh, fur." Kagome gulped.

"So unusual…is he taken?" Yuka sighed.

"Guys, he's WAY to old for us! I can't believe you even thought he was my boyfriend!"

"Well, you said you wanted us to come over and meet your guy, and he was the first guy we saw. What else were we supposed to think?" Ayumi reasoned.

"I'm dying here, Kagome-chan!" Yuka burst out suddenly, her words escaping her mouth like a torrent of water that had been held back for too long. "Where is he?"

"Is he as cute as his brother?" Eri sighed, sneaking another peek into the living room.

'Oh no!' Kagome thought to herself in a mild panic. 'The girls were so involved with Sesshoumaru that I completely forgot to introduce Inuyasha! He's going to be furious!'

"Uhh… I think I left him on the stairs." Kagome said lamely. "Hold on, I'll go get him." She found him sitting on the top step, playing with Buyo in the same manner that he always did; Grabbing the poor cat by either front leg and singing softly under his breath while he made him dance on his hind legs. No matter how many times she had seen it, she always found this play to be unbelievably sweet and innocent, ignoring entirely the fact that it had bred a deep-seated fear and hatred of Inuyasha in Buyo.

"Inuyasha!" she called softly. "Please stop torturing the cat and come here."

"What the hell do you need me for? Sesshoumaru's so kawaii!!!" he mocked, raising his voice into a high falsetto that Kagome found immensely disturbing. "Oh, Sesshoumaru, look at his hair! Look, he's missing body parts! Oooo, look at that tight ass in those tight pants!"

"I'm sorry! Please come down, you promised you would!" When he ignored her, she changed tactics. "How am I supposed to show them how much cuter you are if you don't come down?"

"I don't know…" he sighed uncertainly. "My jeans aren't nearly as tight as Sesshoumaru's." She stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was being serious, until his face broke and the shifty grin appeared. She couldn't help but smile back at him, despite herself.

"Ok, smart ass, get down here!" she ordered. Releasing his death grip on the cat, who ran for cover the instant he was free, Inuyasha walked halfway down the stairs, to meet her in the middle.

"Please be good." She pleaded, taking his hands into her own. "And try to keep your hands in your pockets, those claws are scary."

"I will." he promised reluctantly as she dragged him down the stairs.

"Ok you guys, this is it!" she called ahead of her as they walked hand in hand into the kitchen. The mind-numbing chatter of the teenage girls ceased instantly as the new target of their scrutiny entered the room. "Girls, this is Inuyasha. Inuyasha, this is Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi. These are my best friends." Inuyasha bowed his head slightly, then stared silently at the girls. The girls stared back at him, smiling like idiots. When they didn't explode into squeals and start listing his many wonderful attributes after a few seconds, he started to get angry and scowled at them, which ironically did the trick and started them giggling again.

"Kawaii! Look at that little puppy face!" Yuka whispered to Ayumi, which made Inuyasha's scowl turn into a glare. What the hell?! That same girl had just said that Sesshoumaru looked tough! He was the one who looked tough! Sesshoumaru was the one who looked like a girl.

"You're tall too, though not as tall…"

"You can really see the family resemblance, just look at that hair and those eyes!"

"Do you have all your parts?" Eri teased, winking at him indecently. Kagome turned a lovely shade of crimson, but that was nothing compared to the fire-engine red she turned when Inuyasha answered sullenly,

"All the parts that count." and set them off tittering again. Desperate to change the subject, Kagome began to think out loud.

"Hmm, Souta and Sesshoumaru are watching television in the living room, so why don't we all just sit down in the dining room? I can get some chips and soda."

"Good idea, Kagome-chan!" Eri prompted. "Why don't you do that, and leave Inuyasha here so that we can get to know him a little better."

"Uh, not just yet!" Kagome said quickly. "I'll, um, need his help to bring everything in here! Come on, Inuyasha!" she said quickly before Eri could come up with another argument. Inuyasha followed right on her heels, essentially fleeing the room. As they left, Eri made a show of fanning her face and pulling at her collar, which sent the other two into hysterics. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Kagome was searching through cabinets while berating her hanyou.

"What is wrong with you?" she scolded once she was sure they were out of earshot. "You're not even trying to be friendly! Would it kill you to smile?"

"I can't!" he whispered back sharply.

"Oh really? Would you care to tell me why?" Rolling his eyes like he thought she was the biggest imbecile in the entire world, Inuyasha flashed her a toothy grin. In fact, the grin was a little too toothy for Kagome's comfort, especially the two long, gleaming canine fangs that stuck out on either side.

