InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dressing the part ❯ Anger and Incest ( Chapter 15 )

Dressing the Part

Chapter Fifteen

Anger and Incest

"Hey Miroku, where the fuck is Kagome?"

Realizing he had just been asked a question, Miroku woke from his regret filled daze.

"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?"

"I said have you seen Kagome around anywhere? He's been missing all night and the club's gonna close soon." Inuyasha noticed the gloomy look in his best friend's eyes. "You know Houshi, it's better to let her know later than you should have rather than not at all. Don't take her choice away. By some miracle she may want you." Inuyasha whacked him on the shoulder, thoroughly getting his attention. "Hey, if you don't tell her, you don't deserve to have her, coward."

He contemplated why things had turned out this way. He speculated where he had gone wrong. He dreamed of her in his arms. The pictures in his imagination shifted from he, Miroku, holding her to other guys who treated her far better than he did. He imagined her giggling at their jokes, running her fingers through their hair one at a time, and pulling her beautiful, magnificent self toward them.

He hated it. He hated it when Inuyasha tried to give him of all people love advice. He hated when he could see her drifting away from him. However, Miroku hated this particular situation for one prominent reason. He hated it because Inuyasha was right. He didn't deserve her.

Kagome sat there in the dark flipping through pages of the photo album. So many memories. So much pain. She saw the images of her father in all his glory. A smile came to her face as she glanced over all of the news articles, press clippings, batting titles, golden gloves, charity work...Souta's birth, her third birthday, his and Mama's wedding, and the day he signed his first contract in 1984, just months after the wedding. Then she came toward the end of the book.

She realized quickly that this portion was still to painful to view but, she couldn't look away.

THE GREAT HIGURASHI DEAD IN CAR CRASH!

DRUNK DRIVER OFF THE HOOK

All the work she put into trying to deal with the pain and move on was now gone. The wound felt as if it were completely reopened. She wished her father were there. He could always make everything feel better.

He had searched half of the goddamn club trying to find him. No one had seen him and after a great deal of prodding, Miroku had confirmed Kagome was there. The only place left was Sesshoumaru's office. He knew Kagome wouldn't be in there, but he needed to deposit some of the cash they earned in the safety deposit box Sesshoumaru kept there.

He walked angrily up the private staircase to Sesshoumaru's office. He was not happy. He hated it when one person on the team shirked off his responsibilities. What made it worse was that Kagome usually worked harder than anybody else.

Kagome would definitely sit a few games for this.

He reached the top of the stairs and approached the door. He unthinkingly opened the door to the dark, seemingly empty room. He then slammed the door and mechanically turned on the light. All this time he didn't notice Kagome's rigid form sitting stiff as a board on the brown leather couch.

If he had he would only have seen the side of her face, for the couch ran along the wall to the left of the door.

But he didn't see her sitting there with her eyes red and puffy. He didn't see they were unfocused and empty. He didn't see they were staring off in the direction of a photo album that had been tossed irately across the room.

That is he didn't until he finished with the safety deposit box in the wall opposite of Kagome.

He relocked the box, replaced the picture of Sesshoumaru signing his first contract with a couple people on each his right and left sides. Inuyasha never really took the time to look at the picture.

He turned around and was startled when he saw Kagome.

What the hell are you doing in here?! Everyone's been looking all over for you!" huffed Inuyasha but his bark lost all its bite when he so astutely realized something was totally off with Kagome. If the Fates were watching, they would have sarcastically wondered what his first clue was.

"Dude, say something. You're scaring the shit outta me."

"Have you ever wondered why nothing in your life could turn out the way you wanted, like your whole world was falling apart despite your best intentions."

`What?' Kagome was definitely off tonight. That way he spoke was almost like talking to himself. The apparent pain in his voice seemed despairing and raw. He had no idea what to say. It didn't matter because Kagome continued with his somber reflections.

"Have you ever read Oedipus the King, Inuyasha? I have. Its a Greek tragedy."

`What was he talking about?' Kagome seemed lost and broken. He didn't know what to do.

"Oedipus's father, King Laius of Thebes, offended the god Apollo. When Oedipus was born, an oracle of Apollo proclaimed to see a curse in his future. Apparently, Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. They would then have children and be forever cursed for breaking the great taboo."

Inuyasha was really confused. What did this have to do with anything? Why this story? It was just gross.

"To prevent her family from such a fate, Jocasta, the queen, sent a shepherd to leave the child to the wolves rather than let him come to shame by experiencing its horror. The shepherd felt sorry for the boy and handed him off to another shepherd on his way to Corinth. There he was adopted by the king and queen. He grew up thinking they were his real parents. Another prophet then came and revealed the curse. He gave up everything to make sure he would never do something to the family he loved so much. He gave up his title and wandered around Greece for a while. He came upon a small group who felt the need to treat him like dirt. He killed them. All but one. It happened to be the traveling party of King Laius. He didn't know he killed the king and no one else knew either. He ended up saving Thebes from the Sphinx and they made him king. In order to do that, he had to marry the widowed king. They had four children together. When the blind prophet who served Apollo had tried to stop the whole affair, no one believed him. When Oedipus found out, he gouged his own eyes out."

"That's...sick."

A fresh batch of tears streamed out of her eyes. "That's what I feel like."

"Huh? You lost me at the story. What does that have to do with anything?" He just noticed her eyes had never shifted from the corner across from her. In that corner was a book that had been thrown. He knew because it was open with its covered side facing up. He walked over and kneeled before it. He gently picked it up and went through it.

