InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 32 ( Chapter 32 )

Chapter 32

Inuyasha felt Kagome’s hand squeezing his and glanced down at her. She was staring at the transfixed couple as if, she too, had been struck to stone. He fought a wave of dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him and sternly refocused on the room.

Sesshoumaru was just sitting on the futon holding Rin’s shoulders. The young woman was tangled in a welter of white quilts and equally white robes. The only color offered was that of her long hair; a dark counterpoint to the whiteness that surrounded her. She gazed up into Sesshoumaru’s face and reached a hesitant hand to his cheek, “It was more than that wasn’t it? Have I been ill?”

Sesshoumaru didn’t answer directly but dropped his head to look down and away from her, “You’ll find you’ve lost some time.”

Rin gasped slightly in reply and brought a hand up to her mouth, “So, my dreams. There was an attack.”

Kagome loosened her fingers from Inuyasha’s and stepped forward, “Rin-Chan?” She asked tentatively, “You remember? About the gas attack?”

Sesshoumaru gave an impatient look over his shoulder and sat back on his heels, leaving the way clear.

Rin looked confused and stared back at Kagome, “Gas attack? Was that it? First I couldn’t breathe and then Jaken…” Her hand went up to her throat and massaged there for a moment before patting across her eyes in an oddly searching movement. “I couldn’t see,” she said firmly. “And Jaken came to protect me and said he was going to use the staff. And, and then,” she shook her head, brows contracted in frustration. “I’m sorry; I don’t think I can remember.”

Kagome raised a hand slightly, ignoring Sesshoumaru’s faint rumble of a growl. “Rin-Chan, I’m sorry too.” She took a deep breath. “Please, try to rest, but it’s important that you also try to remember. I think you may have been under a spell until now. The group that perpetrated the saran gas attacks claimed to have spiritual powers. I could perceive the trace of poisonous jaki as you breathed.“

Kagome blushed and started twisting the ends of her hair together, “That’s why you woke up to find the wind knocked out of you. I thought it was the best way to purify you since I couldn’t see any other evil influence. Sorry about that.” Rin rubbed at her diaphragm and nodded.

“I was once trapped by a spell and couldn‘t control my own actions.” Kagome continued, “It seemed to me to be something like that. But I could hear a voice ordering me to do things and all you were doing was sleeping without waking up.“ She hesitated a moment, trying to bring herself up to speed as she settled down to a seated position with her legs tucked under her and dropped her hands in her lap. “Do you need to sleep now?”

“Only a little,” Rin smiled, leaning on one elbow, her dark hair swirling about her. Her eyes were bright and sharp, despite the languid pose. “Aren’t you…Shouldn’t I know you?” She turned her head slightly towards Sesshoumaru and caught sight of Inuyasha beyond him. She sat up as if electrified. “You’re that miko! The one beloved by that Inuyasha person!” Inuyasha gave an affronted cough in the background and Kagome frowned at him.

“But you’re younger than me now.” Rin’s face pinked and she seemed almost ready to laugh. “I mean, it’s been so many years since I last saw you. Ever since I first came to this time with Sesshoumaru-Sama I would see all the school girls in outfits like the one you used to wear and wonder where you were. I was always looking out for you in crowds of school girls but you were never there.”

Rin’s hand went back up to rub the heel of her palm across her cheek in an unguarded, childlike, gesture, “Sorry, I always talk too much. But, time keeps slipping about me, and now Sesshoumaru-Sama says I have lost more time. Have I been trapped asleep for long? How long? It‘s all so very confusing.” A lone tear trickled down her cheek and Kagome’s eyes stung in sympathy.

“That it is enough, Rin. You are to rest” Sesshoumaru broke in, sounding like a parent chiding a little girl.

Rin shook her head, “No, I feel like I have rested enough, Sesshoumaru-Sama. There are too many things I want to know.” She looked around herself, taking in the room around her for the first time. Her eyes traveled from the ancient, dark, spider web-hung rafters to the walls of the villa with their ornate gilt paneling to the wreckage of the collapsed arras and the stain of the spilt lamp spreading across the floor. “Where is this gloomy place?” Her voice echoed in the empty chambers, coming back only to their silence.

