InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bottled Genius ❯ Inuyasha's Revenge ( Chapter 5 )

AN: Sorry if I didn't make it clear before, but this fic is an Inu/Kag romance (it doesn't look like one though does it?). But the romance sorta begins its hint in this chapter… ish… you'll just have to see for yourself.

Bottled Genius

Chapter 5

Inuyasha's Revenge

Kagome had a lot of trouble getting to sleep that night. Maybe it was because there was a mild storm going on outside, and in such an old hollow house, the sound of the rain hitting the roof was close to the sound of rumbling thunder. The window besides her was rattling timidly in its frame, and the tree a few metres from the house had extended its branches to tap incessantly against the glass every now and then.

Somehow Souta managed to sleep through the whole thing - and added to the noise with his soft snoring.

Kagome tried everything to get to sleep. She tossed, she turned, she clamped the pillow over her head, she dangled her legs off the bed, then her arms, and threw socks at Souta to get him to shut up.

But normally storms didn't bother Kagome's sleep… so she had a feeling her insomnia had something to do with a certain white-haired boy. Her brain was working overtime and as a result, she wasn't dropping off as she should be. Her hand kept scratched or rubbing against her hip thoughtfully… irritated that if she closed her eyes and tried to relax, she could still almost feel his lips burning against her.

"Dammit…" she muttered and rolled over, stuffing her hands under the pillow so that she wouldn't be tempted to rub her hip anymore. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to empty her mind completely… but instead, her head was only filled with thoughts of a very pissy, seething mad Inuyasha.

Her eyes slowly drifted open again as she stared out the window to the gently thrashing branches outside. Why had he gotten so mad at her wish? He'd said himself that he couldn't control how wishes were granted - she'd made that fourth wish to try and control them… but he'd gotten so mad at her…

Her intention had only been to get any future wishes granted more to her taste than they had previously been granted. That was all. He seemed to have trouble keeping them from getting messed up… so she'd wanted to change that.

But the wish had gotten messed up, hadn't it? When she'd told him to kiss her ass he'd thrown himself on her.

Then he'd told her that he was going to make her life a living nightmare.

Kagome shuddered delicately and pulled the covers more tightly around her body as though she'd caught a sudden chill in the air. She'd never had anyone as angry at her as Inuyasha had been. And she somehow she had a feeling that she had yet to experience the full force of the anger he was capable of. He was kinda scary… like some mean demon with flashing eyes, teeth and claws.

With a sigh she tried to move her thoughts on to more comfortable matters, like fretting if she was going to get enough education to eventually get into a university. If she'd ever see any other teenager for the next few years trapped in the country as she was. And how she was going to get the money for Souta's operation to stop him snoring.

She settled down and submitted herself to a long sleepless night.

^_^

"Morning Panda girl." Souta chirped cheerfully the next morning when Kagome sat down heavily at the breakfast table. She just grumbled a cave woman reply and pulled a bowl and a box of breakfast cereal towards her.

"Didn't you get any sleep last night." Her mother stroked her hair affectionately.

Kagome grunted another response, followed by a yawn. Translation: 'no I did not, mother dear'.

"Poor thing." Mrs Higurashi sighed and moved off to fetch her a glass of milk. "I think it was a traumatic day for all of us yesterday."

Kagome remembered vividly being thrown to the floor by an insanely strong, angry, dog-eared boy. Yes… definitely a traumatic day…

"Why don't you go talk to the head mistress?" Souta pointed out round a mouth of cornflakes. "Obviously there's been a mistake - Kagome could never beat up twelve nuts by herself. You could try and reapply her."

"I don't think so." Mrs Higurashi said with a little angry frown. "That school is corrupt to house hooligans like those boys. And blind and stupid if they think our Kagome - a hard working student - could be one of those little cretins. Kagome's better off being home-schooled from now on."

"Can I be home-schooled?!" Souta asked excitedly.

"You wouldn't like it." Kagome spoke for the first time that morning, her eyes still hooded and dark. "You don't get any human contact save for your tutor."

Mrs Higurashi looked at her watch. "You better get moving young man if you don't want to be late on your third day." She set his lunch down next to him and he bore a kiss from her before heading for the door.

Just as he was about to move out of it, he looked back at Kagome and laughed. "On your second day…" he snickered and toddled off.

"What's so funny?" Kagome poked her cornflakes around her bowl until they were soggy and inedible.

