InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Beginnings ❯ Ch, 21: Thanksgiving ( Chapter 21 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

 

Ch 21: Thanksgiving

 

 

Moving day went smoothly. Peter used his father's SUV to help them transfer most of Kagome's belongings to the new apartment. What Inuyasha owned, mostly clothes Kagome had given him, could fit in his arms. Kagome used the small refund she got from moving out of the dorm to buy a few necessities, like curtains and a bed.

 

At first, Inuyasha had not been interested in going shopping. He didn't see the point in getting a lot of things. Even when Kagome told him they couldn't take the furniture, which included the bed, from the dorm, he didn't think it was a problem. They could just use her sleeping bag. He relented when Kagome explained that she wanted a bed so she could be more comfortable. That was different. As long as she understood he didn't need such things.

 

They spent Friday evening at a shopping center and a nearby mall. Kagome had insisted they take the bus. She dragged Inuyasha to a bedding store where they sat and bounced on many different mattresses to test them out. Inuyasha was amazed at the size of some of those things. He saw the possibilities, including a flash of himself, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara and Kaede all sleeping on one of the bigger mattresses. He shook his head violently to clear the image. Eventually they settled on a medium-sized mattress which came with its own bed frame. Kagome arranged to have it delivered to their apartment the next day.

 

Inuyasha was out of his depth at the mall when they shopped for curtains. He understood Kagome's desire for privacy screens, although personally he thought they'd just get in the way when he wanted to go in or out through the window. Kagome had looked at him oddly. “Why would you go out the window when we have our own door?”

 

Inuyasha opened his mouth, then closed it again. Fine. He'd let that go, but what was the big deal about matching colors and fabrics? He just didn't get it, and he told Kagome so.

 

“It's a girl thing,” she explained.

 

Inuyasha was relieved. He had been worried that it was a modern thing which he couldn't understand because he was from the past. Turned out Sango would have understood, and Peter probably would not have got it either.

 

Their other friends donated dishes, pots and pans, and odd pieces of furniture to get them started. The place looked fairly livable when they were done. Kagome ordered a pizza to celebrate.

 

By the time everyone left it was rather late. Kagome sighed happily as she locked the door behind them and pulled the curtains closed. Inuyasha sat cross-legged in the middle of their living room floor pushing buttons on Kagome's laptop with one claw. It wasn't TV but it was all they had.

 

Kagome turned so that her back was against the door. “Well, here we are, just the two of us. What do we do now?” she asked, with a sparkle in her eyes.

 

Inuyasha blinked.

 

She pulled him to his feet and led him to the bathroom. Still holding one of his hands, she used her other hand to turn on the faucet. It had been a long time since either of them had taken a bath in a real tub. This particular tub was deep enough for two, and she intended to take full advantage of it. Inuyasha let her set the tone, amused when she tested the water to make sure it wasn't too hot for him. He knew she liked it hot.

 

The new bed had a funny chemical smell but Inuyasha ignored it. He flopped down across the middle of it and pulled Kagome down next to him. There was plenty of room, but the two of them were used to her tiny dorm bed and found themselves cuddling together on one side of this one. Kagome assured him that the new bed smell would dissipate with time. Inuyasha thought he knew a way to overpower the new bed smell and get a good use out of the rest of the bed at the same time. He explained his plan to Kagome. She thought it was a good idea, too.

 

 

It snowed Tuesday morning, just enough to make everything look pretty. Inuyasha pushed open their door and watched the swirling flakes cover the narrow steps leading up to their third floor apartment. Luckily they wouldn't be taking the stairs.

 

“Come on, Kagome,” he called. He didn't want to miss breakfast. She ran out, wearing a knitted hat, scarf and gloves. Inuyasha squatted down so she could get on, then hopped lightly to the railing, leaving little indentations in the snow where his hands and feet touched. He pushed off, landing on the still leafy branch of a nearby tree, and made his way to school with hardly a ruffle in the snow-laden branches.

 

The snow stopped well before lunchtime, and by the time Inuyasha got out of his ESL class in the afternoon, it had started to melt. The fog was so thick that even Kagome wasn't worried that someone might see them on their way home. As much as she enjoyed traveling in this fashion with Inuyasha, and she trusted him, she really did, she thought that maybe when they came back in January they should get a car. Naturally, she should be the one to get her driver's license, but she was going to have a fight on her hands with Inuyasha over it. She knew he sometimes sneaked off with Peter to practice driving in the school's parking lots.