When no one else said anything, Sesshoumaru stepped in to answer, “It is my own, personal, house Rin.” He too, looked up around the rafters and Kagome could see a trace of astonishment on his normally impassive face: it seemed the sorry condition of the place was a surprise to him, also.

Kagome sighed and shifted uncomfortably, looking behind her to catch Inuyasha’s eye in the barely-lit gloom. The hanyou’s expression was strained and he was cradling his left arm against his side, but he returned her glance and stepped forward a pace, “Sesshoumaru, we should leave; I don’t think your house kamis like me here very much and I don’t like it in this place either. Just show me the door.”

Sesshoumaru turned cold eyes upon his brother and made an abrupt gesture of one, elegant, hand. Kagome could feel a movement in the youki about her and stood to go to Inuyasha‘s side. Rin started to get up too but Sesshoumaru prevented that by the simple expedient of catching her wrist and pulling her back down to the futon again.

She looked at him, startled, ”Oh, but I haven’t thanked them yet.”

“Consider them thanked: they can leave.”

Rin was looking down at Sesshoumaru’s large hand clasping her wrist, “Sesshoumaru-Sama?”

Sesshoumaru was looking down at his hand on her wrist too, “Rin, we need to talk.”

Inuyasha was quietly but firmly propelling Kagome toward the door as she craned her neck to look back at the seated couple. She caught a glimpse of Sesshoumaru lifting Rin’s hand in his as she was whisked firmly out of the room and into the entry hall.

She dug in her heels, “Hold on just a sec; I think he’s going to…”

“Kagome, we are leaving,” Inuyasha interrupted quite loudly, “now.” With that, he marched her down the hall at double speed and burst precipitously out into the torch-lit courtyard with its mist and twisted trees. Kagome paid no attention to the swirling mist as she tried to make Inuyasha stop.

“But you were always just fine with watching Sango and Miroku!”

“I ain’t worried about Miroku’s household kami am I? Gods, you are such a nosy wench!”

Kagome looked about her at the mention of the kami and suddenly realized the threatening aspect of their surroundings. The trees in the courtyard loomed and she could barely see through the chill mist. The house behind them was dark. “Well, that’s not very nice! And after we helped him too!” A cold wind pressed around them both as torches on either side of the moon gate suddenly sprang into life. “Why, I have a good mind to…” The rest of her comment was lost as Inuyasha swept her up in his arms and sped for the gate.

:::0:::

The instant they passed through it they were in the blinding sunlight of an autumn afternoon on Sesshoumaru’s private balcony. Inuyasha dumped Kagome onto her own two feet abruptly and continued his path into the bedroom.

“We’re leaving, come on.”

He scarcely paused at the locked bedroom door but gave its handle a yank that snapped the bolt and splintered part of the doorframe. He hauled Kagome forward by one wrist and just barely stopped in time to avoid stepping on Jaken, who was still sitting in the hallway.

“What the hell are you doing there?” He snarled with an ugly glint in his eye at the cringing toad daemon.

“I hoped to hear some news,” Jaken explained, scrambling to his feet.

“She’s fine, and she supports your version of the story. They’re back there talking right now so you might as well make yourself comfortable.”

“I will stand guard over my lord’s door.”

Inuyasha looked about him at the innocuous apartment hallway and shrugged, “Suit yourself. C’mon, Kagome.”

Kagome hung back a little bit and smiled at the toad daemon, “It’ll be fine. You’ll see; Rin-Chan won’t let him stay angry at you.”

Jaken gave her an anxious look out of his pop eyes and straightened his back. Kagome gave a little wave which he didn’t respond to and headed down the hallway to where Inuyasha was waiting with barely concealed impatience.

“Do you think he’s really going to stand there all day?” Kagome inquired as they stepped into the apartment building’s corridor.

“Do you think I give a shit?” Inuyasha led the way to the elevators and stood there, staring at them.

“Inuyasha.”