"Oh…" Kagome muttered, embarrassed. "I hadn't thought about that."

"Yeah, well, it's a good thing one of us did."

"Well, just give them that smart ass grin you're always giving me. At least it's a smile." Kagome instructed as she handed him two large bottles of Coke, one for each arm. "Let's get back in there, they're waiting."

"I don't think they like me." he complained.

"Don't be paranoid!" she hissed back as they returned to the dining room. As they walked in, they found that the girls had already claimed their spots, kneeling around the table. The way they had positioned themselves forced Kagome to sit apart from Inuyasha, and put Inuyasha in between Yuka and Eri, a dangerous place to be if ever there was one. After giggling for a few minutes at their own cleverness, Eri turned to speak to Inuyasha.

"So, Inuyasha." she said pleasantly, "Where are you from?"

"I live not too far from here, actually." he answered, trying to keep his voice from shaking or reverting to the overly gruff, defensive tone he normally used when backed into a corner.

"Really? Kagome-chan says you don't go to school around here, and I know I've never seen you in our school. I wouldn't have forgotten that incredible hair of yours." Eri said, flirting mercilessly.

"Ah, I don't go to school anymore." he stated simply.

"You don't? How old are you?" Kagome shot him a panicked glance from across the table.

"Uhh…seventeen?" he answered hesitantly. He looked at Kagome for approval, and she gave him a slight nod.

"Shouldn't you be in high school then?" Not knowing what a high school was, let alone whether or not he should be in one, Inuyasha's eyes sought Kagome's face imploringly.

"He didn't take the entrance exams." Kagome supplied helpfully. "School's not really his thing."

"No, school's not really my thing." Inuyasha parroted.

"Oohh…." the girls chorused.

"What is your 'thing'?" Ayumi asked curiously.

"He works…at a…shrine! That's how we met." Kagome said, suddenly inspired.

"Wow! That's so adorable." Ayumi sighed. "I bet you look cute in those old-fashioned robes, Inuyasha."

"I think so." Kagome said quietly, sending a loving smile down the table to her koibito.

"So, Inuyasha, huh? That's an unusual name. Where did you get it?" Yuka asked before popping a potato chip into her mouth.

"My mother and father." Inuyasha said slowly, now certain that these girls were complete idiots.

"No!" Yuka laughed. It was a high, screeching sound that hurt his ears slightly. "I mean where did they get it? Is it a family name?"

"Yes." he said simply, not wishing to elaborate and not sure what he would say even if he wanted to.

"Why 'dog demon'?" Eri asked. Inuyasha shrugged.

"Why 'killing perfection' (Sesshoumaru)? I don't know. I never thought to ask."

"Well, next time you see them, you might want to ask them. Then you can let us know. About both names." she added.

"I doubt that. They're both dead."

"Oh!" the three girls exclaimed sadly.

"Poor thing!"

"An orphan!"

"Gomen nasi, Inuyasha."

"Don't worry about it. It happened when I was four or five, I think. I barely remember either one of them." he lied.

"So, does that mean you were raised by your big brother?" Ayumi asked. Inuyasha forced himself to nod, instead of doing what he'd rather do, and punch a hole in the floor.

"No wonder he's so good with Souta, Kagome-chan!" Yuka whispered excitedly.

"How DID he lose an arm?" Ayumi asked.

"I-" Inuyasha began, before looking at Kagome who was shaking her head violently and giving him the eye. "He had an accident."

"Was it a motorcycle accident? I was only guessing!" Yuka exclaimed. Inuyasha shrugged again.

"Sure."

"Enough about that! What I really want to know is are you two really close?" Eri asked hopefully, trying to get the lowdown on the easily six-foot-five, silver haired demi-god that was sitting in the living room watching anime.

"No. He's an asshole." Inuyasha grumbled.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome hissed from across the table.

"What? He is. Don't defend him again."

"I'm sorry." Eri said sympathetically, placing her hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "I didn't mean to upset you or make you feel uncomfortable. Let's change the subject."

"Sooo….Inuyasha….you like the Yankees?" Yuka said, noticing the hat. Kagome cringed and prepared for the coming disaster.

