InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bottled Genius ❯ The Visitor ( Chapter 24 )

Author's Notes: Yet again, I have to ask people to stop sending me suggestions, I've already said several times that I have already plotted the story out and I don't need any help whatsoever, but still I get emails from people who just don't bother to listen. But don't worry, I can tell the difference between suggestions and people trying to predict the ending for their own amusement, believe me. Predictions are harmless (until someone gets it bang on) and I enjoy reading them but I don't want other people writing my story, thank you very much.

On a better note, I've started college now and believe me when I say you have to hit the ground running considering the work they're already laying on us. First exams are in May… which means I'll have to spend my free time studying instead of writing… but I promise I'll squeeze in the time to make new chapters as often as humanly possible.

Bottled Genius

Chapter 24

The Visitor…

"Hit me."

Kagome locked gazes with Inuyasha across the coffee table and narrowed her eyes, trying to decipher what he was thinking. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Hit me." He nodded slightly, his own eyes narrowing in challenge.

"Alright then…" she gave a soft sigh… before picking a card up from the deck on the table and slapped it before Inuyasha. "There."

He closed one eye timidly as he reached forward and pulled the card towards him, then lifted it clear of the table to peer at it dubiously. Kagome waited for his reaction. After a moment both eyes popped open and he glanced up at her. "How much is a Jack worth again?"

She sighed. How many times had they gone over this? "One or eleven."

He snapped his fingers angrily. "Damn. I'm out then."

Kagome smiled and set down her cards. "Wanna play another game?"

"Nah, I'm tired of losing blackjack… let's do some more arm wrestling."

"No, my arm still hurts from the last time." She groaned slightly as she fell backwards and lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

A beat of silence passed.

"He could be coming down the road this very minute…" Kagome said quietly.

She could just feel Inuyasha roll his eyes. "I very much doubt that."

Kagome pushed herself back into her sitting position to shoot Inuyasha a sceptical look. "So when's he coming?"

"I don't know!" he snapped.

Kagome blew out a heavy sigh and rolled her head back to gaze up at the ceiling again. Maybe it wasn't best to talk about the First anymore… it seemed a very touchy subject all around. Even she didn't like talking about it… but only because it was an edgy reminder that at any moment now, Inuyasha could be leaving her for good…

She hoped Inuyasha was grouchy for the same reason… though she hated the fact that if these really were their last few days together, all they would have done was bicker and snap at one another. Not the pleasant memories she'd wish to carry for the rest of her life…

Deciding she'd just about had enough of thinking about depressing things, Kagome decided to turn her mind to other things that had been bothering. One namely being Miroku.

Inuyasha glanced up at her warily as she suddenly stood up from the coffee table and walked over to the living room window to gaze outside. "What are you doing? Waiting for him to come trundling down the road?" he asked shortly.

"Actually I was wondering something about Miroku…" Kagome said distantly.

He quickly hopped to his feet and padded over to the window beside her. "Wondering? About what exactly?"

"Well…" Kagome tilted her head and scratched behind her ear. "You know when you said there was a rule about Wishbringers not being able to leave their masters for more than two days?"

"Yes…?" he answered slowly, not catching her drift. They both had their focus beyond the window, watching Miroku sitting on the wall beside the gateway into the drive… he wasn't doing much… probably chewing gum maybe.

"Well, it mustn't apply to ninth generation Wishbringers." Kagome said at last.

"Of course it must. It applies to everyone." He argued.

"Then… how long has Miroku been here, waiting for the first with us?" Kagome asked.

"Three and a half da… oh." He finally saw what she meant.

Kagome made a gesture of triumph. "See what I mean? Miroku's been here for three and a half days, day and night, so either he's breaking one of the rules or…"

"His master is here?" Inuyasha filled in for her.

"Exactly."

They both fell quiet as they pondered the very same, obvious question. Who was his master then?

As they watched a new figure walked onto the scene in front of the house. Sango. A dawning smile of realisation spread across Kagome's face as she observed the mechanic girl heading towards the wall where Miroku sat. Inuyasha remained obliviously staring. As they watched, Sango stopped beside Miroku and pulled herself up to sit beside him, offering him something from her hand which was probably some sort of snack. After an exchange of a few words Miroku wound up slapping himself.

Inuyasha snorted with laughter as Sango could be seen elbowing him in the ribs before mooching off again, sans one snack. Kagome watched, completely bewildered. "Why does he keep doing that?"

"What, slapping himself?" Inuyasha sniggered. "Dunno, but it's damn entertaining."

"Sadist."

"I know."

Kagome folded her arms with a smile. "But at least we now know who Miroku's master is."

"We do?"

