InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bishies Without Shirts ❯ Hung out to dry ( Chapter 36 )

Chapter 36: Hung out to dry

The women could not possibly get there fast enough, and so it was that the rice gruel ended up back in the bowl, from whence it had come. When he had stopped gagging, Inuyasha carefully set the bowl back onto the tray, and called shakily into the other room,

"Oi Sesshoumaru, you can eat it now." A second later, Higurashi-san ran into the living room, carrying a large, white plastic bucket in one hand.

"Here you go, dear!"

"Too late..." he groaned wetly, before frantically grabbing the bucket out of her hands and sticking his face into it. When he resurfaced a few minutes later, he gave the woman an apologetic look.

"There's more in the bowl."

"I told you you'd have to go easy on your stomach!" she scolded. "Your brother just came into the kitchen to tell me that you gulped that entire bowl of rice gruel down in one shot! Well, I guess you were determined to make yourself sick, Inuyasha, and now you have! Congratulations!" Her anger faded, however, a moment later when his head disappeared into the bucket for a second time. When she could see his miserable face again, and was sure that her voice wouldn't be drowned out of his ears by the sounds of his own sickness, she softened her argument a touch.

"Darling, you have to take it easy. I know that you're used to being the strong and independent one, but you don't have to be today. Everyone here understands that you need to rest so that your body can heal up, with the possible exception of you, so you don't have to overdo things. Listen to me, not only is your body recovering from a very nasty shock, but I'm afraid that on top of that, you're also suffering from a hangover, and a pretty vile one at that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he groaned, clutching his stomach as what little of the rice gruel that had remained inside attacked it savagely.

"That's when you feel sick the next morning, after drinking too much the night before. That's why your head hurts, dear. Jii-chan and his 'medicine', indeed." she sighed. "It seems to have done more harm than good." Taking the bucket out of his hands, she pushed him gently onto his back and pulled the blanket up to his chest. Then glancing over at the befouled breakfast tray, she said, "I'm sorry dear, but it looks like pancakes and bacon are completely out of the question. Would you like to try some more rice gruel…or maybe some toast?" she amended when he shot her a panicked look and turned slightly green. The thought of seeing another bowl of that pasty, off-white baby food had his stomach doing somersaults.

"No." he mumbled, rolling onto his side so that he could turn his back to her and mope. "Donwanany."

"Suit yourself. But if you don't eat anything at all, I can't give you any Tylenol."

"Doncare."

"Oh fine." Higurashi-san sighed. "If you're determined to act like a martyr, then you'll just have to suffer like one. But don't complain to me later about your aches and pains! Even my patience has a limit, Inuyasha."

"Keh!"

Ignoring his little huff of indignation, Higurashi-san placed the bucket on the tray, next to the bowl, and took the entire thing into the kitchen to be rinsed out.

"I'll be back with the bucket in a few minutes, in case you feel sick again. Will you be needing anything else?" she said flatly, irritated by his behavior and unable to mask it in her voice. He wasn't sure how to respond to her tone, having already used his best retort on her, so he remained stubbornly silent until she became fed up and left the room.

After that, he dozed quietly, slipping in and out of consciousness periodically for about half an hour while the rest of the family ate without him. He'd attempted not to care, but there was one particularly galling moment when Sesshoumaru, who usually never ate very much of the ningen food at all, complimented Higurashi-san in an overly loud voice on the excellence of the bacon that morning and asked for seconds. Soon the final bites of pancake had disappeared from their plates, leaving the tantalizingly sweet aroma of syrup hanging in the air to torture the poor hanyou, and they went about the business of going out for the day. This was something for which Inuyasha was finally grateful. He sighed contently to himself as that noisy kid left for school, followed closely by the noisy old man. Some of the pressure seemed to ease from his aching head and shoulder at their departure, and he found himself wishing that Sesshoumaru had a job or school to go to as well, even if he wasn't particularly noisy, because then when Higurashi-san finally left to help her father at the shrine, he and Kagome would be alone inside an empty, blissfully silent house. Even if he wasn't feeling up to any 'strenuous physical activity', it would be heavenly to lay his throbbing head in her lap, drinking in her lovely, soothing scent and letting it wash over him while she stroked his hair and played with his ears.

Speaking of which… he inhaled deeply. Her smell was drawing closer at that very moment. Unable to resist the delighted smile that was creeping onto his face, he turned over to see Kagome standing in the hallway, slipping on her shoes, dressed for the day in her white and green sailor fuku, with her big yellow backpack set squarely on her shoulders.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he demanded, the smile quickly dissolving into his familiar scowl.

"School, Inuyasha." she said with a frown. "I'm going to school."

"You can't go to school!" he cried, sitting up too quickly and wincing when his body reminded him why he had been lying down in the first place.

"Not only can I, but I have to koiishi. I've already missed half the week!"

"Hey, I got hurt last night protecting you!" he reminded her angrily, trying to keep the whine out of his voice. "You have to stay home and care for me."

"Inuyasha, my mother will stay home and care for you, she doesn't have a chemistry lab today…" she muttered as she turned her back on him and headed for the kitchen.

"Kagome!" he called after her furiously. "You can't do this! You're my mate! You're not doing what mates are supposed to do! It's my job to protect you, and you take care of me! I did my part, now you get your ass back here and do your job! And bring me some Tylenol! I think my head just cracked from all the shouting…" he moaned, applying firm pressure to both his temples.

"I said no Tylenol on an empty stomach!" Higurashi-san called back from the kitchen.