"Not really." he said, completely unfazed. "Sesshoumaru's really the baseball fan. I'm just happy that Hideki Matsui is playing on an American team." To say that Kagome was shocked would be an understatement. It was more along the lines of her eyes popping out of her head and her jaw hitting the table simultaneously. While the other girls began to talk amongst themselves about the many physical merits of athletes, Inuyasha turned his head slightly to look at Kagome and favored her with a small, smug grin. She couldn't help but grin right back. After that, the rest of the visit was a complete success. Her friends found Inuyasha to be absolutely adorable, and they seemed to like it especially when he scowled at them.

Once their cartoon was over, Sesshoumaru and Souta, as good as their word, left the living room and went quietly back upstairs. At least, Sesshoumaru was quiet. Souta had a lot to say in an overly loud, dramatic voice about the destruction of Majin Buu. A few seconds after they left, Higurashi-san shooed the teens into the living room so that she could start setting the table for dinner. As the girls went on ahead, Kagome hung back in the dining room a moment and grabbed Inuyasha's hand to keep him with her.

"Inuyasha, you were amazing!" she said, throwing her arms around him in a great big, warm hug.

"That remains to be seen." he said, returning the hug and planting a kiss on her ear for good measure.

"No, they're totally impressed!" Kagome said, putting her hands into the back pockets of his jeans and smiling up at him. "You don't have to worry at all."

"I wasn't talking about them." he said gravely, moving his hands slowly up and down her back. "I was talking about later tonight, after they leave and everyone else in the house is fast asleep…"

"Hentai…" she giggled. "Who said we were going to be doing that?"

"Hey, after having to spend an entire evening with those…" he trailed off when she frowned at him, then amended "…friends of yours, not to mention that amazing recovery over the hat, I think you owe me one."

"Sorry, Koishii, it doesn't work that way. Now let's go, or they're going to think that we're making out in here." She had released him from the embrace and started for the door when he grabbed her from behind.

"If they're going to think that anyway…" he drawled out lazily, pulling her backward into his chest. He slid his hand under the bottom of her blouse and lightly dragged his claws over the soft skin on her tummy.

"Stop! That tickles!" She squirmed gently in his arms, trying to escape his probing fingers.

"Yeah? I wonder where else you're ticklish…" he breathed into her ear, his hand turning to move north as he ran his tongue over her earlobe.

"Stop…Not now!" she protested, a bit unconvincingly, as she leaned further into his body. He turned her face to one side and slowly licked her across her entire cheek.

"Kagome-chan!" Yuka called as she reentered the dining room, then "Oops!" She giggled, starting to blush. "Sorry. We were just wondering what happened to you two." Her eyes jumped from Kagome's embarrassed face to Inuyasha's irritated one.

"We were just about to join you three." Kagome explained quickly.

"Hmm. I'm sure."

"Yuka!" Kagome scolded, blushing furiously.

"Alright, alright. Come on!" she chirped. Then when neither Kagome nor Inuyasha moved, she added "Come on you two love-birds. We're still here, don't forget!"

"Feh. Like I could." Inuyasha grumbled, and Kagome elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't mind him, Yuka. He's been sick the last two days, and I guess he's still cranky."

"I like him when he's cranky, Kagome-chan!" Yuka whispered conspiratorially. "It's so hot when he growls like that! If I was his girlfriend, I'd do things to deliberately get him mad all the time, just so he could growl at me!"

"Trust me, Yuka, it gets old pretty quickly." Kagome sighed as they entered the living room to find Eri and Ayumi already sitting on either end of the sofa.

"Here, Inuyasha. We saved you a seat!" Eri chuckled, patting the middle cushion. Inuyasha gave Kagome a pained look, which she answered with a shrug. Sighing softly to himself, he sat down between the two girls, folding his arms tightly over his chest so no part of his body would accidentally come in contact with either of them.

After a few minutes, however, he began to loosen up. The worst of the evening's conversation appeared to be over, as they seemed to no longer feel the need to interrogate him. He even began to sort of enjoy the sound of their chatter, their voices continuously overlapping so that the room was never really silent. The sound reminded him of the drone of honeybees. The girls themselves reminded him of bees as well; Fascinating to watch, but you didn't want to get too close. They talked about any number of things, from school, to food, to boys, their hair… but mostly, they talked about him, as if he weren't really sitting there on the couch in the same room. What really surprised him, however, was that he found that he didn't really mind. After all, when you got right down to it, most of what they said was very flattering, and the rest was at least well-intentioned. And it was different. Kagome never fawned all over him in such an obvious manner. It was kind of amusing, not to mention a huge ego-boost. After about half an hour, he was in such a good mood that he couldn't even pretend to be annoyed anymore. He even agreed to flex one of his arms so that they could feel the bicep, per Yuka's request, cracking a smile when they ooh'd and ahh'd over the size of his muscle. Yes, overall, he was feeling quite pleased with himself.