Kagome turned slowly and blinked at him. "You can't be that blind…"

~*~

The second warning that the First was coming came the very next morning; when the phone rang.

"Can someone get that?" Mrs Higurashi called from the laundry room where she was stuck doing her ironing. "Dad?!"

Grandpa, who was currently burying his nose in the Sunday paper merely twitched the pages at the kitchen table. "Kagome, get the phone, dear!"

Kagome pulled a face from her position on the sofa. "Souta! Phone!"

"Buyo! Phone!" echoed the response from somewhere else in the house. Kagome frowned. "Souta - we don't have that cat anymore and it wouldn't be able to answer the phone even if we did!"

"Oh!" came his response. "Inuyasha! Get the phone!"

The Hanyou groaned faintly from his position of being sprawled beneath Kagome's feet in front of the sofa. "No!" he yelled back shortly.

Mrs Higurashi was getting desperate and the phone was still ringing as insistently as ever. "Someone, please, my hands are tied down!" she called again.

Kagome took pity. "Gramps! Answer the phone!"

"Souta, phone!"

"Kagome, phone!"

"Inuyasha-"

"No need to yell, I'm right here!" he shouted back, scowling towards the Tv set.

There was a faint sigh from Mrs Higurashi as she put down her iron carefully and pattered off towards the kitchen to pick up the phone that still rung shrilly just a few feet away from Grandpa's head. She lifted it her ear. "Hello?"

Over in the living room Inuyasha and Kagome had broken out into another squabble. "Get your feet out of my face!" he batted at her sock clad toes.

"You get your face out of my feet." She ignored him and continued to swing her feet carelessly around, succeeding in kicking his ears a few times.

"They stink!"

"You stink!"

"Liar!"

"No, you're the liar!" she giggled as he grabbed both feet in his hands and tried to drag her off the sofa. She grabbed the backrest with both hands, her giggling evolving into fully fledged laughter. His tugging caused the sofa to scoot forward a little bit and even he found himself dissolving into laughter as he braced one foot against the piece of furniture and attempted to wrench her out of her grip. "You're feet are cold!" he complained, but he was still laughing.

"You're hands are too warm!" she writhed against the sofa, trying to twist out of his fingers, except by now all her laughing was making her breathless and winded… she could barely keep a hold of the backrest anymore.

"Kagome?"

At the sound of her mother's call Inuyasha released her feet and rolled back onto his side to continue watching Tv. The laughter faded in her throat and she looked up towards the living room doorway. "Yes, Mom?"

"It's for you, dear."

Kagome ran a hand through her hair to set it straight again and picked herself up off the sofa to head for the kitchen, not forgetting to give Inuyasha a playfully pathetic kick in the backside as she passed him. She rolled her eyes at his loud cry of "Abuse! That's abuse!".

In the kitchen she took the phone off her mother and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, Kagome."

She didn't recognise the voice at all. "Uh…?"

"Listen, I know you want to ship your family out of the house before I arrive so this is just a heads up so you have the time, but you better be quick. My flight's getting in at half past one exactly and I'll arrive there by three. I'd be there sooner but the traffic's going to be bad and my cab driver's going to be Swedish and slow, but there you go."

"Uh…" Kagome repeated.

"Oh, and a small favour? Could you ask Miroku or Inuyasha to get me some of those Cadbury chocolate fingers? They're my favourite."

"Uh…"

"Thanks."

"Uh…" She wasn't coming up with anything intelligent so far if 'uh' was all she could say. Then something horrible occurred to her. "How do you know about Inuyasha and Miroku?" she asked warily.

The voice answered her question with one of his own. "Well, who do you think this is?"

Kagome swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. "The First?"

"See, I knew you were a smart girl."

"Uh…"

"Well, you better go tell the Hanyou, I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to hear I'm coming. See ya!"

"W-Wait a minute!" she started suddenly and clutched the phone with both hands. "What are you go-"

The dead buzzing sound cut her off and she realised the First had disconnected already. She listened blankly for a few moments before remembering where she was and set the phone back in its cradle. Her Grandpa glanced up at last from his paper "Who was that, Kagome?"

"Uh…" she wracked her brains for something wittier to say. "Friend. From the old school."

"Oh." Grandpa went back to his paper. His limit of ten words for the morning used up. He probably wouldn't speak until after lunch now, or if someone asked about a legend. Kagome turned, still worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, and headed back for the living room. Inuyasha was still sprawled out on his side watching the box, listening attentively to some documentary and how they made Curly Fries.

"Inuyasha?" she called tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"That was the First just on the phone." She said slowly. Inuyasha seemed to stiffen before rolling onto his back lazily to look at her.