Grandpa, who had been sitting quietly at the table reading his paper suddenly chuckled. When Kagome shot him an inquisitive look, he passed her the newspaper and pointed to an article on page eight… "Kung Fu crazy chick, busts two dozen boys in school playground… what on earth…?"

"Looks like you made it into the paper." Grandpa chortled.

Kagome scowled as she read on. "A transfer student from Central Tokyo yesterday disrupted the peace of our local comprehensive school… blah, blah, blah… Kagome Higurashi, 15, started a fight with two dozen Boys… and proceeded to use an obscure form of martial art combat to… I don't believe this… broken arms, legs and noses abound?!"

Mrs Higurashi took the paper and frowned as she read it. "Since when did you learn how to do scissors kicks?"

"It's a mistake - it was some other… girl… who beat up those boys."

"Unless you've been watching one too many martial art flics recently." Grandpa pointed out. She gave him a dry look that clearly told him what she thought of that idea.

"No matter." Mrs Higurashi dumped the paper in the bin, despite her father's protests of 'I was reading that!'. "We have a new tutor for you coming next week. He'll be here four times a week for three hours."

"That's… not a lot." Kagome blinked in surprise.

"Well, it's one on one tuition, just you and the teacher so you can get more attention and help than you used to in a class full of forty other kids." Mrs Higurashi explained as she cleared away Souta's breakfast bowl. "So naturally you don't need as much time with him."

Maybe getting out of that school hadn't been such a bad idea after all…? Kagome mentally shook her head and scowled down at her breakfast. That didn't make it right for Inuyasha to screw her up like this. It was the principle of the matter - he shouldn't have gone and granted the wish like that… even though he may not have complete control over it…

With a sigh Kagome set her spoon down and stood up. "I'm going to go for a walk."

"Do you really need to?" her mother looked over at her pleadingly. "It's just that I have so many chores to do around the house - go shopping and Grandpa has to mend the central heating - you couldn't help us out for a while could you?"

"Sure." Kagome gave them a smile.

"Good - well since the central heating isn't working, it's going to get pretty cold tonight so could you get some firewood from the garage and dry it out for the fire in the living room?" Her mother smiled as Kagome sagged slightly. "Oh don't look at me like that - we all have to help out around the house if we want to earn our keep."

"Exactly." Grandpa chipped in.

"What about Souta? What does he do?" Kagome asked, just for argument's sake.

"He goes to school unlike some people." He mother pointed out of the kitchen window. "You know how to use the axe out there, right?"

^_^

"Stupid house… stupid Souta… Stupid, stupid Inuyasha…!" she grumbled as she carried four small logs out of the barn they called a garage. She dropped them on the accumulating pile beside a smooth tree stump and stomped back to get some more, she could only carry about four logs each trip. It would take even longer to carry them all into the house.

Her family better appreciate all this work - and if Grandpa fixed the central heating by that night, she would be very put out that her efforts would have been wasted.

She dropped the last of the logs into the pile and reached out to pull the axe out of the stump… only to have her hand close on nothing but air… the axe was gone. Kagome froze in surprise… she was very sure that she'd seen it there before her last trip to the garage.

She looked around quickly and gave a flinched dramatically when her eyes fell on Inuyasha a short distance off. She'd not noticed him before, and for some reason she seemed even more startled… and nervous… to have him pop out of no where this time. She tried to gather her scattered wits, aware that her hands were trembling ever so slightly. "Oh… h-hello…" she tried to smile weakly, but failed somewhat. It was hard to smile genuinely at someone who was glaring stonily at you whilst bouncing an axe in their hands. What did he plan to do with it…?

Kagome flinched again, unnecessary when he stood, hopping out of the hammock he had previously been sitting in that had been strung up between two tree trunks at the edge of the woods with the river. For a moment the back yard was very still, really the only movement was the cold breeze that blew around them gently. Kagome barely noticed the chill to her exposed legs… not when she was receiving a colder stare from Inuyasha.

He started towards her, slowly but surely, and Kagome had to fight the urge to step back in anxiety. She wasn't really scared… just incredibly nervous and positive that she didn't want to spark off the anger she'd seen the previous day.

He drew a halt a few feet before her. His height towered over hers, intimidating her and subduing her without any conscious effort. Her hands clasped together before her chest and she opened her mouth to try and stammer out some excuse to leave, or for him to leave… she couldn't tear her eyes away from his.

