InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny, Time Travelers, and a Little Baby ❯ Total Chaos! ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer : .gnihton nwo I Yeah. That's right. Read it backwards. *stupid lawyers make everything so difficult.*

Chapter 6 : Total Chaos!

Inside of the room was a bunch of cleaning supplies. Yes, that's right folks, she found the janitor's closet. She played around with the broom and dustpan. It was really fun. She could push around the dirt into a pile and play with it right there. Then she spotted the mop. `What a weird thing. Hm, what's it made of?' She grabbed hold of some of the cotton ropes that made up the mop and pulled. It fell off the wall and almost hit her in the head. `Okay, that was too close. Phew! And this thing smells bad. I'm so outta here.' So she left.

She continued walking down the hall and saw two big, shiny doors. She spent a long time watching them. They opened and closed when people pressed a button on the wall and stepped inside them. Then they made a big sound and the people were different when they got out. They didn't even LOOK the same. And she didn't know if it was her or not, but sometimes there would be less people getting off than came on.

`This looks like a mystery that needs solved.' So, she went up to the doors, unwilling to show her fear of being eaten, or worse, by the thing in that room. She tossed her blue hair back and walked in with her head held high and her little shoulders straight.

Then the doors closed.

At first it was fine, then the contraption started to move. It was scary to say the least, but Kaede didn't cry. She masked her fear and held strong, just like her mom and dad. They weren't afraid of anything. Then the thing started making beeping noises and the doors opened again. Some people got off and some new people got on. She peeked through the people's legs and saw that it was a completely different floor. `So that's why the people were always changing.' Now that she knew, she could get off. But where?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Back with Kagome and Inuyasha*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"OH MY SWEET LORD! WHERE DID SHE GO-o-o-o?!" Kagome sobbed. She and Inuyasha had just stepped back into the lobby. And KAEDE WAS MISSING! (Of course, we already knew that.)

Inuyasha, being the `man', and therefore the less hysterical one, went up to the first person he saw, grabbed him by the collar, and demanded to know what happened to the kid. All while holding him a good three feet off the ground. It did him no good, as all the people were still in shock. So, he started sniffing around.

It seems she got off the chair and somehow made it around the room before going out into the hallway. He was about to follow her trail out of the waiting room, when he noticed Kagome was still next to the chair wailing. Inuyasha looked on as she cried a river for their baby girl and didn't even notice what he was doing.

He walked up next to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. She immediately turned her head into his chest and began to soak his white shirt. He looked around uncomfortably, wondering what to do. Hesitantly he put an arm around her and whispered into her ear, "Come on woman. I've found her trail. We'll have our baby back soon." Before either of them could ponder what he'd said, the waiting room occupants came back to life.

All at once, people started talking about how creepy, awesome, odd, or convenient the incident was. Inuyasha and Kagome broke apart at breakneck speed and started questioning people again. From the inane babble and nonsensical mutterings, they deduced that Kaede had all of a sudden grown at least a foot then got up and walked out of the room.

Kagome motioned for Inuyasha to come to her. He did and they started a hushed conversation in an unoccupied corner of the room. It went something like this:

"She's only a week old, how can she walk?!"

Shrug.

"Is it a youkai thing?"

Shrug.

"Maybe she's a prodigy! Yeah, that could be it. Either that or she's a freak. What do you think?"

Glare. Shrug.

"What was that look for?"

Shrug. "You called her a freak."

"No, I said either she was a prodigy or a freak. There's a difference."

"What could possibly be the difference, wench?" Glare.

"Do you even know what a prodigy is?" Shake of his head. *sigh* "It's when someone is really good at something before they should be able to do it. Like someone playing a musical instrument at three."

Silent `Oh.' "Why didn't you say so bitch?!"

And so, their hushed conversation roared into a full-blown fight, until…..

"Listen to me for a second, damnit! I've been trying to tell you, I found her trail. Baka onna."

