InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Beginnings ❯ Ch 17: Dinner and a Show ( Chapter 17 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Ch 17: Dinner and a Show

 

 

Inuyasha stirred as a stray ray of sunlight poked through a broken window blind and found him as he lay on a sleeping bag with Kagome in the middle of the floor of a darkened New York apartment. He squinted and propped himself up on one elbow. Kagome was still asleep beside him, although she didn't look much more comfortable than he was. Peter was on the couch, and Jen and Noriko shared a bedroom with Jen's friend whose apartment it was.

 

Sesshomaru had declined to accompany them to go out later that evening, much to Jen's disappointment. He did offer to put them up at a hotel, but Inuyasha, being contrary, told him no, saying that Jen had made other arrangements. Now Inuyasha wished that he had taken Sesshomaru up on his offer. He gazed down at Kagome, then stretched and got to his feet. Might as well start the day.

 

Behind him Kagome yawned and sat up. She glanced over at Peter snoring softly on the couch, and suddenly she grinned. “Shower, Inuyasha?”

 

Inuyasha grinned back and took her hand, pulling her to her feet. Quietly they tiptoed to the bathroom and did their small part to conserve water.

 

Last night had been fun. After Sesshomaru's dinner revelations, Peter wanted to know exactly what Sesshomaru could do as a youkai. Much to Inuyasha's delight, Sesshomaru was clearly annoyed, but this modern day Sesshomaru wouldn't or couldn't show it. The old Sesshomaru would have simply killed Peter. Jen still hadn't caught on that Sesshomaru was the more lethal of the two brothers. She judged them by the way they looked, and Sesshomaru looked human, while Inuyasha with his dog ears did not.

 

“He has youkai ears, too, you know,” said Inuyasha a little defensively. “Show them, Sesshomaru.” He reached over and pushed Sesshomaru's perfect hair away from his perfect face.

 

“Ooh, he's an elf!” squealed Jen, drawing surprised looks from both Kagome and Noriko. Wasn't that what Peter had thought about Inuyasha at the beginning?

 

Sesshomaru's eyes shot daggers at Inuyasha as he primly covered the points of his ears with his hair and tucked it back into place. “I am not an elf,” he stated. “I am youkai. I do not do magical tricks. I will not have humans, any humans,” he reiterated, staring at Inuyasha, “presume to know what I am.” As he spoke, the air around him seemed to shimmer with power. Kagome rubbed her arms. She noticed that none of the others, with the exception of Inuyasha whose own aura was beginning to glow with power, felt or saw anything out of the ordinary. To her eyes, both Sessomaru's and Inuyasha's markings became clearly visible, and Inuyasha's eyes flashed between amber and red.

 

“Stop it,” she said, as much to Inuyasha as to his brother. “I think you're both pretty safe in that regard,” she continued, referring to the lack of reaction to their display of power from the other three humans in the room.

 

Jen, oblivious to the undercurrents between the two brothers, switched places with Peter so that she could sit next to Sesshomaru. In her mind, he matched her vision of a Tolkein elf and she was fascinated by that idea. “So,” she said to him, “are there any more at home like you?”

 

The evening continued in the same vein. Peter asked if Sesshomaru had a sword too, and that brought about another scowl and a curt, “No.” Inuyasha chuckled. He wouldn't be surprised if Sesshomaru had his sword somewhere close by, just as he knew Sesshomaru had that white vest that wasn't really a vest beneath his modern sports jacket.

 

“Too bad,” remarked Peter. He was about to ask Sesshomaru about his fingernails, wondering if they were claws too, like Inuyasha's. His hand half went out to touch them when Inuyasha stopped him.

 

“Don't. They're poison.”

 

Sesshomaru's eyes glittered. He would have let the boy touch his claws and perhaps cut himself on their sharp points. But the boy listened to Inuyasha. Too bad, his thoughts echoed Peter's earlier comment.

 

Noriko made herself as small as she could in a corner, hoping that Inuyasha's older brother would not notice her. She didn't realize that her fear was like a beacon and it drew both youkai to her more surely than anything else she might have done.

 

Sesshomaru excused himself from Jen's attentions and moved to sit beside Noriko instead. “And what of you, little mortal?” he asked her in Japanese. “Will you leave this room and tell the world that youkai truly exist?”

 

Noriko shook her head violently, much to Sesshomaru's amusement. He reached over and lightly stroked her cheek with his poisonous claws. “Don't worry. You are safe as long as I do not break the skin.” He traced his fingertips along her jawline. “So soft, so human,” he murmured. Noriko shuddered.

 

“Leave her alone,” said Inuyasha. “She's scared but she's getting better.” He hoped she was getting better. He had his doubts when he could smell the fear rolling off her.

 

“Do you guarantee these humans of yours?”

 

“Yeah, I guarantee them.”

 

“Then I will leave them to your care. See that they remain worthy of your trust. If they break it, I will expect you to deal with them as a youkai Lord.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” replied Inuyasha.

 

Sesshomaru took his leave shortly thereafter, after ensuring that Kagome, the one human, apparently, that he did approve of, had all his pertinent contact information. “I'll be in touch.”