Suddenly his smiled pleasantly and held up the axe. "Do you want me to do the chopping?" he asked amiably.

Kagome's mouth hung slightly open. It was quite a while before she spoke. "You what?"

"It's just that I doubt you've ever used one of these things - and with your noodle arms I reckon you'd take all day." Trust him to turn a kind offer into some kind of insult.

"Oh. And so you have done this before?" her nervousness was leaving her slowly as she begun to realise he was in a somewhat lighter mood than before. Maybe Inuyasha wasn't the type of person to hold grudges…

Yeah, right.

"Of course I've done this before. You think I've lived five centuries for nothing?"

"Well… weren't you sleeping most of that time - and when you weren't sleeping you were busy granting wishes to people? Did you even have the time or the need to chop wood?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes." Was his simple answer.

Kagome opened her mouth to refuse his offer, before stopping herself. Why was she refusing his help again? She knew jack about chopping wood, and most likely she'd hurt herself like chop her hand off… so best let him do it. "Ok…" she said slowly. "Thank you…" she moved off to the hammock he'd previously been sitting in and pulled herself into the netted, swinging bed to watch him.

For a moment she saw him glance between the axe in his left hand and the talons on his right. Then he looked back at her, smiled again when he saw her watching him, then turned back, holding the axe firmly in his hand to begin her chores.

There was something odd about this… What had happened to that threat of 'I'll make your life a living nightmare'? Why was he being so nice and helpful today?

She narrowed her eyes slightly as she tried to suss out what it was exactly that he was planning. He was half turned towards her, giving her a sideways view of his profile. He wasn't smirking or glaring in anger - the only two emotions she had seen him possess over the past few days. He was just… working… with a similar expression to hers when she did multiplication in the maths. He bent and picked up one log easily in one hand and set it on the tree stump.

He hefted the axe in his hand and drew over his shoulder, pausing a moment before swinging and cutting it in a perfect half - but the axe kept moving until it had gone in a complete circle and it was swinging down towards the log. Kagome blinked and missed most of it - but the end result was a log cut into four equal pieces. Her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise… not many people could handle an axe like that…

He knocked the sliced up pieces into a separate pile with the axe and moved to pick up a second log - double swinging again and letting the four new slats fall into the new pile that was fast accumulating beside him. Kagome just watched in awe - she'd seen wood chopping before - but not this fast. Soon he'd run out of logs…

He got halfway through the pile before he suddenly stopped and let the log drop on the ground. Kagome lifted her head to ask what the matter was - but quickly clamped her lips shut when she noticed he was taking the dark, worn out haori off. He cast it a short distance away and picked the axe back up, working better without his sleeves getting in the way.

Kagome was appreciative… now that she got an ample view of his chest through the gap in his kimono. She physically slapped herself for that sneaky thought… well… lightly on the nose. She scowled as she chased the unwanted thoughts from her head… but…

Glancing back up at Inuyasha, her scowl fading slowly as she watched him heft the axe yet again and bring it down twice in fast succession on the unfortunate log. She could appreciate a good looking guy… that didn't mean she necessarily liked him as a person. She just liked his pretty face. After all… it was quite rare to find someone in her age group as nice looking as him. It was allowed to ogle, right?

The hair and the ears puzzled her… she'd wondered at first if that was something all Wishbringers had… but obviously that had offended him when she'd mentioned her thoughts. He'd basically said he was the only one with such attributes… but then why was he the only one? If anything, it made him more canine in appearance… wolfish… if doggish sounded a little insulting and scruffy. Though he was a bit scruffy. That pure coloured hair looked like it hadn't seen a brush in a long time… even from here she could tell it was a coarse texture without even needing to touch it. Though it had potential to be otherwise…

She sighed and once more tried to shake her thoughts off ideas of persuading him to use Pantene Pro V or something like that… maybe Herbal Essences would do the trick…? This time she successful managed to stop thinking about his hair… instead she started thinking about other parts of his body.

