InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I'm Sorry ❯ Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

 

As he watched the setting sun, Inuyasha thought back over the last two weeks, especially Kagome's odd behavior of the last few days, towards him and towards Shippo.

 

`I wonder what made her think about Shippo? I suppose he is growing a bit wild, but he's KITSUNE not INU, how should he be raised? I can barely remember my mother, and I don't remember my father at all, I don't have any idea how to raise a pup, especially a kitsune.' Musing a bit more, he thought `I haven't even seen any kitsune since before Kikyo sealed me to the tree. I wonder if Kaede knows if there are any near her village, maybe I can track them down and ask for some pointers?'

 

Watching the sky darken at last, Inuyasha felt the familiar ebbing within himself as his youkai blood faded and he quietly became human once again.

 

Tossing his once-silver, now-black, hair back, Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga from his sash and tossed it to the futon across the room.

 

“I won't need that for a while,” he growled to the empty room.

 

Looking back out the window, he listened carefully to the sounds of people moving around the house and sniffed the night air as the wind blew in through the window.

 

`At least my hearing is almost as good as it usually is. I just wish my nose didn't feel so…dead.' He thought to himself, `I wonder why that is? Physically, I'm only human, but my hearing is just as good as when I'm a hanyou.'

 

Shrugging off his useless speculations, he noticed footsteps approaching his room.

 

A soft knocking at the door roused him enough to growl, “What?”

 

“Inuyasha, may I come in?” Kagome asked in a quiet voice.

 

“Feh, whatever,” he replied.

 

Shaking her head at his gruff response, Kagome opened the door, entered and closed it behind her. Carrying her brush and bottles of hair care stuff, she knelt down on the cushion in front of the desk facing the young man in the window. Unwrapping the towel around her hair, she began brushing out the tangles in her hair left over from her bath.

 

Inuyasha watched her brushing her hair for several minutes, before he realized that he was smiling at her as she knelt there, brushing her hair with her eyes closed. Frowning at his own behavior, he suddenly spoke up, breaking the peaceful silence.

 

“Kagome, why have you started acting different towards Shippo?” Inuyasha paused, waiting for her to open her eyes before continuing. “Why did you ask Myoga to `assess' him?”

 

Kagome looked back at him seriously, and then answered, “Do you remember the market town we stayed in last week? Right after we got that shard from the rock oni?”

 

“Yeah, what about it?”

 

“I was watching a family doing some shopping in the market, and I noticed their children. I noticed that the two older ones were taking care of the youngest, and that they were telling him how to behave while in the marketplace. And then I watched how Shippo was running around the stalls and getting under everyone's feet,” she answered.

 

“And…?” he prompted her.

 

“Well, it just occurred to me that I would never let Sota get away with behaving like that, and that those two little kids were doing a better job of teaching the little boy how to behave than I was,” she stopped and shook her head before continuing, “I didn't like it. I didn't like thinking that I could be that bad at taking care of Shippo, so… I asked Myoga some questions about youkai child raising, not that he was much help; it seems that the different types of youkai raise their pups, kits, cubs, or what ever they call them, totally different. I decided to try doing it like I did with Sota until I could talk to my mom about it, and I think I want to go to a bookstore and see if I can find any books that might help.”

 

`Whoa…she sounds serious about this!' “So, why did you want me to come with you? Usually, you don't want me to follow you to your time, and will `sit' me to stop me, so what's different this time?” he asked.

 

She bit her lip and dropped her eyes at his words, then drew a deep breath and said, “I know, it's just that…sometimes, you can be a real jerk, and well, even when you aren't, you can be very distracting when I'm trying to concentrate on studying or going to school.” She laughed shakily, and then continued, “I can sort of feel you whenever you are nearby, and lately I can't really turn it off. I mean, I can't tell what you're feeling or anything, but I always know that you're there. God, I'm sorry, it's just that it's kind of confusing.”

 

Inuyasha looked at Kagome with his eyes wide, and his mouth open. “What do you mean, you can feel me?”

 

“In my head, I can feel you like red glow that moves around inside my head. The glow is brighter and warmer, the closer you are to me,” she explained.

 

“How long has this been going on, Kagome? Why didn't you ever say anything before?” Inuyasha asked her, sounding just a bit worried, or maybe angry.

 

“I'm not really sure how long, I mean, I've always been able to detect Shikon shards and demonic auras, but I just sort of noticed that I'm always `aware' of you in the last month or so. Back in the Sengoku Jidai, it's not a problem, but here, when I'm trying to pay attention to my school work, well, sometimes it's pretty hard to stay focused.” Blushing a bit, she added, “I didn't exactly know what to say about it. I wasn't sure if it was just because I've been working with you for so long, or what.”

 

Inuyasha just looked at her, then asked, “Can you sense Shippo like that?”

 

“Sure, but then, he's usually close to me all the time, anyways,” she said.

 

“Keh. So, why did you want me to come with you if I make it hard for you to do your school thing? Just because it's the new moon?”

 

“Not just because of the new moon. I wanted you to help me pick out some stuff for Shippo, and I need to talk to you without him listening in to us,” she said with a smile.

 

“Keh, the little runt does like to eavesdrop, doesn't he?” he asked with a wry smile.

 

“Yeah, he does. But I still want to talk about how to change the way we treat him, so that we can start raising him not to be a brat. One like Sota is enough, thank you very much.”

 

“Hey, Sota isn't that bad, is he?” Inuyasha asked, one eyebrow raised.

