InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hit and Run ❯ Runaround ( Chapter 6 )

A/N: I LIIIIIIVE! My writing has just been going in all these different directions-I'm writing fiction now [shamelessplug] you can find my stuff on fictionpress.com under SirusPolars[/shamelessplug], as well as working on essays which will enable me to afford college tuition.

This chapter is named after the song, "Runaround" by Blues Traveler.

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah blah blah not mine blah blah.

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Runaround

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It figured. There was no way he was going to escape the boredom of sitting around and healing. God seemed to be taking measures to ensure that he consciously endured the whole damn painful process, the jerk.

Inu-Yasha was just drifting off to what promised to be a liberating sleep (it was a pain in the ass to find that illusive comfortable position, what with the damn paper gown itching and crinkling every time he moved), when there came a clatter outside of his door. He grumbled angrily, trying to ignore the sound of conversation just beyond the wall, but the noises seemed magnified in the blank tile chamber of the hospital and echoed insistently inside his head.

With an irritated growl, Inu-Yasha sat up, letting the sheets pool around his waist. There was no way he'd be able to sleep with those idiots yakking so loudly. What sort of morons strike up a conversation outside of a hospital room? Didn't they know the injured needed their rest?

The talking continued, so he assumed they didn't.

So it appeared he was back at square one again-- back to being completely, utterly, mind-numbingly bored. Absently, Inu-Yasha stared at his hands, laying palm-up at his sides. His left was taped at the wrist to hold the tube transporting fluids into his system in place, the clear pipe coiling about his forearm and trailing to the IV at his side. He wiggled his fingers experimentally, watching the tendons move the tube slightly and disrupt the flow of the slightly-off color liquid. It didn't hurt-- in fact, his fingers felt surprisingly numb and cumbersome, probably from the painkillers his nurse had roughly introduced into his system a few hours ago.

Distantly, he pondered to himself what would happen were he to grab the tube and remove it from his arm. Sango would probably come in and kick his ass from here to the moon, but he couldn't really see any reason for the stupid thing to be there. It wasn't as if he needed the aid of the damn fluids or anything, the accident hadn't caused any damage to his organs other than bruise them. He was fully conscious and could eat, drink, and piss just fine; he certainly didn't need anyone simplifying the process.

His right hand moved on its own accord, long fingers positioning themselves to pinch the base of the clear duct. One good yank and…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Inu-Yasha's fingers slackened their grip on the tube as his eyes strayed to the door, following the sound of the voice and narrowing to hide his surprise.

Leaning casually against the doorframe was the reason the tube was jammed in his wrist in the first place, dressed in a pair of flattering hip-hugger jeans and a t-shirt that read "Rusty's Diner: No shoes, No shirt, No problem!". Hair loose and curling around her shoulders with her small hands thrust nonchalantly through her belt loops, she watched him with a lax expression on her face, looking the epitome of quietude.

"I'm sure your nurse would be gravely upset with you if you ripped out your IV." She smirked softly, brown eyes twinkling with a slight smugness. "I know I wouldn't want to face an angry Sango if I could avoid it."

Reluctantly, he had to admit; for a pain in the ass, she looked damn cute, especially without the drowned-rat look. Part of his brain gagged at the thought-- his almost-assassin? Cute?

"Feh. What do you want, wench?" Inu-Yasha folded his arms across his chest defiantly. "I'm sure it's not to tell me what's good for me, so spit it out and leave."

There was an indignant spark that flickered across her face, and she narrowed her eyes to favor him with the beginnings of a cold glare.

However, just when he thought he was going to get a good rise out of the girl, she sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair, her anger dissipating before his eyes into a more exasperated disposition.

"Look…" She offered him a small smile, rising from her slouch and crossing the room to sit in the collapsible chair beside his bed. "I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot and--"

"Whatever tipped you off to that one? Was it the part where you sent my car careening into a tree or the part where you verbally assaulted me in my sick-bed?"