"You what?" he frowned slightly probably not sure he heard her correctly.

"The First. He was just on the phone. Said he'd be here by three this afternoon." She repeated the information, but even she had doubts that this was for real.

"He did?"

"Yes."

"On the phone? Just now?"

"Yes."

He pushed himself upright, his eyes narrowing further. "Seriously."

"Yes!" she nodded emphatically.

He blinked and stared at her. "Well… what did he sound like?"

"Like…" Kagome pulled a face as she tried to remember vaguely. "Like… I don't know."

"It was a guy right?"

"Probably…" She shrugged. "Could have been a girl. Bit of a gender neutral voice… like Michael Jackson I think…"

"The First sounds like 'Michael Jackson'?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. She shrugged helplessly again. "And he's going to be here by the afternoon?" she nodded again. "Well… better get your folks out of the way then?"

~*~

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us honey?" Mrs Higurashi called as she was practically frog-marched out of the house to the cab by her daughter. "Grandma would really like to see you again."

"I think I'll stay here, someone needs to pay the car mechanic after all." Kagome released her mother's arm as they reached the vehicle and handed her mother's suitcase over to the driver. Grandpa was already inside while Souta was busy fetching a jar of frog-spawn from his room to smuggle into his bag.

"You sure?" Her mother looked sympathetic. "I thought you couldn't wait for a chance to go back to the city."

"Well…" Kagome fumbled for an excuse. "I could go back… but then Inuyasha would be all alone and then he'd start chewing furniture and whimpering at all hours of the night."

A knowing look dawned in her mother's eye. Kagome wasn't sure where that came from. "Ah… I see, you want to spend some alone time with Inuyasha." Mrs Higurashi smiled at her.

"N-not alone." Kagome quickly denied. "I mean, Sango's still around… and Inuyasha's friend, Miroku is practically living here now."

"True." Her mother contemplated. "It seems like we take in waifs and strays like some kind of animal pound…"

Souta's stomping footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs in the house. Mrs Higurashi looked up to beckon him over as he came out the front door with his bags and a suspicious looking bulge under his sweater. "Come on young man, let's get you loaded up. Kiss your sister goodbye."

Souta attempted to hurry past Kagome, blowing a kiss into the air. "Bye, sis!"

"Hold it!" Kagome hooked him around the collar and dragged him back. "You call that a kiss?"

He squirmed in her grip. "No - what are you doing-?!"

Kagome grinned as she placed one big, loud, wet kiss on his cheek. "That'll teach you!" she laughed as he tore himself out of her arms and wiped his face repeatedly with his sleeve.

"I'll never be clean again." He shuddered as he hopped into the back of the cab with Grandpa (still reading the Sunday newspaper from that morning).

Mrs Higurashi turned and gave her daughter one last affectionate embrace and a slightly more delicate kiss on the cheek than Kagome had given Souta. "I'll see you when we get back on Wednesday. Will you last that long without us?"

Kagome smiled and hugged her mother harder. "I'll survive." She liked embracing her mother… she always smelt the same. A wonderful mixture of washing powder and some perfume that she'd always worn since Kagome was a little girl. Kagome could pick out her mother's gentle scent from a crowd of millions…

Mrs Higurashi stepped back and ran a hand along her arm as she took a few paces towards the cab. "Take care now. No wild parties. No boys. No alcohol and no sex. Got that?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Got it."

Her mother got into the back and shut the door behind her. As the driver started up the engine she wound the window down. "I mean it. No sex. Not before any weddings at least."

Now that was just embarrassing. Kagome could feel her face heat up. "Mom… just go already!"

Mrs Higurashi waved cheerfully. "Bye Inuyasha! Tell your friend Miroku goodbye as well! See you all Wednesday!"

Kagome waved them off as the car rolled out of the drive and stayed waving until it was out of sight down the road behind the trees. She sighed heavily and allowed her smile to slip slightly. Honestly… her family was probably safer away from her and Inuyasha round about now. She turned and blinked in surprise when she realised Inuyasha was sat on the porch steps, regarding her with a strangely mild expression.

She graced him with a genuine smile as she walked back towards the porch and sat down next to him… admittedly, closer than was really necessary… but hey, Inuyasha smelled almost twice as good as her mother any day. "You look unusually calm." She told him. "What drug did you take?"

"None whatsoever." He said shortly, but with a rueful smile.

"So you aren't scared anymore?" she asked.

"Well, I figured anyone who likes these," he held up a blue packet of chocolate fingers in his hand, "They can't be all that bad…"

"What are these things anyway?" Kagome took the packet off him and turned it over in her hands and staring at it as if she had x-ray vision and could see through the packaging.