 

All in all, thought Inuyasha, a memorable evening.

 

 

Everybody was still sleeping when they got out of the shower, so Inuyasha pointed at the window, mouthing the word `outside' as he raised his eyebrows in a question.

 

`Sure,' Kagome mouthed back, nodding for emphasis.

 

Inuyasha grabbed the blinds, pushed them aside, and cranked open the window. He didn't give Kagome time to protest as he swept her up, out and over in one smooth leap. Kagome stifled her cry of surprise against his shoulder. Luckily they were only about six stories up.

 

Peter shielded his face from the sun with one arm after he watched them jump out of the window. “Cool,” he said with a smile, and settled back down to sleep until the crack of noon.

 

As much fun as it was hopping from building to building in the city, Inuyasha automatically gravitated towards nature, and so they found themselves eventually in Central Park. Inuyasha had tried leaping to the tops of some of the taller buildings just to see if he could do it, but Kagome was having no part of it. She was relieved when Inuyasha found the park. They landed in the middle of a woods which was blissfully quiet and devoid of people at the moment.

 

“I want this,” Kagome commented. “The trees, the silence, the privacy…some day when it's just you and me, I want to make our home in a place like this.”

 

`New York City?”

 

“No, not New York. I mean in a forest.”

 

“Yeah,” said Inuyahsa. “Like my forest near your school. Remember?”

 

Kagome leaned against him. “I remember. A place like that would be perfect. Or back home.” She looked at Inuyasha. “Your home, back in the Sengoku Jidai. I could do that, too.”

 

Inuyasha was surprised. Kagome really wouldn't mind staying in his time for good? He wondered what Sesshomaru would say if he told him to forget about staying here and being the new Lord of these lands. “We could do that,” he said slowly.

 

“We still have these next four years to decide,” replied Kagome, “but I wouldn't mind.”

 

Oh well, thought Inuyasha. Kagome wasn't giving up on the school thing. He supposed in that case he could be the youkai Lord of this place for the next four years anyway.

 

Just then Kagome's cell phone rang.

 

“We have to meet the others downtown. They're standing in the ticket line to see a show.”

 

Inuyasha didn't even try to understand that sentence. As long as Kagome knew what was going on, he figured he'd eventually find out. He started to gather her up, intending to travel `downtown' the same way they'd traveled here, once she explained where `downtown' was.

 

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said in that tone. “You're supposed to keep a low profile, remember? Not let humans see you? We need to take a taxi.”

 

“Keh.”

 

They took a taxi. Kagome had to pull Inuyasha into the back seat. He wanted to sit up front next to the driver.

 

Later they all sat in the audience and watched strange creatures up on a platform as they jumped and sang their story in a volume that hurt Inuyasha's ears. He had to admit, though, that he could follow what was going on relatively easily. He was slightly embarassed as he recalled a similar situation in Kagome's Tokyo. So that was a show, too. Apparently he had been in the show. He liked being in the audience much better. The theater was dark and Kagome cuddled against his side.

 

 

Eventually the long weekend came to an end, and so on Monday the group from Connecticut boarded the bus for the return trip, again with Inuyasha pressed tight against the window for a last glimpse of the city. He hadn't had a chance to try any of those interesting bridges on this trip. Maybe next time.

 

On the trip back, Inuyasha made it a point to go sit with Noriko for a little while. Kagome nodded her approval.

 

“You know, you have to get over this fear of me,” he started the conversation.

 

Noriko looked at him. “Or what? You'll take care of me like your brother said? What does that mean, anyway? Would you kill me?”

 

Inuyasha hadn't taken into account that Noriko understood Japanese, and Sesshomaru probably hadn't cared. It didn't matter now. She had heard them.

 

“I don't want to,” he said softly.

 

Noriko stared at him with shock. He hadn't said that he wouldn't kill her, only that he didn't want to. Was he really such a monster like the old stories suggested youkai could be? He was looking back at her unblinkingly, his strange amber eyes which she had once thought attractive now seemed just alien and cold. What did Kagome see in him?

 

“I was being sarcastic,” she mumbled. Who did he think he was to threaten her? What did he and that youkai brother of his think? That she would go running to the police and report that they were both creatures out of legend? She said she wasn't going to tell and she wouldn't tell. So what if she was still a little scared? Who wouldn't be? They were both monsters who would as soon kill humans as look at them, right? Well, she could only die once. She jutted out her chin and glared at Inuyasha.

 

But Inuyasha laughed and put his arm around her shoulder. It wasn't at all like the caress Sesshomaru had given her. She stiffened, but it was more in anger than fear, and she peeked up at Inuyasha. His eyes were sparkling with genuine humor and his smile was happy even though the tiny tips of his fangs protruded slightly. “Inuyasha?” she questioned.

 

“It's ok. You'll be fine. You got mad at me and forgot to be scared, didn't you?” He swatted the side of her head gently. “How could you think I would really kill you? Idiot,” he said fondly.

 

Noriko felt relieved, and Inuyasha could smell the difference in her scent. They had reached a turning point. Inuyasha felt relieved, too. He didn't know what he would have done if he had been forced to make that decision. It wasn't going to be easy being a youkai Lord.