"Oh. Well why didn't you tell me at first? Idiot. Now we wasted all that time! There's no telling where she is now!"

"ARGH! WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE! I COULD HAVE SOME GREAT IDEA, BUT NOOOOOO. KAGOME HAS TO HAVE HER WAY!"

"ME! I'M NOT THE ONE YELLING FOR NO GOOD REASON!"

"OH REALLY?! WELL THEN, maybe we should stop and look for her? Sound good?"

Kagome gave him a blank look and blinked for the unusual consideration and sudden mood swing. "Yeah. Let's go."

So, after ten minutes of fighting over nothing, our favorite almost-couple went to find their newest charge.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Back with Kaede*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After the elevator stopped for the fifth time Kaede decided to get out. She pushed past people and exited the metal monster. What she found was anything but what she expected. Stretched out before her, as far as she could see, which, between you and me, wasn't very far, were people using various metal contraptions and grimacing, gingerly walking with or on metal stick thingies, or getting stretched in odd ways. Then there were other people not using the machines that were giving the wincing, walking, and stretching people encouragement and helping in operating the devices.

She happened to get off the elevator on the physical therapy floor.

Being the curious toddler that she was, she wandered around and observed the people. After a few minutes deliberation, she decided to find out for herself what was so great about these things. She went to the nearest vacant piece of equipment and began to climb into the seat.

For once someone noticed her. A nearby staff worker saw her go for the rowing machine and went over to get her off it and send her to the daycare and/or page her parents over the intercom.

Kaede saw him heading towards her and started getting an ominous feeling. Like she was about to get into trouble. Her gut clenched and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Her head was buzzing and she began feeling heated and nauseous. It upset her stomach so much that she threw up. Funny thing was, her lunch started eating away at the metal.

She had acid puke! Sweet!

The entire room turned and looked at the spectacle going on in the middle of the room. It went silent as, again, everyone went into shock. It seems that everywhere she goes this happens. So, while the people were in awe of her metal-eating-vomit, Kaede left. She wandered the halls some more and found another door. It was being held open by a wrench, and looked promising, so she went in. What she didn't notice, and it wouldn't have mattered if she did notice, was the `Caution : Men At Work' sign on the door.

The door led to the pipe-work, wiring and whatnot that kept the hospital running. All over the place were metal pipes and wires and it was wet and dark and cold and perfect for her lizardy heritage. It was obvious once she got the door open that some worker had left the wrench in the door so he didn't have to use his key again when he came back from break. There were tools everywhere.

She started exploring and soon found a knob. The knob had another wrench around it. Her natural childish curiosity got the best of her. Using all her youkai strength, she was able to loosen the knob and see what it would do.

Unfortunately, that knob was what kept the water off, so the repairmen could work on the physical therapy floor's bathroom. When she turned the knob, all the water rushed through the open pipes and started soaking the bathroom floor!

`Well THAT didn't do anything.' And Kaede happily trotted out of the back halls, not aware of the havoc she'd just wrought on the unsuspecting hospital.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Kagome and Inuyasha*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha had finally gotten Kagome to come with him to follow Kaede's trail. He followed it out of the waiting room, into an examining room. He noticed a weird, and all too common, smell coming from in there, but decided not to tell Kagome. It wasn't really a smell to be discussed with anyone, let alone the girl you love. So all he did was sneeze out the beguiling odor and move on.

Next, he went across the hall to the janitor's closet. He had to sneeze out the smell of cleaners used all over the hospital. It seems she didn't spend much time in there. He had to get closer to the ground to smell where it led to next over all the chemicals. So he got down on all fours and started distinguishing the scents. It was hard work, but he finally picked it back up outside of two big metal doors.

"Shit! I've lost it!" Inuyasha's mouth had come back without the baby to hold it back for. "She moves fast for just learning how to walk. Damnit! Why couldn't she have been a normal kid?!" After this little outburst, Kagome had to take over.

