InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Close Quarters ❯ Insomnia ( Chapter 21 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: Thank you for the reviews; I can tell some of you are pretty worried about the current situation the characters are in.

Edited 4/20/07

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She was so tired, but she couldn't sleep. Her body called out for rest, but her brain was busy churning in a sea of its own questions. She didn't know if it was because she had been lying there for so long but she couldn't find a comfortable position. She tossed and turned hoping to find an angle that would help her drift off, but it was only agitating her. Inuyasha had suggested she sleep with him, but she couldn't accept. After everything that had happened, she wasn't ready to get into bed with him again.

He asked her to marry him. If she wasn't pregnant, would he rescind the offer? She didn't know why she was worried about this-she knew it wasn't a good idea to get married so quickly-but something inside her had cried out with joy when he asked her. Getting married because you're pregnant is wrong; she knew this. She didn't want to trap Inuyasha in marriage because of the consequences of one night. She couldn't imagine what she would tell her mother; but still, the fact that he asked made her happy.

`And what about his parents?' It was so sudden; a fresh thought that had never entered her mind before. She had never even met his family, and yet she might be carrying his child. What would his mother say? What would his father say? What would they think of her?

They would almost certainly think that she had trapped him; tricked him into marrying her by getting pregnant. This would be front page news for sure. They were already the talk of Japan because of Inuyasha's success and her odd professional and personal relationship with him. If she was pregnant and they got married, it would be everywhere. The fact that he came from a powerful family would only pour gasoline onto the fire. But she didn't have to marry him; she could just have their baby…

`Oh, yes, Kagome, have his baby out of wedlock; that'll make everything so much better!'

It would be such a scandal; both of their reputations would be ruined. This would shed such a bad light on their families and companies. The worse thing would be to let her child grow up at the center of all that.

Her covers were tangled around her in a knot, and the bottom sheet had pulled away from the mattress. It was clear that unless she drugged herself, she wasn't getting any sleep. So she unraveled herself from the covers and made the bed up again. She moved as quietly as she could to the kitchen and headed for the medicine tray on the counter. Not even bothering to measure the amount, Kagome opened the bottle of NyQuil and took a healthy swig. She screwed her face up against the bitter taste and went to the refrigerator.

`I'll need something stronger than water to wash this taste out of my mouth.'

She decided on a can of juice and had drained over half of it by the time she got to couch. There was nothing else to do until she got sleepy, and hopefully, t.v. could take her mind off of her problems. Unfortunately, there was nothing on but news, porn, and anime. Without another thought she flipped to the nice, boring, non-sexual news.

“In other news,an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido early Sunday, with no immediate report of casualties or damage. The Japan metrological agency said that the focus of the tremor was 31 miles below the surface of the earth,off the east coast of Hokkaido,and added that there was no risk of tsunami.” The news castor put on a sorry attempt for a worried expression.

Kagome could never figure out how they did that. They changed from one expression to another without mussing an eyelash.

“They must teach them that somewhere,” she mumbled.

“Our top story tonight isthat thecountry's courtssentenced 44 people to death in 2006, the largest number in at least 26 years, amid a toughening of sentences for violent crimes. The 44 death sentences were the most since at least 1980 -- the earliest year for which statistics were available -- and brought the total number of people on Japan's death row to 94, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. It said it compiled the numbers from the nation's Supreme Court, regional high courts and district courts, as well as Ministry of Justice statistics.The higher number of capital sentences appeared to be due to a toughening of sentences out of consideration for the victims of violent crimes and their families, the Nihon Keizai said. A spate of such crimes from 2000 to 2004 also appeared to be a factor, it said. Violent crimes are relatively rare in Japan, which has one of the lowest crime rates among advanced nations. However, crime has risen steadily in recent years as the country has struggled to recover from an economic slowdown…”

“My father had something to do with that.” Kagome jumped when she heard Inuyasha's voice. He was striding over toward the couch. The room was dark, and the screen of the t.v. was the only light. It could have been her imagination, but Kagome could have sworn she saw his eyes flash gold as they caught the light. But that was all it was, a flash; it was gone in a blink.

“Why are you up?” She asked.

“I heard you moving around up here,” he said, taking a seat next to her.

“I couldn't sleep. I didn't mean to wake you; I was trying to be quiet.”

“You were, the only reason I heard you was because I wasn't asleep either.”

“You can't sleep, either?”

“It's too fucking hot in that room.” She looked at him a little closer and noticed that he did have a very light sheen of sweat covering his body. She should have noticed it sooner; it wasn't hard since he was, as usual, only wearing boxers.

“It's probably because of all that electrical junk you have. You know, it's going to overheat in there one day; and we're both going to be killed in the explosion.” This was something she said to him often. She was usually only joking, but it did have a grain of truth to it.

“Whatever…” She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the news, but then she remembered what he had said.

“What do you mean your father had something to do with all those executions?”

“My father is Minister of Justice. I know he's wanted to push for the use of the death penalty more.” He said in a very matter-of-fact manner, as if it were of little consequence to him.

“Why?” Kagome asked, trying hard to sound as shocked as she felt.

“Because he thinks we're going soft on criminals, particularly the murders.” She wasn't sure, but it looked as if Inuyasha agreed with his father.

Kagome's fears about meeting his family rose to new heights. His father sounded so -- so-- intimidating…

“Your brother, what does he do?”