"Kagome? I...I don't get it." He was honestly trying, but she just didn't make sense.

"Although everyone in the play did everything they could to prevent the curse, it still came. No matter what they did, nothing got better. Oedipus was supposed to be the best of men. He was almost revered as a god himself by his people, but he was helpless. That's how I feel. No matter what I do, nothing is getting better. He could. My father could."

Inuyasha's heart wrenched as sobbing wrecked through Kagome's body. For the first time since he entered, she moved. Her shoulders slumped as she fell apart. What else could he do but walk over to comfort the pained boy.

He, in an unusual show of sensitivity, wrapped his arms around Kagome and remembered the deaths of his own parents.

After a few seconds, the door to the office opened once more. Through it came the unsuspecting businessman. Inuyasha knew it was his half-brother, but his friend's immense pain was far more important than his pride. None of his friends would have ever guessed he would put anything above his pride.

Who would have thought?

Sesshoumaru merely glanced at the two and coldly teased the older of the two. "Neglect to tell me something, little brother?"

"Not now Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru spotted his treasured album, the one filled with memories of the family who accepted him as one of their own, on the floor near where the two were.

"What is the meaning of this?! You know not to touch this! I guarantee that you will never-"

Sesshoumaru suddenly halted his tirade as Kagome; whose face was previously hidden in Inuyasha's shirt now rose while she faced him.

What was she doing here? And why was she dressed like..."Oh no."

Kagome saw the look on his face. It was as if he were watching a car on its way to crash into a tree. He was afraid for her. But like a blind prophet, there was nothing he could do.

"Kagome," he began almost gently.

"Wait. You know him?" Hadn't he been confused enough tonight? What in the hell was going on?

"Of course. I'm his godfather. I've been helping take care of him since he was two."

`What?!' "So, you're close?"

After seeing a curt and serious nod from the older `sibling', Inuyasha wanted to hit something. Sesshoumaru had been caring for Kagome for that long. Sesshoumaru cared for anybody at all. A pang of sorrow and jealousy ran through Inuyasha's soul. Why couldn't his brother have taken care of him, his family, as opposed to a stranger?

Sesshoumaru opened his arms expectantly toward Kagome and she ran straight into them and sobbed fresh tears into his white dress shirt.

Inuyasha felt as though the apocalypse was upon him. Sesshoumaru was actually showing someone affection. Before, he had always dismissed Sesshoumaru's apathy toward him as emotional constipation. But now? Was it him and not Sesshoumaru?

"Inuyasha, go downstairs and check on your event. I will see to Kagome."

Lacking the vigor he came up with, Inuyasha lethargically returned to his world, where everything made sense.

"Kagome, does your mother know you're here? posing as a male?"

Kagome retold her story beginning with the phone call from her mother in the cafe, to Jak, to baseball, Kouga, Sango, the sunglasses, Kikyo, and all the way up until her arrival. She knew she could trust him if no one else.

"...and then when I got here, Miroku sent me to clean the bathrooms. Which was a little odd because I didn't think we had to do that tonight."

"You don't. Go on."

"Anyway," she continued sadly, "I was looking for the bathroom and got lost. I ended up in this room. I would have left, but I saw the picture with you being signed and..." She thought of something. "I didn't know you had a brother. Why didn't you ever tell us about him?"

"He was...insignificant."

"That horrible! Imagine if I said something like that about Souta!"

"That is an entirely different situation, my dear. You care deeply for your brother."

"And you don't?!"

"I couldn't if I wanted to."

"Why not?!"

"It's difficult to be around him. He is a constant reminder of my father's abandonment."

"He's a good guy."

"He's not good enough for you."

"I'm not so sure."

"Luckily for the both of us, I am."

He had been like that for the last half hour. As everyone else was closing up to the public, Inuyasha just sat in the corner booth brooding. What had gotten him so riled up? Oh yeah. Ten minutes after he went up, Sesshoumaru also went up.

"Hey Yash!" Sango called. She received no reply and when Miroku caught her eye, he motioned to leave him alone.

Jak hit the stage. "Alright everybody its time. The after party. First we're gonna play some truth or dare." At some of the looks he was getting, he quickly added the twist. "All dares must involve kissing, touching, whatever. We'll only do it for twenty minutes. I know no one likes it, but it is tradition.

They had played for a little while. It was okay but, they would rather have the stereo blasting. It was the final turn, Sango's turn.

Kagura, who hated Sango, had just been given the dare response. Kagura had thought Sango hated Miroku. Knowing Miroku had just gone into the back of the club to find the supply room to get more soda, she made her challenge.

"I dare you to make out with the next person to come through that hallway, which leads to the back of the club. This is including kissing, licking, biting, groping, and whatever other kinks you want to throw in." Kagura smirked thinking she had won.

Sango couldn't back down. This was how she would lose her first kiss? Uh.

She had a straight view down the hallway. The farthest door was the supply room and along the way were a broom closet, the bathrooms, and a stairway.

There came Miroku out of the supply room carrying a case of soda. Each step took increasingly longer. Finally, after about forever, he almost reached it when Kagome emerged from the staircase and exited the hallway into the main room, before Miroku.

Oh shit.

AN-What do you think? The Oedipus thing was kinda random, but it was supposed to be. Plus, talked about it in class today and I couldn't get it out of my head.