He was lucky… to have such clear skin, a high forehead and cheekbones that marked him with a more masculine face… cheekbones any higher and he would have looked feminine (like a certain brother who shall remain nameless in this fic). A straight nose, crinkled slightly at the moment with concentration on precision. A strong jaw and neck that seemed to create the perfect balance between natural grace and concealed strength. Broad shoulders that were drawn back proudly and confidently at all times, she noticed this when he straightened for a moment to look at the pile of wood slats that were creating a small mountain at his side. Shoulders that maybe looked they'd been carrying the weight of the world for a long time… yet they hadn't sagged just yet. She would have liked to know what those weights could be…

"Do you always stare at people shamelessly when you think they're not looking?" he said, startling her out of her examination. He looked back at her and she locked gazes with those incredible amber orbs.

"Yes." She answered simply, seeing his eyes widen in slightly surprise at the boldness of her reply, but he quickly covered it with a short 'keh' and a sneer before getting back on with the chore. She sat up in the hammock, careful to balance her weight so she wouldn't fall out. "I want to know what you're planning."

"Who? Me?" he waved a hand in dismissal. "Nothin'."

"You're planning something - why else would you be offering to do my chores for me?" she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Only because I don't want you to ask me to kiss your ass again. The reason I left so abruptly yesterday was because I was in a rush to wash my mouth out with acid." This was punctuated by the sound of wood splintering.

Yep… his body may have been nice and athletic, but his personality stunk. Maybe if he'd had a personality like a boy named Hojo back in her old school… maybe she would have felt more attracted to him… but as it stood? She found the axe in his hand more tempting to take on a date.

"You're not a nice person - oh don't look so shocked - you know it too! You're planning something horrid! Now what is it! Tell me!" she demanded.

The axe lowered in his hand until the end was resting scantily on the ground. "I swear to you on my life as a Wishbringer that I am not planning anything against you." He told her… something about that blank expression seemed more earnest than anything else he'd said. She was willing to believe him… for now…

"Then what was with the 'I'll make your life I living hell' thing yesterday?" she questioned.

"I didn't say that." He told her shortly.

"Yes you did!" she scowled. "I remember."

"Obviously you remember wrong - because I said I'd make it a living nightmare - not hell." He replied haughtily. "Actually."

"But… you're not mad at me anymore are you?" she asked carefully. "That I made that wish…?"

"Oh no." he scoffed and shrugged. "Why would I be mad that you took away my dignity and my oral hygiene on top of humiliating me. I'm not mad at all."

Kagome bit her lip. Even she'd noted the sarcasm layered over that, nice and thick. "You are, aren't you…"

He made a vague shrug and bent to pick up another log. "Maybe…"

"What did I wish for… exactly?" she asked, hopping out of the hammock. "I only intended to sort out the problem of wishes… but I don't think it worked did it?"

He gave a harsh bark of a laugh with his back still turned to her. "Ya think?"

"So tell me what happened."

He kept his back turned to her and spoke as he carried on working. "You told me to obey you. Listen to you and be nothing but honest with you. That I had to do exactly as you said instead of going off with my own ideas."

"I only meant… whilst you granted my wishes."

The log splintered in front of him. "Yeah well it didn't grant the way you wanted. Now I have to obey your every command. It's not just when it concerns wishes…"

"Oh… so when I told you to kiss my ass…"

"I had no choice." He rather suddenly swung the axe down and wedged it into the tree stump to turn to her. He didn't look so amiable any more. "You really are a stupid little girl, to make wishes like that without realising. Do you have any idea what you've done to me?!"

"I have a name - use it!" she snapped.

"Kagome." His mouth had blurted the word without his own approval it seemed and suddenly his fists clenched and he bared his teeth at her. "Bitch - don't order me around like that!"

Kagome folded her arms and turned away from him abruptly in equal anger. "Maybe this will teach you for screwing up my education so far."

There was a loud crack behind her and she turned sharply to see the axe skidding across the ground, having just been kicked out of the stump by Inuyasha. She gulped slightly, noticing how close the axe had skidded to her feet.

"I don't need your punishment bitch!"

"Stop calling me bitch!"

"Rat faced twit with grass for brains!"

Kagome's jaw clenched and her brow twitched lower. "You know what - you deserve being turned into a lap-dog - it seems the only treatment for such an out of control ugly boy like you!"

"What did you say?!" he exploded. "I am not a lap-dog!"

"Well you are now - so get used to it!" she snapped harshly.

"YOU LITTLE-"

"And lower your voice!"

He bit down on the rest of his angry tirade and steeled himself. "You little cow. I hate you!" he hissed.

"Tell me you like me."

"I like you." He ground out. "I like you when you're clueless about wishes! You're taking advantage of me!"