“He hasn't decided which office he wants to run. The jackass thinks he's hot shit because both the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Communication and of Economy, Trade and Industry are begging him to take over when they retire; arrogant prick…”

“So, which one is he going to accept?”

“Hell if I know.” She was so nervous; she knew his family was important, but not this important. His father was having people executed for heaven's sake!

“So, what about your mother?” Her curiosity was piqued when she heard Inuyasha laugh. “What?”

“Well, I guess you could say I'm more like her.”

“What do you mean?”

“My father says she used to be a little wild.” This made Kagome smile. At least his mother didn't sound scary. But all this talking about family just brought her main worry back to the front of her mind.

“Inuyasha, what if I'm pregnant?” She couldn't keep the uncertainty and sorrow out of her voice no matter how hard she tried. He looked at her; she looked so forlorn and it tore at his heart. He took her hand and pulled her over to him to lay her head on his shoulder.

“If you are pregnant, I'll take care of you and the baby. So why are you worried?”

“I Just don't think we're ready for this. We'll have a life in our hands.”

“So you think we'll screw up?”

“I…well…I don't know.”

“I don't think you'll screw up.”

“You don't?” She must have looked very shocked because he laughed when he looked at her.

“No, I think you'll be good with kids. Do you think I'll be a bad father?”

“No,” she said hastily. “Well,” she continued, her finger tapping thoughtfully on her bottom lip, “You do need to learn to pick up after yourself. And you really should watch your mouth, children pick up on things really fast and I don't want him or her repeating you. And no violent video games, we'll follow the ratings. So if it's rated over `T' then the baby can't have it until he or she is thirteen. And we have to pay attention to what we let him or her watch on television…”

“Kagome, stop, stop!” Inuyasha looked down at her with shock and little panic. Kagome, however, looked completely innocent. And then they both started to laugh.

“See, you're already a good mother.”

“But what about your family?” He snorted at the question.

“They'll love you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, well my brother probably won't care; but I know my parents will love you. So don't worry about it.”

She felt better, much better. If he wasn't worried about his parents, then she knew she shouldn't be. She couldn't lie to herself, she still felt nervous; but it wasn't as strong as the overwhelming panic she felt before. She could feel the NyQuil kicking in and pulled away from the warmth of Inuyasha's body.

“I feel sleepy now. I think I'll go to bed,” She said, standing up.

“Me, too.” He stood up beside her as she turned the t.v. off and threw the remote back on the couch. When they both headed off, with her in front, she thought he was going to his room; but he followed her all the way into hers.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to bed,” He said, as if it was tremendously obvious.

“Um, wrong bed,” she replied, with the same obvious tone.

“You expect me to sleep in my room when it's hotter than hell in there? Besides…” He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her gently on the lips. “That's no way to treat the father of your child.” She blushed, but didn't back down.

“We don't even know if there is a child yet.”

“Well just in case there is, I don't want to be away from you.” He grinned at her, and she blushed harder.

“Fine, but we're sleeping, nothing else.”

“Okay,” He kissed her again and let her go.

Kagome crawled into bed under the cover, and Inuyasha followed behind her. When she got comfortable, she felt his arm snake around her again and pull her closer to him. It felt so natural for him to hold her like this, and she wondered before she feel asleep how she could have thought he didn't want her.

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She gave a feeble swipe at whatever it was tickling her neck. She was warm and comfortable wrapped in this heavy blanket and was having a wonderful dream about a room filled with bowls of oden; she did not want to wake up. But the tickle was laughing in her ear now, and she had to wake up. She opened her eyes and at first saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then she remembered the night before and looked over to see Inuyasha grinning at her from over her shoulder. He was still holding her the same as when they fell asleep, which meant that he was her heavy blanket.

“I have to go to work,” Kagome groaned.

“You don't have to,” He said, squeezing her tighter.

“Yes I do; and you do; too.”

“No, I don't. We could play hooky together.” He started nuzzling the back of her neck. The action almost made her lose her train of thought, and she decided it was best to get away from him if she ever wanted to get to work.

“I can't. Sango comes back today, and we have a new assignment already.” She wiggled free of his arms and stretched when she stood up.

“It took me a while to wake you up. You slept like a rock,” he said affectionately.

“The NyQuil probably did that,” She said without thinking. She was turned around so she missed the serious expression that came across Inuyasha's face.

“What NyQuil?” He asked suspiciously.

“When you heard me moving around last night, I was in the kitchen taking some NyQuil to help me sleep.” Before she could do anything else, Inuyasha had jumped to his feet and jerked her around to face him. She hadn't seen him this angry since her last date with Kouga. She had no idea what caused this, but whatever it was had Inuyasha pissed.

“Kagome, how much did you take?” He almost growled the question at her, which only served to make her more nervous. She knew Inuyasha would never hurt her, but he was still scaring her.

“I don't know exactly how much I took. I didn't measure it.” His grip on her upper arms tightened.

“You didn't measure it?”

“No. What's wrong with you?” She was looking at him like a deer caught in headlights.

“Kagome, you could be pregnant! You can't take medicine like that anymore, are you crazy?”

Suddenly she understood; and the reason for his anger was not only clear, but justified. There were certain medicines that pregnant women couldn't take without checking with a doctor first, and NyQuil was one of them.

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A/N: I have to tell you guys that the news was real; because I'm not trying to take credit for that. I searched the net for Japanese news and just wove it into the story.