"What do you mean you lost it?" She asked, surprisingly calm.

"I mean, the trail stops at the doors and I can't get them open without clawing through. You wouldn't mind if I did, would you?" He gave her a perfectly serious look.

"Of course I would! That would be vandalism. It's against the law. How would you like it if I took your haori and ripped a big hole in it?" She placed her hands on her hips and waited for the obvious answer.

"Well, number one, you couldn't rip it with normal human blades. Two, if you somehow managed to, it would fix itself again. And three, well, you just can't. It would be pointless." He got a condescending smirk after that one. His clothes were practically indestructible.

`Not what I was expecting.' "Okay, bad example. My point is, you wouldn't want a stranger to destroy something of yours, right?"

"Of course not. But if they did, I'd just go after them and seek retribution." His voice got menacing on that last part and she decided to stop this conversation before it got violent.

"Listen, this is called an elevator. You push this button and wait for the door to open." She demonstrated. "After it opens, you step in and ride it to the floor of your choice." The doors opened and they went in. Her face fell suddenly. "Oh no."

Inuyasha's head whipped over to her. "What?"

"We don't know if she went up or down. How are we going to do this?"

"How do you pick a floor? These?" He pointed to the floor buttons.

"Right." She closed her eyes and looked away, waving a hand in the air. "Just push in the floor that you want and the elevator will go to it."

After she finished the first sentence, he had started pushing in the buttons. Luckily, no one was in their elevator to hear the girl tell the boy about how to operate a machine he should've used more than once in his life. It would've been a very funny situation. Anyway, by the time she opened her eyes, he was having fun pushing all the buttons and listening to them click in and spring back out. With a shake of her head, she reached over and pushed them all at once.

"Hey! I was having fun!" He shouted childishly.

"Get over it." She gave him `the look' patented by generations of women to put their men in their place. "We don't have time for you to play around."

He gave a snort of agitation and turned the other way in the small room. There he saw a mirrored wall and finally noticed that his ears looked like part of his hat, he looked good in black and white, and if he put his finger just right and wiggled it, it would look like he was picking Kagome's nose. After he noticed that, it was only a short time before he was outright laughing.

Kagome finally roused herself from her musing on the whereabouts of Kaede and noticed Inuyasha laughing. `He should laugh like that more often. Usually his laugh is either a maniacal cackle or a snort at something stupid someone said.' She mused. `I wonder what he's laughing about?' Before she could ask, the doors started beeping.

The elevator finally came to a halt in the basement, and Inuyasha stopped picking Kagome's nose to sniff around the open door to see if she was out there. She wasn't. The doors closed again and the elevator got to moving. They waited, and waited, and waited.

`This elevator is soooooo sloooooow.' "GAH! This is taking forever!" Kagome complained. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at that. She looked towards him. `Maybe Inuyasha should get out and push.' She snickered. Inuyasha glanced over and remembered the mirror trick.

`Maybe…..I can do it without the mirror.' So he waited until she looked away from him and stuck his pinky in the air, closed one eye and sighted Kagome's nose. Carefully positioning his finger, he found that he could. This got him to laugh again and Kagome looked back over.

She knew what he was doing. She had a little brother. Her face dropped to a scowl and Inuyasha realized the jig was up. He tensed up and waited for the biggest sit of his life, but it never came. He looked at Kagome with a confused gaze.

She heaved a big sigh and explained. "I don't know what would happen if I sat you in an elevator. I don't think it would hurt anything, but in case I'm wrong, and it has enough power to do any damage…..I don't really want to plummet to my death."

He just blinked at her. "So, I could break this contraption if you sat me?"

"Yes. But don't push your luck." She gave him the look again. "This ride can't last forever." With that said, the doors opened again.