Unfortunately, it was right about that time that he first heard the noise.

It was a high, shrill sound that pierced the very air around him and made him instinctively flatten his ears against his head beneath the baseball cap, a grimace unconsciously working it's way onto his face.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, noticing his distress, "What's wrong?"

"That noise hurts my ears!" he grunted.

"What noise?" The four women stared at him owlishly, their conversation stopping abruptly at almost the exact same time that the sound stopped.

"That loud noise…" he stammered, confused. "That screeching…didn't you-?"

"What are you talking about, silly boy?!" Eri teased. "There wasn't any noise!"

"Maybe your ears are ringing?" Ayumi suggested. "Did you go to that 'Do as Infinity' concert the other night?" This prompted the girls to forget about Inuyasha completely as they launched into a conversation concerning their favorite musicians; who was hot, who was talented but also a slut, and so on. Inuyasha would have been perfectly content to drown back into their ceaseless chatter. After that nasty assault on his hearing, their droning would have been downright comforting. But he didn't get that opportunity, as the screeching sound was back again. He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, doing his best to ignore it and behave, despite the fact that he felt very much like he was going to vomit all over the living room floor. Then it stopped again, and he began to wonder if he was going crazy, because the girls seemed completely oblivious to it. Sure, he had overly sensitive ears, but still, how could they miss such a piercing, horrible sound? It was excruciating! What could be causing it? He didn't have long to mull over the possibilities; the noise was starting again. All told, he sat through six repetitions, each one growing louder and longer than the last, and more insistent as the intervals between them shortened. Finally, Kagome looked over at him and was startled by how sick he appeared.

"Inuyasha, are you sure you're Ok? You look pale!"

"M'ok." he muttered wetly. "S'cuse me." He bolted up the stairs in search of the bathroom, when it started again. This time it was so loud that it dropped him like a stone on the top step.

"Are you alright up there?" Kagome called up the stairs when she heard the loud thump of his body hitting the floor.

"Ahh." he called back insensibly. When the screeching had mercifully ceased, he pushed himself up onto his knees. It was up here. Whatever it was, it was up here. He stumbled down the hall to Souta's room, then threw the door open without knocking. Inside, Souta was sitting at his desk, something shiny and metallic hanging out of his mouth. Sesshoumaru was laying on his stomach on Souta's bed, one ear covered by his hand, the other stuffed against a pillow. When he saw Inuyasha's face, he dropped the pillow and started to laugh quietly to himself.

"My my, if it isn't the little ningen male?"

"What are you guys doing up here?" Inuyasha panted raggedly. "How are you making that awful noise?"

"What noise, Inu-niichan?" Souta asked a little too innocently.

"That awful screeching noise!" he barked, then clutched at his stomach as he doubled over and almost lost it. When he had regained a hold over himself, he continued. "How are you doing it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Oto-chan." Sesshoumaru said with a tiny smile. "Why don't you go back downstairs? You have company."

"Alright, very funny. Whatever you're doing, please stop! It hurts and it's making me feel sick!"

"I'm sure it doesn't hurt as much as losing a limb." Sesshoumaru said evenly, his face betraying nothing. Souta, however, cracked like a cheap glass.

"Oh Inu-niichan, I'm sorry! I didn't know it would hurt you! I was just showing Sesshou-niichan my dog whistle, and he said wouldn't it be fun to see if you could hear it from all the way downstairs, cause you're part dog and you have those super ears, you know? So I blew it and you didn't come upstairs right away, so Sesshou-niichan said that I needed to do it louder, and he covered his ears even though I couldn't hear anything at all, but he said-"

"You son of a bitch!" Inuyasha growled at Sesshoumaru.

"What's your point?" Sesshoumaru said with a smirk.

"You promised you wouldn't interfere! You PROMISED! But the thing that really pisses me off is that like an idiot, I actually believed you wouldn't! You broke your word to me, Sesshoumaru!"

"Inuyasha, don't be ridiculous. I never once left this room, nor did I bother the wegome or her insipid little followers. I have kept my promise. You, on the other hand, promised to leave me in peace, and you have failed miserably. Now get out of here before I have to ruin your nice new clothing."