"Hardly. I haven't made you walk off a cliff yet." She told him, admitting to herself that it was fun bossing him around like this.

"Maybe I'd walk off a cliff of my own free will, just to get away from you." He sneered.

Ah… he was too smart to allow her to get the last word.

"Inuyasha…" she said slowly. "Go take a jump off that bridge over there." She pointed towards the river.

He glared at her a moment, before storming off in the direction of the trees, brushing past her heavily so she staggered. It was worth it though when he disappeared into the woods and a few moments later a loud splash could be heard. She laughed and waved. "Consider this your punishment for messing up my wishes - along with everyone else you've had as a master!"

She turned, intending to head back to the house, but she bumped into a rather wet person the moment she did so. She jumped back slightly, opening her mouth to cry out in surprise - but Inuyasha grabbed a hold of her arms roughly and leaned in close. Any cry died in her throat as she trembled slightly in his grip. No orders of witty comments found the connection between her brain and her mouth…

"I never meant to mess them up!" he all but yelled in her face. Kagome was acutely away of how close he was, and of the water that was soaking from his hands onto the sleeves of her shirt. "I never wanted to hurt anyone! I never wanted to kill Kikyo! I never wanted to kill her father - or any of the fucking Buddhist priests Oda Nobunaga had me slaughter! I had no choice - it's what I am! It's my curse! You're punishing me for my punishment! I don't need your crap when I still have my own to deal with!"

"What-"

But the grip of his strong fingers on her arms disappeared, milliseconds before he also disappeared in a rather loud explosion of scarlet smoke that had her gagging for air and her eyes watering. It was only a few moments before the breeze brushed away the smoke and she could see again… she could also see that Inuyasha was gone.

"Inuyasha - come back here!" she yelled to the empty yard. "What did you mean by that punishment thing! What curse?! I order you to come back and face me!"

But wherever he was, he wasn't listening to her anymore. She stood, breathing hard for a few moments, once more aware that she'd angered him more than she should have and he'd left her in a huff. This angered her more than made her feel guilty and she clenched her hair as she let out a sound that sounded like a squashed scream. "YOU ARE INFURIATING YOU OLD FART!!" she yelled.

"What was that Kagome?" Grandpa popped his head out of a window two floors up.

"Not you Grandpa!" she yelled to him and stomped off to the garage to get a bag to gather the wood Inuyasha had so helpfully cut and quartered for her. Anyone watching her could have sworn she had smoke pouring out her ears.

^_^

That was a start to what was probably about to be one of the worst days of her life. Possibly a little worse than yesterday, but not as bad as tomorrow or the day after. After collecting the wood in a big blue Ikea bag she had then had to stack it up beside the fire place in the living room for it to dry off properly. Not a horrible task in itself… but as she'd done it, she'd been forced to listen to a radio report about some crazy girl who'd kicked off a fight yesterday at school. And she wasn't quite tall enough to reach up to the shelf it was on and turn it off.

Obviously not a lot happened in this town if the only interesting thing that happened was a girl getting expelled from school.

In the end she'd lobbed a shaft at the radio, causing it to tip forward off its shelf and fall on the sofa below, losing the signal in the process.

"Hey - I was listening to that!" her mother called from the kitchen.

"Sorry!" Kagome called back, though irritation was edging on her tone.

She finished stacking the wood and stomped off to her bedroom, trying to find some solace and keep her mind off of Inuyasha. She didn't want to see his angry, beautiful face in her mind. And she didn't want to think about whatever secrets he was hiding. So she stuck her nose in a history book and learnt some rather boring facts about when indoor plumbing had been introduced into society. She wasn't really keen on this… but anything to keep her mind occupied.

Then the hammering had started downstairs. Grandpa 'fixing' the central heating unity apparently. She growled in frustration and slapped her book down onto her desk as she swept towards the door to slam it shut in an effort to block out the noise. But the walls were practically paper thin and the noise wasn't muffled much.

She tried to concentrate on her reading but found it near impossible with the incessant banging going on. After a few minutes it seemed like the hammer was banging in her head.

Kagome was beginning to get a headache.

Then the noise had stopped and she looked up for a moment, as if finding it hard to believe the torment was over. She settled down, enjoying her few moments of quiet.