They repeated the wait/sniff process many times. A few times someone got on the elevator, but when they saw that the teenagers were stopping on every floor, they usually got out and on the next elevator. One idiot stayed with them instead of taking another elevator or even the stairs. He was nosy too, and had a one on one conversation with Inuyasha. (*smirk*)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Kaede*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After leaving that room, she walked down the hall again looking for anything to do. She saw the elevator at the end of the hall and decided to ride it again. She got on with the next group of people and rode down three floors. Outside was a few patient's rooms and a theater.

She went in and looked around. People were sitting all around. They were the patient's families waiting for them to get out of surgery, trying to keep calm. The hospital decided to give the families something better to do than worry. They needed to relax. So Kaede took their example and sat down in the front of the theater and began to watch the movie.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Kagome and Inuyasha, again*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Finally, on the tenth floor, Inuyasha picked Kaede's scent back up.

He followed it around a room full of torture devices. Everyone was still looking at the melted Rower and paid no mind to the weird boy sniffing around. When Inuyasha got to the melted machine, he stopped.

"Man! Is everywhere she goes going to have people in shock?" Kagome snorted.

"Kagome." She came up next to him and stared at the clump of metal. "Her scent is all over this thing, but it smells more like Sesshomaru's poison claw than anything. I think she did this."

"Huh? You mean she has acid…..something or other?"

"Most youkai have poison or acid made and stored somewhere in their body." Inuyasha explained. "I don't, of course, because I'm not a full youkai." He stated with just a hint of sadness. `If I had poison or acid, I could protect Kagome better.' He thought to himself.

"Oh. Should we ask what happened here?"

"No. Her trail leads back out of the room."

"Alright then, let's go." Kagome turned towards the door. "Lead on."

Inuyasha passed her up and continued down the hall towards an open door. He followed it all around the room and back out.

"Wait! I have to pee." Kagome suddenly declared.

Inuyasha looked a little peeved. "Can't you hold it?!"

"I've been holding it since the elevator and now I REALLY have to go." Kagome whined. "Besides, the bathroom is right there." She pointed to a door a ways down the hall.

"FINE! But make it quick."

"Thank you. So much." She hurried off to the restroom and opened the door. In a rush came out about a foot of standing water. "Great! Just PERFECT! Now I REALLY gotta go." And she ran into the restroom, heedless of the water sloshing all around her.

She was, luckily, a fast pee-er and they began cautiously picking their way through the water on the ground. Inuyasha lost Kaede's trail once the door opened and the water came out, but he had followed it while Kagome ran to the restroom door. So, he just followed what he remembered and boarded the elevator again.

Since, they were already on the top floor, they pushed the down buttons. For three floors, the ride was pretty much the same as before. When the doors opened at the seventh floor, Inuyasha took off. He followed the trail into the movie theater and let his eyes adjust to the dark.

Unfortunately, to find Kaede, they had to look in every row. This not only took some time, it made the watchers angry. Shouts of "Down in front!" and "Sit somewhere!" were common to them.

Finally, they found her. She was just sitting and watching the movie, minding her own business.

Kagome grabbed her and held her tight. "Never do that again! You had us so scared." She scolded.

"Speak for yourself, bitch. I was only anxious because you were making me nervous."

"Oh really? I seem to recall a certain hanyou threatening the people in the waiting room with bodily harm if they didn't tell him were she went."

He looked dumbfounded for a moment. "Slip of the tongue. Won't happen again."

"Slip of the tongue, right. And of the arms and legs and nose and-"

"Okay! I get the point. Maybe I was a little worried, not scared though. Nothing scares me." He sniffed.

Kagome just rolled her eyes and they snuggled Kaede together.

"Look, it's great that you found your kid, but do you think you could sit down or leave or something? Please?" Asked the person nearest to them.

Looking around sheepishly, Kagome mouthed sorry to the nearest people and shoved Inuyasha into a seat. She sat down next to him and placed Kaede in her lap to hold on to.