“What?”

“You need to push the down button to call the elevator.”

“Huh?”

She silently pointed.

“Oh.” He followed suit and stabbed his clawed finger at the button.

“Inuyasha,” she said as the doors opened up, “ears.”

He frowned and reshuffled his appearance half-heartedly as she pressed the lobby button and they headed down. She studied him out of the corner of her eye, noting his withdrawn stance. He was holding his arm closely to his side but it had stopped bleeding quite some time ago and merely seemed to be sporting a long scratch. She reminded herself to get some water and wash the streaks of blood off so she could get a good look at it but he seemed so impatient to go that she decided not to push it.

She glanced up at his face again and found she rather approved of his rather bull-headed determination to retain his white hair. Whose business was it anyway? She led the way out into the lobby, which was framed off with a lot of sawhorses and yellow tape as repairs were being carried on and stopped at the front desk.

The desk attendants were busy and she finally slapped her hand down on the bell to catch their attention. “Do you have anywhere I can get some water and paper towels? My friend here needs them.”

One desk attendant raised bored eyes to where Inuyasha was standing and suddenly stiffened, “Yes, of course, instantly.” He scurried off as Kagome waited in some puzzled amusement as a carafe of ice water, a stack of paper towels, a cup and a brochure to the Roppangi Hills shopping area were all produced in rapid order. “Will there be anything else, Sama? Shall I call a cab?” His eyes remained glued on Inuyasha.

Kagome wryly considered the contents of her pockets and refused; they would take the subway. She led an unresisting Inuyasha over to the side and started to blot at his arm with a damp paper towel when Inuyasha hissed and snatched it from her.

“Cut that out, it’s fine.” He dabbed at the red slash briefly and smeared the blood streaks about a bit before dropping the crumpled wad of bloody paper to the floor. “Where’s the fucking subway stop?”

“It’s right out there, just a block away. Oh, you’re so messy.” She gathered up the dropped towels and wadded them into the cup, looking unsuccessfully for a trash receptacle on the way out. Outside he reached to take her hand and found her holding the cup instead. With a grunt he tweaked it from her fingers and spun, lobbing the cup high overhead. She didn’t really hear it land but she was willing to bet it was on a certain balcony on the fourteenth floor.

The subway stop was above ground and they were standing in a car crowded with afternoon commuters. Kagome knew the crowding would clear a bit as they approached the neighborhood of the shrine and hoped for a seat then. Inuyasha was worrying her. She was used to his brooding silences and knew he didn’t like crowds but there seemed to be an undercurrent there. Raising her voice a bit she tried to strike up a conversation, “So, do you think Sesshoumaru will forgive Jaken?”

“Keh.”

“’Keh,’ what?”

Inuyasha eased his stance a bit, moving his shoulder to provide Kagome with somewhere to lean against the swaying of the train as it moved into a turn. “Keh, nothing. Of course he’ll forgive him. Other than Rin he’s all that bastard’s got.”

“What about the others who work for him?”

“Keh. They don’t count; they never did. Not so long as Sesshoumaru has Jaken as his personal punching bag. Are we there yet?”

“No, remember, we have to cross the river. It’ll be a while yet.”

Inuyasha silently cradled his arm to his chest and rested his head for a brief moment against the pole next to him. The pole vibrated with the movement of the train and felt a little greasy, but it was cool against his face.

“Inuyasha? Are you alright? Why can’t you let me see that arm?” The sound of her voice may have been comforting, and the concerned expression of her face sweet. But Inuyasha wasn’t fooled; she wanted to see that arm. And if she saw the arm she would squeeze it and Inuyasha, who, if nothing else, was always brutally honest with himself, rather thought he would scream. His eyes slid shut.

Kagome’s voice invaded the warm buzz in his ears “You are NOT going to faint on me in public.”