A hint of the fire he'd seen yesterday rose behind her eyes, but it died quickly. She seemed to be fighting her temper valiantly, but it would go against his very nature to let her waltz in without a good row. He smirked to herself, watching her inward battle with her sharp tongue.

Kagome swallowed and started again, furrowing her brows and trying desperately to keep from bursting with obscenities. "What I mean is: I think we should start over."

She extended her hand and smiled again. "I'm Kagome Higurashi, the girl who accidentally put you into this mess. I'm really sorry and I promise to make it up to you, Mr. Hatsuyo. I hope you can forgive me and so we can be in a room together without trying to kill each other."

Inu-Yasha only stared at her offered hand with a look that clearly said he thought she was insane.

The two sat stock-still for a moment, as neither was willing to back down first-- Kagome still holding out her hand in a sort of melodramatic peace offering, and Inu-Yasha cocking an eyebrow at it like it was the stupidest thing he had ever seen.

It wasn't long before Kagome gave up with an aggravated sigh, whipping her hand back to grab something from her back pocket. Inu-Yasha watched her out of the corner of his eye-- not that he was cared what she was doing, or anything-- but the way she was wiggling in her seat to reach beneath her was doing all sorts of interesting things to those low-riding jeans…

Bah! Bad thoughts to be thinking about the evil wench! Mental slap for Inu-Yasha. Faintly, he wondered what a rotten girl like her was doing with such a nice figure… the smarter part of him whispered "devil's advocate" at the back of his mind.

Lost in his thoughts, Inu-Yasha gave a slight jump in surprise as a wrinkled envelope was waved under his nose. "What the--"

His eyes followed the length of the slightly-crumpled note, down the extended arm to meet the impatient scowl Kagome was giving him. She rolled her eyes when he met her gaze, whacking him lightly on the side of the head with the envelope.

"Consider it a first installment towards your auto and medical bills." She watched him swipe the letter from her grasp with a mixture of annoyance and regret-- it was rather difficult to watch all that money go straight into someone else's pocket.

"Feh," was his reply.

Not like Kagome was expecting a "thank you" anyways. "There's $2850.00 all together. You can count it if you want; it's all there."

But Inu-Yasha only set the envelope on the top of the monitor next to his bed and gave her a level stare. Kagome fidgeted a bit, uncomfortable under the scrutiny of those amethyst eyes. "Look, I will pay you, but it just might take a while… I mean, I've given you all the money I could possibly spare right now…"

It was very un-Kikyo like of her to twiddle her thumbs like that. Inu-Yasha smirked; she was practically frying under his glare. It was quite satisfying.

"Okay, wench-- here's what we're gonna do…" he leaned forward to address her, opting to save her from her miserable squirming. "I won't charge you any more money for my bills…"

Kagome's heart rose hopefully.

"… but in exchange, you'll be expected to work for me until all the wedding shit is done with."

And just as quickly, it burst into flames. "What exactly will I be expected to do?"

Inu-Yasha grinned in a complacent way, ticking off each task on his fingers. "First off, you'll do the basic housework-- that means you'll make sure my dog doesn't destroy anything, you'll keep him fed, you'll do my laundry and make sure the apartment is spotless at all times, AND you'll help me move all the shit out of the guest room to prepare it for my wedding guests. I hope you know how to cook as well-you'll be making all my meals and any in-between snacks when I want them."

Kagome tried to keep a straight face-- really she did-- but she couldn't fight the look of disbelief crossing her features. Surely he was jesting; no man living alone could possibly have that much work to be done around the home.

"Also…"

There was more?!

Inu-Yasha continued without missing a beat. "You'll be expected to help Kikyo with the wedding preparations when she comes into town, as well as take care of my nephew. He's a pain in the ass-you'll have your hands full with him."

Kagome sighed. "Anything else?"

There was no way Inu-Yasha's smirk could grow any wider without splitting his face in half. "I'm sure I'll think of something. Basically, you'll do what I tell you without complaint for the next month, and we'll forget the whole payment business. Deal?"