 

This was a short week at school due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Both Peter and Jen had invited them to come home with them for Thanksgiving. Noriko accepted Peter's offer, but Kagome told them she and Inuyasha would be spending the holiday with Inuyasha's brother Sesshomaru in New York. It wasn't true. They had other plans.

 

The temperature continued to climb Tuesday night, making the fog even more dense. Kagome couldn't see anything when she looked out of their bedroom window. It was eerie, and she hoped it didn't portend anything bad for their planned getaway. Thanksgiving was a particularly American holiday. She and Inuyasha didn't really care that they would miss out on turkey with all the trimmings. They had their own thanksgiving in mind, one that involved just the two of them and Mother Nature.

 

Something woke Kagome in the middle of the night. She sat up straight and her gaze flew to the window, but it was still foggy out. Inuyasha's eyes glowed when she glanced back to see if he was awake. He didn't move, but she could feel his body tense up in response to possible danger. “What is it?” he asked.

 

“I don't know. I thought I heard something,” Kagome replied.

 

Just then there was a muffled thump from the living room. Inuyasha jumped out of bed. He sniffed, then took a moment to put on some pajama pants Kagome had bought for him on one of their shopping trips. “Wait here,” he told her, having no doubt that she would follow him anyway. He was half right. She waited long enough to throw on some pajamas of her own before she followed him out.

 

They heard another thump from outside. Kagome clutched a handful of Inuyasha's hair and stood behind him. Gradually she realized she could sense a vague aura on the other side of the door, and she relaxed slightly. For some reason she had been more scared when she thought it was a robber. Now that she knew it was youkai, she felt confident that she and Inuyasha could handle it.

 

Inuyasha threw open the door and confronted the same fox-girl he had met in his forest. She shivered and looked uncertainly at Kagome before shifting her eyes back to Inuyasha.

 

“How did you find me?” he wanted to know.

 

Kagome looked at Inuyasha in surprise. They knew each other? She motioned for Inuyasha to bring the girl inside before someone saw her.

 

The fox-girl spoke some words to Inuyasha that Kagome couldn't understand. In response, Inuyasha pulled Kagome around to his side and tightened his arm around her. “She's my—my love,” he told the fox-girl, jutting out his chin just a little. Apparently Inuyasha could understand her despite the language barrier. Maybe that's why he had such an easy time learning English, thought Kagome, before it registered exactly what he had said. His love? He said that out loud to someone else! Not `girlfriend,' not `woman,' but `love.' His love. She couldn't help smiling at that, before she noticed the look of astonishment on the face of the fox-girl. Was it really that hard to believe?

 

Inuyasha dropped to a sitting position on the floor, and Kagome knelt beside him. The fox-girl sat opposite them. They really needed to get some furniture. While they talked, Kagome only caught half the conversation as Inuyasha replied to the fox-girl in Japanese. It was like hearing half a telephone conversation. She could guess what it was about, but she wasn't completely sure. The fox-girl spoke excitedly, every now and then glancing with confusion at Kagome, but Inuyasha's responses were telling.

 

. . . . .

 

“My house?” Inuyasha asked.

 

. . . . .

 

“Where did they come from? Were they there before?”

 

. . . . .

 

“I didn't think of that.” Inuyasha shot to his feet. “But I'll take care of it right now.” He started towards the bedroom.

 

Kagome said, “Where are you going, Inuyasha?”

 

“To get dressed.” He shut the door behind him. Kagome scrambled to her feet, bowing apologetically to their guest as she followed Inuyasha into the bedroom. Inuyasha was just fastening Tetsusaiga through his waistband.

 

“What's going on?”

 

“Sesshomaru was more right than he knew. I met some youkai the last time I went up to my forest. At first I hardly noticed that they were there, but it seemed that the more I paid attention to them, the more noticeable they became. That fox-girl out there was one of them. Kagome, they were harmless. There was nothing threatening or evil about them. Just like Mr. Rinks, they seemed fascinated that I am a dog-youkai and a human youkai. I think. I'm not sure they actually get that I am part human. Anyway, I was going to introduce you to them when we go up there in a few days. I thought they would remind you of Shippo, but honestly, even Shippo acts more human than they do. Sesshomaru said they needed someone like me to show them the way to interact with the real world, and I thought that was what I saw happening the last time I was there. But apparently it happened better than either of us thought. After I left, other youkai started to appear, and some of these other youkai were very destructive. They smashed the house I built for you,” Inuyasha concluded sadly.

 

Kagome put her arms around Inuyasha. “We can rebuild the house,” she told him. “So what are you going to do now?”

 

“I'm going to hunt down those youkai and destroy them!” said Inuyasha. “I'll show them—Tetsusaiga and I will help them disappear, and this time there will be no chance for them to come back.”