The movie was a good one. Kagome, of course, had seen it a million times, but it was new to Inuyasha and the toddler she held in her lap. Billy Madison wasn't exactly the best movie to see for the first time, but, eh. By the end of it, Kaede was asleep. Her day had worn her out. Inuyasha learned that to get the family business, you need an education. And you should never make fun of the dorks, for they just might grow up and become snipers for revenge. Kagome was asleep with her head on his shoulder. All in all, it was a beautiful family picture.

He looked over at his girls and saw both of them asleep. He didn't want to wake them up, so he picked up Kaede and held her in his arms as he picked up Kagome bridal style and put Kaede on her stomach. Once that task was completed, he moved to the elevators again and pushed the floor for the lobby.

Inside, he saw the one idiot who had stayed in the elevator with them last time. The man said not a word, but looked apprehensive about staying in it again with them. He got off on the next floor, and Inuyasha had the elevator to himself. When he got to the lobby, he sat back down in the chairs they had occupied three hours ago, Kagome still in his lap and Kaede still on her stomach. He waited for word about Mrs. H.

After about ten minutes, Kagome woke up. She looked around wildly for a minute until she saw Inuyasha next to her and pieced together how she got out here.

She turned to him and gave him a sleepy smile. "How long have I been asleep?" She asked in that sexy, I-just-woke-up voice that people get.

He had watched her closely until she woke up and noticed him. His heart fluttered for, like, the billionth time that day, and he had the sudden urge to hold her closer in the shelter of his arms at her droopy eyed smile. Obviously, he was too preoccupied to hear her question. "What?"

She gave a hoarse laugh. "How long was I asleep?"

"Not long, couldn't have been more than thirty minutes."

"Oh. Thank you for carrying me out of the theater."

"No problem."

"So, did you hear anything about my mom while I was out?" She yawned.

"Not a word. Is there any way to find out?" He was content to stare into her blue-brown eyes, but figured she might want to know what happened to her mother.

"Yeah, I'll be right back." She held the sleeping Kaede close and climbed out of his lap.

"I'll go with you. I mean, you know, you might need to go somewhere or something." Inuyasha said nervously and got up, making doubly sure they had Kaede with them this time.

She just smiled and said okay. Kagome walked up to the receptionist, who was filing, and waited until she was noticed. "Excuse me, ma'am?" She asked after a few moments.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't even see you there." The receptionist turned and said. "What can I do for you?"

"We were wondering if there's been any news on Higurashi Katsumi?" Inuyasha looked at her weird for that one. He didn't even know she had a name. Besides Mrs. H of course.

"Oh, yes, she's in surgery right now. They came in looking for her daughter and son-in-law, but you were gone."

Kagome and Inuyasha both blushed. "Actually, we're not married."

"Oh, sorry again! Your boyfriend then?"

"Um, no." Kagome started looking around anywhere but at Inuyasha or the receptionist.

"Really? So. What's you're name stud?" She asked Inuyasha.

"Not available." Kagome interrupted with a glare. "When will she be out?"

"I don't know. They'll call you when she is and take you to her room." The receptionist dismissed them and went back to filing.

"Thank you." Kagome still retained her manners and turned to go back to her chair.

Inuyasha followed dutifully, but he couldn't help but be secretly pleased at the way his bitch got that woman off his back. `She was acting almost like me. When am I going to tell her I love her?' He asked himself. `Not now. I'll have to find the perfect moment. Yeah. I'll wait.' He sighed and his dreamy look turned into a frown.

Kagome was having her own internal struggle. `Grrr. Who did she think she was? First my friends coming onto him, now strangers?! Why can't everyone just keep their mitts off him?!' She snuck a peek at her man. `Well, it's not like I can blame them. He's gorgeous! I just wish I could make all of his admirerers back off. Oh my God! I just told that woman off in front of him! What's he going to think?! Oh shit. I know he doesn't like me that way and I probably just made a fool of myself in front of him and everyone else. UGH! What face was he making behind me?' She looked over again. `What?! He's scowling?! Damnit! Now how am I going to face him?!'