Kagome hesitated, seriously considering putting in the extra shifts at the diner as well as selling all of her worldly possessions as opposed to the massive amount of work Inu-Yasha would have her doing. But the more reasonable part of her insisted that it'd only be for a month, and once it was over she'd still have all of her stuff.

Still…

"No funny business…"

Inu-Yasha snorted. "What do you take me for?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Kagome retorted, favoring the man with a flat stare. Unfortunately, her barb was easily deflected by his rather self-satisfied smirk-it was obvious he was enjoying playing her guilt to his advantage.

"Last chance," Inu-Yasha warned triumphantly, "going once…"

Man, she REALLY wanted to smack him again-- maybe that would dilute that irritatingly smug sneer he was wearing.

"Going twice…"

"I…" Kagome faltered with her tongue on the verge of an agreement; Inu-Yasha's grin only widened. At that point, she would have given anything to deny the jerk the satisfaction of her subservience. She was willing to go as far as trading her very soul for something heavy and blunt to beat him with, if it were a viable trade.

"Take it or leave it, wench."

"KA-GO-ME! My name's KAGOME!" His voice was already starting to grate on her very last nerve.

"Whatever."

Life was so unfair. Of all people she had to kowtow to… It simply had to be a cruel twist of unmerited karmic punishment. Really, what sort of horrendous crime against humanity would a person have to commit in order to deserve a month servicing the biggest asshole in the history of mankind?

Inu-Yasha was tickled pink with the situation- the girl was squirming under his thumb and they both knew it. "So what's it gonna be?"

Man, life sucked.

"Fine!" Kagome spat, crossing her arms in a huff and looking sharply away. "But I'll have you know that this has nothing to do with your stupid proposition. I'm only doing it because my stupid conscience refuses to leave me alone until I square things up with you."

The man simply shrugged, his victory affirmed. "You could be doing this to better your chances of growing a second head-it doesn't matter to me. You got a pen?"

A pen?

Kagome blinked, thrown off by the abrupt change in the direction of their conversation. "Uh, yeah, I think…"

Inu-Yasha tried his damnedest not to stare as she fished around in her pants pockets again. What was his deal today? It wasn't as if the wench was remotely likable… she wasn't even that impressive when it came to T&A, so why was his blood heating in a way that it certainly should NOT be heating?!

Dear God, he hated himself.

It was in that brief moment-- watching Kagome bite her lower lip as she fumbled around in her pockets for a pen-- that Inu-Yasha saw the word 'trouble' write itself all over her slim frame. If this sporadic instance of raging hormones wasn't just some medicinal side effect, then this bitch was going to be a hell of a problem if she was sticking around for an entire month.

He sincerely hoped that once Kikyo came back everything would return to normal and hating the bitch would come easier.

"Hello? Earth to Inu-Yasha. Come in, Inu-Yasha." Inu-Yasha's dark eyes snapped up, only to find Kagome giving him a skewed look and beating his head lightly with a pen. "Where'd you go just now?"

He masked his embarrassment with a loud "Keh" before swiping the pen roughly from the girl's hand and clicking it once to extend the inked tip. There was no way he was going to let this stupid girl get to him. "Gimme your hand."

Kagome glared at the man suspiciously, her hands firmly rooted by her sides. "Why?"

"Oh for crissakes! This isn't grade school-I'm not gonna write a stupid dirty word or draw nasty pictures, so just give me your damn hand." With a slight lean forward and a swing of his hand, he'd captured Kagome's fingers in his own and pulled it toward his chest, scrawling directions on the back of her hand.

Kagome tried very hard to focus on anything but the way his callused fingers grazed her palm, or the dark look of concentration in his amethyst eyes, or the heat radiating from his hands…

"What are you doing, anyways?" she demanded, though the venom was gone from her voice to be replaced by a slight squeak. She'd better not be blushing…

"Giving you your first assignment of the month," Inu-Yasha said simply, clicking the pen close and tossing it back at her. "There's something I need you to take care of for me."