He stiffened, sliding back up the pole, of course not. He could hear some movement behind him and Kagome’s voice saying, “I’m so sorry, but my friend here is ill, I think he needs this seat.” There was the movement of polite shuffling and reassurances of ‘no difficulty’ and ‘please feel free’ and the pull of an insistent little hand at the back of his belt as he was pulled down onto a smelly, cushioned, surface. Then Kagome’s voice again at his ear, “That asshole poisoned you, didn’t he. Look, Inuyasha, you’ve got to pay attention to me, you’ve got to keep your mind on human ears.”

Human ears. Yeah, he could do that. Within an instant, there was a strong attempt at a pinch on his side. Or, at least, Kagome was digging her nails into him pretty hard. “Not your hair, stupid, ears!” she hissed, pinching frantically. He grunted in response but stilled the shift.

Kagome spoke again, “You’re still with me, right?” She was pressed against his side, holding him against the metal plate at the end of the seats by the doors. The train had come to a stop and people were leaving the carriage. Several of them sent her curious looks but most kept their eyes and their concentration on their own business of making it off of the carriage with their persons and possessions intact.

His face was pale under its tan and a fine line was drawn between his arched brows. Normally, they could scowl so! But now, he just didn’t seem to have the energy. Kagome chewed on her lip and wondered what to do. If only they could’ve taken a cab. She repeated that last thought out loud.

“What’s a cab?” Inuyasha’s voice was thready.

“Something we don’t have money for; a way to get straight to the shrine in a car instead of the subway.”

He snorted a bit and gave a frowning laugh. “Stupid girl; Sesshoumaru shoved all my money back, it’s in my pocket.”

She was patting down his pockets in a moment. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“Why didn’t you ask me? I can’t read your mind, Bitch.” His eyes were open now and he was looking at her with a trace of challenge in his glance.

She felt encouraged by his stronger tone but still objected, “I’m not a bitch, Inuyasha; I’m doing the best I can.”

“Sure you are.” He closed his eyes again.

“Well, I am. Why are you fighting with me?”

“That’s what I do with friends. And that’s all I am to you; a friend.”

Kagome’s jaw dropped open and she waggled it, ‘of all the…’ “Man, you are just so fucked up.”

He smiled faintly, “Kagome swearing. Sweet.”

She stared at him, rocking with the sway of the carriage. “I take it your feeling a little better?” she asked acidly.

His eyes slid open and he stared out at the passing landscape visible through the window on the opposite side of the carriage. “A little. That bastard Sesshoumaru must be slipping.” He licked his lips, “I’m thirsty, is there any water?”

She sighed, thinking of the carafe of ice water left behind in Roppangi Hills, “No, we’ll be home soon. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll live,” he replied and eased his hand down by his side to take her fingers secretly between them. “Just tell me when we get there.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence, Kagome barely taking her eyes off him as he dozed. She nudged him awake when they reached the stop near the shrine and they made their way slowly up the couple of blocks to the end of her street.

The street was nearly blocked with cars and delivery trucks. Kagome read the signs as they walked slowly by, two of them seemed to be repair trucks and one she recognized as the catering van, judging by the name on its side. Oh, yeah, the wedding. She felt a nervous tightening in her throat.

“Inuyasha?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you mean by saying that I only think of you as a friend?”

He was silent for a moment and started up the shrine steps. The ticket office was closed, again. “What do you think I mean?”

She felt momentarily like snapping at him, but he was walking so slowly and seemed so dispirited. Which could have been the effects of the poison, of course she thought defensively. Why did he always manage to make her feel so guilty? She always badmouthed him to her friends with good reason. Why couldn’t things stay under her control like that? Why couldn’t he be the only one who was a jerk?

He had stopped partway up the steps and was waiting for her. “When you talk about me to anyone in public, I’m always just your friend.”

“Well, that’s in public. You know that’s not how I feel. What am I supposed to call you?”

“How about your life mate? Or husband if you prefer; I am marrying you, you know.”

She gulped and looked up at him.

He cocked his head a little bit and looked down at her, “You could call me your lover, I suppose, I wouldn’t object.” He put his hand out and she was drawn up the steps to him as if by some sort of magnetic force.

So it was that they were hand in hand as they reached the top of the steps. It made a nice picture for the crowd.

:::0o0:::

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