They waited in a tense silence for another thirty minutes. Just when the air was starting to choke them, it was so thick with repressed emotions, a doctor came out and called for Kagome.

"She's resting comfortably right now. It was a hairline fracture in the tibia and some torn tendons in her ankle, luckily not her Achilles, and in her knee. We had to go in and reconnect them, but she's resting comfortably now. I want to keep her here overnight for observation." The doctor explained to them. He motioned for them to follow and went to a room down the hall. "She should be good enough to go home tomorrow afternoon. Here's a prescription for some painkillers. I expect a checkup in two weeks, and I'll see you in the morning to see how she's doing." Kagome thanked him and he walked off to his next patient.

"Well, ready?" Kagome asked Inuyasha. She was hesitant to go in. How would he react to seeing her mom with tubes coming out all over? `Well, one way to find out.' She hefted Kaede to a better spot on her arm and pushed open the door at his nod.

Mrs. H was on the bed with an IV in her arm, a bag hanging over her, and a cap of some kind on her finger. Kagome looked at Inuyasha. He looked horrified. "Is this your idea of healing?! Sticking hollow, clear sticks in her and making her sleep?!"

"No. The doctors, that's what the healers are called, fixed her leg. They put it back in place and are keeping her out of pain with those tubes. Under the blanket, she has on a cast. It'll hold her leg in place while the bone heals itself." Kagome defended the medical professionals of Tokyo and the world.

"Whatever. She's going to be out of here tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's getting kind of late. Do you want to go back to the shrine?"

"I kind of want to stay here. But Grandpa and Souta need to know what happened to Momma."

"Did you forget what night it was in all this commotion?"

She gasped. "It's your human night isn't it?" Inuyasha just nodded and waited for Kagome to leave. "We'll be back tomorrow, Momma. I'm going home to get Grandpa and Souta." She knew her mom couldn't hear her, but it still helped ease her conscience for leaving her mother in this strange place. "You can still have visitors for a few hours. We'll have to return those clothes and stuff..…THAT WE LEFT AT THE MALL!" Kagome looked at Inuyasha wide-eyed.

"No we didn't. Your friend got them."

"Which one?" `Please let it be Eri. She's the responsible one.'

"The one with the yellow thing on her head."

"YES! Eri, you're a lifesaver." Kagome started doing a victory dance in the middle of the room. Inuyasha gave her a funny look and cleared his throat. "Oh, right. I'll be back soon, mom. See you. Come on Inuyasha. Let's go get those clothes."

*Groan!*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Shrine*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After stopping by Eri's house to get the baby clothes and equipment they could no longer use, the small band went back to the shrine grounds. The sun was sinking into the horizon, turning the clouds colors of pink, gold, and purple. It was truly beautiful and romantic, and would've been perfect, if not for the fact that with the going of the sun, went Inuyasha's demon strength and abilities.

They dropped out of the sky in front of the house right as the sun disappeared below the horizon. Inuyasha was holding Kaede and Kagome was climbing off his back when Souta came running out. He stopped short of Kagome, Kaede, and `the stranger'.

"Where's Inuyasha? You aren't cheating on him with this guy are you?"

He walked up to Inuyasha and glared hard at him. Of course to glare, you have to basically stare at the person. While he was doing that, Inuyasha raised a brow and slowly recognition crossed Souta's face.

"How…..are you…..what's going on here?! And where's mom?"

"We'll explain it inside Souta. Come on." Kagome had to practically drag her brother into the house.

Inside, Grandpa was watching the History Channel. They were having a documentary on ancient temples and tombs. It was very interesting. He looked up as his grandkids and some new guy came in the door. "Who's he?" He asked as he turned to watch T.V. again.

"Inuyasha." Kagome answered.

Slowly, he seemed to get what she said. He turned back around. "Huh?"