The sound of running feet down the hall alerted her to a visitor and she scowled as she looked up - the door slammed open rather rudely and Souta burst in carrying a shoe box. "Alright!" he shouted. "What did you do with Bessie?!"

"With who?!" Kagome snapped back.

"Bessie! My frog!" Souta yelled. "I left her in the box this morning - but I just got back and she was gone!"

"So - maybe she learnt to hop away - frogs do that!" Kagome turned away from him, pointedly putting her back to him and blocking him. He didn't take the hint as he ran around her other side.

"The lid was on and the elastic band was around it - she couldn't have escaped by herself! Someone let her out - it was you wasn't it!"

"I didn't even know you had a stupid frog!" she turned away from him again in her chair. "Get lost already!"

"I'll tell Mom you're wrecking my stuff!" he threatened.

"I'll tell Mom you're keeping Frogs in the back bedroom - not to mention frog spawn and minnows!" Kagome shot at him.

"So you DID know I had frogs!" He jabbed a finger at her back. "I knew it! You let Bessie out!"

"GET - OUT!" she roared, sending him shooting out the door, leaving it wide open in his wake.

Kagome threw down her book on top of her desk and went to slam it after him, unleashing all her anger and energy as the door crashed into its frame and rebounded straight back. She slammed it a second time, her anger only rising instead of being sated.

Then the hammer had started up again downstairs.

"I hate this house!" she yelled over the din. "I hate this place! Is it too much to wish for some peace and quiet for once!"

Almost instantly she clapped a hand over her mouth and looked around her, waiting for the Wishbringer to pop out and grant another flash decision wish. Nothing happened… then she remembered… Inuyasha wasn't talking to her or listening to her… so there was a good chance he hadn't heard that last comment… not that it had really been much of a solid wish. More like wishful thinking.

The hammer stopped downstairs… but she didn't know how long that would last. Almost gloomily, she grabbed a different book from the shelf and flopped down onto her bed to catch up on some reaching.

For the rest of the afternoon, her mood began to lift as she read. Inuyasha temporarily left her troubled mind and Grandpa's hammer didn't disturb her anymore. The house was unusually quiet. She toyed with the thought that maybe Inuyasha had granted her wish after all and done it right for a change. But she hadn't heard him say 'As you wish' so there wasn't much chance of that happening. He hadn't even been listening to her wish anyway.

Kagome turned the page of the old book, and caught a sudden tickle of dust in her nose. She lifted her hand to her nose as the sneeze accumulated, before her whole body spasmed as it sprang lose. She'd felt it reverberate through her chest and airways… but she hadn't heard it. Normally she made very loud sneezes, or small ones that sounded like a snort. That had definitely been a loud one… but she hadn't heard it.

She sat up suddenly, acutely aware of the bed springs straining beneath her weight. They always squeaked and groaned… but she heard nothing.

"Hello?" she said rather urgently, or at least tried to say. She didn't even feel her vocal chords vibrate with her voice - she'd said nothing and she'd heard no gasp of air. She clapped her hands - she felt her palms slap together in what should have created sound - but the air around her seemed very still.

She tried to speak again - tried to say her name - but the only thing she felt come out was a rush of air. Her hand deliberately reached out to tip her book onto the floor. It landed with a silent thud, she felt the impact through the bed, and saw the small puff of dust that rose up.

I'm deaf… I can't speak… I'm deaf!!! She mentally screamed. She tried to vocalise that scream, but once more she felt nothing but a gasp of air.

She stumbled off the bed to her desk and desperately pushed everything off it onto the floor, in a last ditch attempt to make some noise - but nothing reached her. She continually tried to scream 'hello' but she still felt no voice leave her throat. Panic welled up inside her as she ran for the door and began slamming it back and forth in its frame, but its noise fell on her deaf ears and she was beginning to feel breathless sobs rise up inside her. Tears leaked from her eyes as she went on slamming the doors, waiting for her ears to just pop and sound to return. She sobbed… but without a voice, it hurt her throat.

Something hit the back of her head and she whipped around suddenly, a hand flying to the place a pen had hit her and fixing wide, terrified eyes on Inuyasha. She couldn't hear it, but she could see he was laughing and holding up a jotter that he'd written on.

The words were, 'As you wish'.

AN: I can't imagine anything worse than being deaf… apart from being blind maybe… or both. Anyway, next chapter will be up soon - so you're allowed to hold you breath (if you can hold it for forty eight hours or so).