 

“I'm coming with you.”

 

Inuyasha didn't argue. Since the fox-girl had found him so easily, he didn't want to take a chance that one of these violent youkai might come looking for him too. While he didn't have a problem with that, aside from the fact that his new neighbors might notice the commotion, he definitely didn't want one of them showing up here when Kagome was all alone. Better that she stay with him.

 

Kagome put on her heavy sweater and put Inuyasha's black hooded fleece jacket over the top of it to keep her warm. This time Inuyasha would keep on the fire-rat outfit in case he needed its extra protection. He had argued the point with her, but Kagome was adamant.

 

Traveling through the foggy night was surreal. Kagome could see nothing, not even the wiry fox-girl who she knew was running alongside them. She shut her eyes when she felt Inuyasha's muscles bunch beneath her in preparation for a leap. She had no idea how he knew where to put his feet in all this fog.

 

Eventually he put her down, and she recognized the top of the cliff near Inuyasha's forest by the broken pile of branches that used to be their lean-to. That was a piece of pure maliciousness. She wondered how these spirits of nature could turn so evil. When she thought about it, though, it made a certain kind of sense. Nature itself was capricious. It could be terribly destructive like an earthquake, or violent like a thunderstorm. Neither was necessarily evil, but nevertheless they sometimes resulted in pain and suffering.

 

She voiced her suspicions to Inuyasha. “I know,” he replied. He was aware that youkai in general could not be easily categorized into good or evil as humans thought of those terms. In fact, the only truly evil youkai were those tainted—Inuyasha frowned, remembering Sesshomaru's words to him—by human contact. The destructive hordes of lesser youkai tended to be manifestations of nature or in some cases, warped reflections of human emotions evoked by some great catastrophe. It didn't matter. This was his forest. He would not tolerate this behavior from any youkai in his territory. Their lives were forfeit.

 

He left Kagome at the cliff's edge with the fox-girl. “This won't take long. Wait here for me.” He drew Tetsusaiga and it transformed with a flare of light which cut through the fog. With a last look at Kagome, Inuyasha disappeared into the forest.

 

Sure enough, he felt their angry aura before he actually saw the distorted half-animal, half-nightmare shapes of the youkai. They were even more well-formed than the youkai who had attacked Peter's SUV. He wondered again where they had come from. Very soon he would need to have a long talk with Mr. Rinks.

 

Right now, none of it mattered. They had broken his house and threatened his forest. That was a threat to him and his that he couldn't ignore. With a yell, he rushed them, brandishing Tetsusaiga in front of him. Youkai sizzled in the sudden light. Inuyasha sheathed the sword and went after the few stragglers with his claws. It felt good. He caught the look of confusion in the eyes of one of the last youkai he caught. “Oh, no,” he muttered, “you're not going to make me feel guilty about this.” With a final swipe of his claws he ended it.

 

When he got back to Kagome, he found her surrounded by youkai he recognized by their scents as the same group he had met last week. They sat or crouched in a semi-circle around her, and she held a little furry something in her lap.

 

“Look, Inuyasha!” she said. “Aren't they cute?”

 

“Yeah. Cute.” He waded through the youkai. “Problem solved. You can all go home now.” The youkai all shifted their attention to Inuyasha. He could swear they had even more human characteristics this time.

 

Kagome gently set down the small youkai she had been holding and stood up next to Inuyasha. The fox-girl stood, too. She looked like she was waiting for his approval.

 

“You did good,” Inuyasha told her. “Thank you.”

 

 

Kagome fell asleep on the way back. This wasn't the way Inuyasha had planned their little escape to his forest, but it couldn't be helped. He had seen Kagome shivering in the cold. Without their little shelter, he was afraid she wouldn't be able to stand it, so they headed home.

 

By mutual consent, they skipped class Wednesday morning. Most of the other kids, including Noriko who would have been Inuyasha's only teacher that day, weren't going to class either, preferring to get a head start on their holiday travels. So they slept in.

 

“What do you want to do now?” asked Kagome as she made them both toast and tea. It was very quiet in the house. The first and second floor tenants, also students, had all gone home. The school had closed as of noon, so they couldn't even go to the cafeteria for their meals. They were truly on their own.

 

Inuyasha would have been happy spending the long Thanksgiving weekend at home with Kagome, but he had questions that needed to be answered. Kagome had already told him he couldn't go see Mr. Rinks until after the holiday. That left one other person. “I suppose we could really go spend Thanksgiving with Sesshomaru,” he said.