"Every new moon, Inuyasha's demon blood recedes because he's a hanyou. It's sorta like the ocean's tides. He'll be normal by dawn."

"OH!" Grandpa and Souta both said. "Where's Mom/Katsumi?"

"Well, that's the problem." Kagome started, but she didn't know how to put it tactfully. `Okay, how about…..' "Mom fell and broke her leg in the mall."

"WHAT?!"

"It's complicated. See, we were at the mall, after shopping for baby clothes, and Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka came over to talk, then Hojo came and Inuyasha scared him into falling into a trashcan, and he scattered greasy napkins everywhere, and Mom slipped on one and fell into a fountain, but the fountain didn't have any water in it, and she got a hairline fracture in her right leg and torn tendons in her ankle and knee, and she's at the hospital right now, but we can go see her if you guys want to." *Deep breath*

Blink, blink. "Okay." Grandpa looked at Souta. "You get any of that?"

"Mom slipped on Hojo's greasy napkins and fell into a dry fountain at the mall and broke her leg and ankle and knee." Souta shortened Kagome's frantic explanation.

"I see. Do you want to go Souta? Kagome? Inuy- ahem." Grandpa asked.

"Yeah. I want to see how Mom's holding up. Kagome?"

"I don't know. I kinda need to do my homework. Tell her I said `Hi'. If she's awake, that is. She wasn't when we were there."

"Okay, will do. See ya later Sis. Inuyasha? You comin'?"

"No. I think I'll just stay here and protect your sister." He leaned down and whispered in Souta's ear. "You know how much she needs it."

"I heard that Inuyasha. I'm right here you know." Kagome took up the classic Inuyasha pose.

Souta laughed a bit and waved goodbye as he went outside.

"Now, stay out of trouble. We'll be back shortly." Grandpa said as he got his jacket.

"Okay Gramps. I'll go start on dinner." She went to the kitchen.

Inuyasha turned to follow her, but stopped when Grandpa started speaking again. "Oh, and Inuyasha." He said cordially. "If I find out that she's been…..defiled, I'll have you take it up with some nut crackers." He gave him a meaningful look and left. Inuyasha gulped and went into the kitchen, Kaede still in his arms.

"So, how do you feel about something different for dinner?" Kagome asked when she saw him come in.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked curiously.

"Maybe some…..curry?" She got a glint in her eyes.

His eyes, on the other hand, widened. "Uh-uh. No way." He covered his mouth for extra emphasis, remembering the last time he had curry. It had burned his tongue. Too spicy.

Kagome laughed at his antics. "Silly. I was just joking." She opened the pantry door and looked in. "How about some, hmmm. Hamburger Helper, Mac and cheese, maybe with weenies?" She looked back at him when she saw the next thing in the cabinet. "Um, well, how about I just whip us up some chicken parmesan, maybe with a nice green chef's salad with vinaigrette dressing and croutons on the side?" She smiled faintly at her little joke.

He, obviously, didn't get it. `Ramen? I didn't hear any Ramen in there. Maybe she overlooked it. But, I mean, it's right there. Should I ask?' "Ramen?"

She laughed. `That is the cutest look I have ever seen him give.' He had his head cocked to look at her and a hopeful expression on his face. `Like I would forget his Ramen. Ha!' "Of course. I wouldn't forget about that. We've got it in pork, chicken, French onion, shrimp, and, my favorite, beef. Which one do you want?"

"Hmm. All of them?"

"Okay." She laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'll get it ready. Maybe you should put Kaede in her new playpen." He left and she prepared the Ramen.

In the living room, Inuyasha was trying to set up Kaede's playpen. It wasn't coming along to well. First he couldn't figure out how to open the box, so he just ripped it open. Next was all the parts. Luckily, it only had a few that you had to screw together, but he had never seen wing nuts before, so even that became a trial. He was trying to bang together the legs and attach them to the walls with brute force.