"I wasn't talking to you baba, I was talking to my woman!"

"Insulting me is not going to get you ANYTHING around here, young man!"

"Kagome! GET BACK HERE!" he shouted, ignoring Higurashi-san's warning. His only answer was the sound of the back door slamming shut.

Sesshoumaru appeared in the living room only seconds after the door closed, carrying a big pink pillow under his arm.

"Here." he said, tossing the pillow to Inuyasha, "It's from her bed. As humorous as it is to watch, I thought that in your present condition, I'd spare you the trouble of having to look for the wench beneath the sofa this morning."

"You're too kind." Inuyasha sneered evilly up at the older youkai.

"Your gratitude is very touching, oto-chan. Now stop whining like a child and let me rest in peace." Heaving an exhausted sigh, Sesshoumaru sat down in the over-stuffed chair adjacent to the sofa, where he'd spent the entire night watching his brother sleep.

"Hey, I'm the one who's wounded, asshole!" Inuyasha whined, trying to defend himself, but only succeeding in proving Sesshoumaru's point. "If anyone has a right to complain, it's me."

"Mmm. Your wounds can not be so grievous, or else your mate would not have left your side… Or is this customary behavior for your woman, brother?" he asked, causing Inuyasha to flinch inwardly. Sesshoumaru's remark had touched upon one of his own fears.

"Don't be ridiculous. You were there last night! You heard what she said, she takes care of me like this all the time. She's just confused. It's because we're here in her own village, that's why she's acting all stupid." he argued, but whether he was trying to convince Sesshoumaru or himself was uncertain. For his part, Sesshoumaru favored his hanyou half-brother with a tight, ironic smile and a raised eyebrow.

"I wasn't aware that you remembered anything from last night, Inuyasha."

"Of course I do." he grumbled softly. "And that reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask you… Why did you come last night? Not that I needed it," he covered quickly, "I'm perfectly capable of fighting my own battles… but why did you help m-, uh, us?"

"I've told you before whelp. I will be the one to kill you, and no one else. How could I live with the shame, knowing that one of Chichi-ue's sons had been killed in the street like a beggar, by a group of delinquent ningen brats, no less."

"That's so comforting." Inuyasha muttered. "Really, your brotherly love is awe-inspiring, nii-chan."

"You're welcome. Now shut up and go to sleep." Sesshoumaru commanded, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes. "I was having the most pleasant dream before you started all your howling…"

"About your dead woman?" Inuyasha asked bluntly.

"You are in no position to speak of dead lovers, I believe." Sesshoumaru breathed softly, his eyes remaining closed. "More than once during the course of last night, you muttered a name in your drunken stupor that bore no resemblance to "Kagome."

"Well look at that…you can say her name properly, you stubborn bastard…"

"You're changing the subject."

"You're damn right I am."

"Is that why you were so anxious to mate with the wench? Did you hope to lose yourself in her body? Did you think it would make you forget? You'll never forget, oto-chan. You have been cursed." Then silently, in his own head, Sesshoumaru added 'Just as I have been…'

"Are you telling me?" Inuyasha snorted incredulously. "That's a laugh! Don't you think I already know it?! I dream about Kikyo almost every night, but let me assure you that those dreams are a far cry from the pleasant ones you claim to have about your dead woman. My guess is that you never saw hatred reflected back at yourself through Tsukikage's eyes, and that she never killed you." Sesshoumaru nodded his head sagely.

"You do have an unfortunate taste in women, as I have mentioned before. They seem to have no respect for you."

"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly choose either of them, it was more like they chose me. And as for respect…" he sighed deeply, a thousand troubled thoughts and images assaulting his heart and mind at once. He saw Kikyo's face, the cold hatred and betrayal in her eyes a split second before she sealed him to the tree. He saw Kagome's face, mirroring those same emotions on the day she had discovered he and Kikyo together in the forest, their lips merged together in what had been a rather brief and cold, yet none the less passionate kiss. He didn't kid himself by pretending that he was a good person, but having been with both of the women who had shared his heart, both then and now, had made him long to be so. Yet, in the end, he always managed to destroy whatever small happiness he was granted in his life. He wondered how long he'd be allowed to have happiness with Kagome. All he could hope to do was hold fast to this all to brief shining moment before his luck ran out again and everything turned to shit. It suddenly occurred to him at that moment that even if they somehow managed to maintain a love spanning five centuries, the day would come, and all too soon for him, that he would lose her forever. And then? Then he'd just go on, never really aging, never dying, and living well beyond the point where his heart had ceased to live. He wondered if this was what had created the icy coldness in his brother's heart, manifesting itself in his hateful, murderous tendencies. If he were to lose Kagome, what sort of monster might he become? For that briefest of instances, Inuyasha came frighteningly close to understanding Sesshoumaru.

"I've made a lot of mistakes." Inuyasha sighed softly to himself. "I'm not sure I deserve their respect."

"Well, when you're right, you're right. Now go to sleep." And just like that, it was gone.

"Hey, asshole!" he snarled, "You're not supposed to agree with me!"

"What do you want me to do, lie? You're a pathetic brat. Accept this fact and your life will begin to make more sense to you. Now for the love of Kami, please stop running your mouth."

"Asshole."

"Whelp."

"Bastard."

"Nooo…my parents were properly wed. You're the bastard, remember?"

"Shithead."

"Infant."

"Ice Queen!"

"Hanyou."

"ouch….fluffy…"

"What was that?"