"They're like little sticks of biscuit or wafer coated in chocolate." He licked his lips. "I originally got two packets."

"What happened to the other packet?"

He patted his stomach. Kagome made a knowing sound. "Oh…"

They lapsed back into silence, both staring off in the direction the cab had driven off in. Eventually Inuyasha tilted his head towards Kagome. "You're Grandma's gonna have a hell of a shock when they turn up on her doorstep out of the blue."

"They think she's expecting them." Kagome wrinkled her brow with a frown. "I hope she doesn't send them back."

~*~

Half past two came around and the anxiety in the house was mounting by the minute. Kagome had given up on Inuyasha, he was too restless and pent-up to talk to safely. So she decided that Sango was probably thirsty from all her work, so she took out a can of coke and a sandwich.

"Oh you shouldn't have." Sango said as she spotted Kagome approaching the garage with the food and drink, but in truth she was smiling and looked pretty grateful.

"I figured all that fixing was exhausting." Kagome reasoned with a shrug as she handed the plate and can over and sat down on a stack of unused bricks piled against the garage wall. She cracked open her own can of soda that she'd brought along.

It was a moment before she realised that Sango was watching her closely. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing." Sango took a bite of her sandwich. "I just noticed that everyone around here is pretty tense lately… well, everyone except the three that just left. Your knuckles have gone white."

Kagome looked down quickly and realised she'd been gripping the edge of the bricks too tightly. "Oh… sorry…"

"It's because the First is coming isn't it?" Sango said so casually that it took Kagome a few moments to really process what she'd said.

"Sorry?"

"I would have thought you'd have figured it out by now." Sango smiled and took a sip of soda. "I'm Miroku's master."

"I had my suspicions…" Kagome admitted sheepishly. "Bit of a coincidence how you both ended up here though-"

"Oh no. Miroku talked me into staying around here to fix your Grandfather's car… just so he could stick around too." Sango told her. "I decided I owed him one at least…"

"You owe him?" Kagome tilted her head.

Sango smiled slightly, obviously thinking something good. "Well when I found Miroku in that empty paint tin, my little brother had leukaemia… and he wasn't recovering at all."

"Oh." Kagome brought a hand over her mouth in shock. "I'm sorry…"

"No, it's alright. Because the first wish I used was to cure him of his illness… it was a miracle. He recovered overnight, literally, the doctors were completely stumped." Sango finished off her sandwich. "So I really do owe Miroku a lot… except sometimes he can be a little beyond my control."

"I got that feeling as well." Kagome confided in her. "When I first found Inuyasha, he was so reckless and wild… he'd beat up on the other kids in my school and do really mean tricks on me… he was so out of control it wasn't funny."

"Seems tame enough to me now." Sango commented.

"Well that's because Wishbringers are like puppies. You have to be firm with them but entertain them as well otherwise they'll just walk all over you." Kagome said wisely. "I like to think I've housetrained Inuyasha very well by now."

Sango looked thoughtfully off into space. "I wonder if that would work with Miroku."

"You really have a problem with him?" Kagome asked. "He seemed ok to me."

"Oh, it's not that. It's just that he goes chasing after every short skirt and pretty face he sees, it's embarrassing." The mechanic ran a hand over her face as though weary.

Kagome smiled and patted her compassionately on the shoulder. "Tell you what, when all this is over I'll give you a few tips on how to handle your Wishbringer. I've picked up quite a few."

Sango smiled slightly. "You sound confident that we'll both still have our Wishbringers after this."

Kagome hopped down from the pile of bricks and brushed off the seat of her jeans. "I have to be." She replied simply and was about to leave when she turned back to Sango with a odd expression. "Can I ask you something, Sango?"

"Of course."

"Did… Has Miroku ever mentioned a curse of any kind?" Kagome asked quietly.

Sango looked up as if trying to remember. "Uh… no, I don't think so."

"You don't have any problems with your wishes? Like, do they go wrong sometimes?"

"Well I've only made two wishes so far… they both turned out fine, thanks." Sango cocked her head. "Why?"

"Oh… nothing…" Kagome shook her head with a smile. "Just curious. But you wouldn't happen to know if Miroku mentioned anything about how to set a Wishbringer free, did he?"

Sango suddenly sighed. "We had a lengthy talk about that. Apparently there's no way. I asked, we argued, but he's adamant that there is only one way to free a Wishbringer from its fate…"

Kagome's breath caught in her throat. "What is it?"

Sango shrugged a little sadly. "To die."

Another hope crushed. Kagome schooled her expression to keep her worry and disappointment from showing. "Oh… never mind then." She turned and headed off to find Inuyasha.