Kagome heard all the noise and came to investigate. When she stepped into the living room, she couldn't believe what she saw. All over was pieces of box. Metal and cushion were thrown together with disregard. The wing nuts were still in their bag. And Inuyasha was in the middle of it all with a giggling Kaede looking on from the couch as he grunted and growled in frustration.

"Kagome! This is stupid!" He threw a leg to the side with a clang. "Why does she need this again?"

"So that she'll have somewhere to sleep, remember? Unless, you think her sleeping with you on the couch all night is safe?" She asked without expecting an answer.

"Safer than in this cruddy prison." He retorted. "I could keep her safe, and…..I'm very comfortable." He gave a cocky grin.

"Oh really? Would you like to prove that theory?" She didn't expect what he did next.

He walked over, really close to her, and grabbed her waist. "Yeah." And without another word, he led her to the couch and laid them both down. He pulled her close to his chest and looked at her. "Well?"

"Hmm." She wiggled around a bit, trying to ignore the way they fit together so well. He bit his lip to hold in a groan. "It's a little lumpy, but otherwise okay. Do you think you could refrain from tossing and turning and otherwise killing Kaede?" She craned her neck to look at him.

He stared into her blue-brown orbs and didn't answer for awhile. "Of course not. I would never hurt someone I care about."

She got serious. "Would you ever hurt me?"

"No." He answered without hesitation.

Kaede watched her parents from the other end of the couch and saw them lean in closer. She'd never seen them display this much emotion before. She observed them with curiosity. Suddenly, a disgusting smell crossed her sensitive nose. `Yuck! What is that?!' She frowned and started trying to sneeze the offending smell out.

Unfortunately, Kagome and Inuyasha also smelled it. When they were a hair's breadth away from each other, the smell of burning Ramen drifted to them. Kagome broke way first and said "I guess I should get that." She started to get up, but Inuyasha halted her movement.

"Let it burn for a few more minutes." Kagome laid there in shock, until…..the inevitable happened.

He kissed her.

The two young lovers were oblivious to the world as they lay on the couch in Kagome's living room, with the potpourri of burning Ramen floating along the air and the History Channel blaring in the background.

"Most people believe that the pyramids were only tombs, but some scholar's believe they were also used as astrological guides." And the voice droned on.

Jolts of electricity raced down Kagome's spine as Inuyasha's lips scathed her own. Her brain went to mush and her senses honed in on the one making her feel this way.

Inuyasha couldn't believe how soft her lips were. And the feel of her on him! Gods help him, he could get addicted to it.

Kagome started shivering at the intensity of it all. His arms were wrapped tightly around her. She could feel his heart beating rapidly at her back and slowly she turned around. She put her arms around his neck, weaved her hands through his hair, and straddled his waist.

Kaede turned to watch the documentary. `I don't think I'm supposed to see this.' She glanced back. `But, it's like a fight. You can't help but watch. Ugh! Just say no.' She finally turned away.

Inuyasha was in a world of his own. When Kikyo had kissed him, it was cold, she was cold. It was like kissing a contoured pot. But with Kagome….. He came alive at her touch. And when she turned around, her thundering heart beating in time with his, her breasts pressed firmly to his chest, lower regions touching lower regions…..he couldn't help his reaction. He grabbed her tighter and parted his lips slightly. Slowly, he slipped his tongue out and licked her lips. She responded immediately and opened her mouth to deepen it. He put his hands in her hair and tilted her head to make it even deeper.

Then, just when they thought it couldn't get any better..…the phone rang. Effectively breaking the moment. They parted reluctantly, panting slightly. Kagome untangled herself from Inuyasha and stumbled off him to answer it.

He made to grab her back, but she stopped his hands. "I'm sorry, but I have to get that. It could be something important."

She walked into the kitchen and pulled the wireless from it's cradle.

"Hello?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*wink* That was for all of you who thought I'd make it that easy. So R&R. Thanks for your time.