She didn't notice Sango watching her walk away with sympathetic eyes.

~*~

Kagome found him around the front of the house with Miroku… both waiting semi-patiently on the porch. Between them sat a box of opened chocolate fingers… half of them had been consumed. Nervous Wishbringers resorting to compulsive eating… Hmm…

"What time is it?" she asked as she neared the porch.

"Um…" Inuyasha glanced up at the position of the sun. "We have ten minutes."

Kagome wedged herself between the two Wishbringers and pulled the chocolates onto her lap. Glancing between the pair she could practically feel the tension crackling through the air like electricity… and she was sitting right in the middle of it.

"Maybe I should get you two some valium…?"

"Maybe you should get some yourself." Was Inuyasha's slightly hostile reply.

There was that feeling of cracking a joke at a funeral again…

Time to try and lighten the situation at least. She cleared her throat. "I love these things, you know." She picked one of the chocolate sticks up and examined it in front of her. "Just the right size to… pop in your mouth and suck on."

There was a sharp slapping sound and Kagome glanced up at Miroku to find him nursing his cheek. Inuyasha was shaking slightly, a hand pressed to his mouth probably trying to suppress his laughter.

She shrugged and began crunching on the end of the chocolate finger. She offered one to Inuyasha. "You want to suck on one too?"

Miroku continued slapping himself silly.

Inuyasha sighed and moved the box from her lap. "We have to save some for the First, right? You'll gobble them all up before he arrives."

"Says you who's just eaten a packet and a half." She pointed out. "Hypocrite - and you - stop slapping yourself!"

"I can't help it!" Miroku protested. "Will someone please sit on my hands?"

"Why, so you can grope their ass?" Inuyasha asked slyly.

This only incurred another series of slaps. Kagome just shook her head in bewilderment and looked between them. "For higher beings, you're both pretty idiotic."

Inuyasha suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shh!"

"Don't 'shh' me!" she tried to snap hotly against his hand… only it came out more of a muffled protest. Either way he probably understood perfectly well.

"Don't you hear that?" he asked them.

Miroku and Kagome stilled long enough to open their ears to the air around them. But no matter how hard Kagome strained, all she heard was the surrounding whisper of forest trees and melodious little bird songs among those branches. Somewhere behind her she could hear Sango tinkering with the engine, occasionally letting out a distant sounding curse as her efforts failed (well it was a very broken car).

Kagome pried Inuyasha's hand off her mouth. "I don't hear anything unusual." She said quietly as if she were in a library.

"I don't hear anything either." Miroku agreed.

"Well that's because you're both deaf." Inuyasha retorted curtly. "It sounds like a car engine."

Kagome glanced at her watch. "It's almost three o'clock…"

"Could be the First." Nodded Miroku.

In fact they were all pretty much certain that this was the First… arriving at last. Kagome felt Inuyasha tense up beside her, and just to reassure him she reached out and folded his hand beneath hers, interlocking their fingers. She felt a warm rush when his hand squeezed back… it was all the reassurance she needed back.

"Isn't anyone going to hold my hand?" Miroku asked dryly.

Kagome shuffled a little closer to Inuyasha who in turn glared at Miroku, a silent warning to keep his distance. The former human sighed and went back to watching the road. He was probably just as anxious as Inuyasha at that point.

"We'll be ok." Kagome tried to sound optimistic and confident. But she thought that she came off as weak and watery instead. Well, at least Inuyasha was there to hold her hand.

For the next few minutes nothing stirred on the road, and Kagome began to wonder if Inuyasha's ears were beginning to play tricks on him in his old age. There was no sign of the First… and she sorta hoped that it had been a hoax call or something.

But those fragile little hopes shattered when a distant humming sound merged into existence. Kagome glanced around for a moment, trying to discern which direction the noise was coming from, and only until it grew louder and more motor-engine-ish did she realise it was coming from the opposite direction to which her family had left in.

"Here we go…" Miroku muttered darkly as the roar of the engine grew so close that it could only be a few metres out of sight.

It was only a few seconds before the vehicle rounded the corner, a streak of yellow against the backdrop of green forest foliage. The trio on the porch followed the taxi's progress as it shot down the road towards them, doing at least eighty miles per hour. But even as it neared it didn't seem to be slowing down.

Kagome chewed her lip anxiously, maybe it wasn't their taxi after all?

But alas, no sooner had that desperate thought flashed through her head than the wheels of the cab screeched and the vehicle came to a screaming halt right in front of their driveway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Inuyasha grimace… she didn't blame him.

The grand entrance was here at last…

AN: Cliff-hanger? Yep. Sorry. But I'll update as soon as I can.