 

“Yes, he is. You try living with him for a while. I bet your opinion would change. He's smart, clever, and entirely too prone to listening in on conversations that don't concern him.” While she was talking, she got to her feet and walked silently over to the door, and pulled it open suddenly, dumping her little brother on to the floor in the middle of the room. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, she picked him up and looked over at Inuyasha and asked, “You see what I mean?”

 

“Yeah, I think I do.” Standing up, Inuyasha walked over to where she waited with her little brother. Cocking his head to one side, he stared at him for a few seconds before saying, “So, what do we do with him now? Pound him a few times, or just dump him into the well and let him climb out on his own. `Course, he might just end up back 500 years.”

 

Stifling a giggle, Kagome said, “I don't know, maybe the experience would be good for him. I think we should try the well and see what happens.” Winking at Inuyasha, she let her grip loosen slightly, and Sota took full advantage of it by twisting away and running out the door as fast as his legs could take him.

 

As the sounds of Sota running down the stairs and out the kitchen door faded, both Kagome and Inuyasha started laughing together, until finally Kagome slipped to the floor with both hands clasped over her mouth, trying to keep from howling and Inuyasha simple fell back on to the futon, and didn't even try to contain his laughter.

 

A couple of minutes later, Mrs. Higurashi came upstairs to investigate to the loud laughter. “What in the world are you two laughing at? And why did Sota run out of the house so fast?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two laughing teens.

 

“S-Sota,” Kagome gasped out, “I caught him listening at the door and…” She couldn't go on, she was laughing so hard.

 

“Keh, she just threatened to drop him down the well, to see if he'd like the feudal period in person,” Inuyasha added, with a wicked grin.

 

Mrs. Higurashi turned and looked down the stairs her youngest had just ran down, than turned back and asked, “And this was so funny, because…?”

 

“Well, mama, we were just talking about how Shippo was starting to turn in to a bit of a brat, and what we could do to fix it, when I compared him to Sota. Unfavorably. That's when I heard him listening at the door.” Kagome said, still grinning at the sight of her little brother's face when his hero, Inuyasha, suggested dropping him down the well.

 

“I see, so you are having some problems with Shippo, he's the little kitsune, right? What kind of problems?” Mrs. Higurashi asked her daughter.

 

“Well, he doesn't always listen very well…” Kagome began, when Inuyasha interrupted.

 

“Feh. He doesn't listen at all, unless I grab a hold of him and give him a good bop on the head.”

 

Kagome grimaced at his words, but shrugged and continued, “And he has gotten really good at playing us against each other, I mean, he's cute, adorable, and I love him a lot, but it's gotta stop, before it gets any worse,” she took a deep breath, glanced over at Inuyasha, and then went on. “I'm afraid that it could start to interfere with our shard hunt. He tries to help, but lately he has been just running wild. I'm also afraid that if he doesn't start listening better, he's going to get hurt.” As she was speaking to her mother, the smile fell from her face, and she wrapped her arms around her self at the thought of Shippo coming to harm.

 

Inuyasha put his hand on her shoulder, and squeezed gently, “Don't worry, Kagome, we'll fix it as soon as we get back.” She reached up and covered his hand with her own, and squeezed back.

 

“When did you notice that Shippo was getting out of control, Kagome?” Her mother asked her, ignoring their actions. “Was it one thing in particular, or a lot of little things?”

 

“As I was explaining to Inuyasha, before Sota interrupted, it was how he was behaving in a marketplace, compared to some young human children. That's when I realized that it had gone too far.” She looked straight at her mother and said, “One of the reasons I came back was to ask you for some advice on child rearing. We, Inuyasha and I, need to come up with a plan, before we return home to deal with Shippo.”

 

At this, her mother opened her mouth to reply, stopped, and visibly changed what she was going to say, “Well, I'll see if I can find any of my old books tonight that might help. You can take a look at them and see if anything in them might apply. Tomorrow, you can go to the mall and check out the book stores for any other books that might help.”

 

“Oi, what's this `mall' thing? How long do you plan on staying here, Kagome? I don't want to waste any time,” Inuyasha growled.

 

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head and said, “Kagome, why don't you explain what a mall is to Inuyasha. I'm going to find Sota, and send him to bed.” As she left the room, she turned back and said, “Kagome, do you plan on going to school tomorrow? It'll be Saturday and you could catch up in the morning and go to the mall afterwards.”

 

“Hm, that might work out good. I'll let you know at breakfast if I'm going to school or shopping.”

 

“Alright then, I will see you two in the morning,” she said as she left the room, closing the door part way as she left.

 

“So what's a `mall'?” He asked after she left.

 

Sitting back down on her cushion, Kagome picked up her brush and began brushing her hair out again. “A `mall' is a very large building, with a group of stores that sell different things. Because it's out of the weather, shopping is more convenient when it is raining or cold; and because there are many different types of shops, it is easy to find whatever you need in one place.”

 

Frowning, Inuyasha asked, “What kind of things can you buy at this mall? Can you get food there? Clothes? Weapons?”

 

“Well, of course you can get food and clothes at a mall! As far as weapons go, I think you can find knives and maybe swords, but I don't think you can buy guns,” she replied.

 

“Well, how far away is it? If you go to your school in the morning, will we be able get there tomorrow?” He asked impatiently.

“It's not far at all. Maybe ten minutes walk to the subway station, and then another twenty minutes on the subway. If you want, we can eat lunch before going or buy something to eat once we get to the mall.” She gasped and said, “Oh Kami-sama, I have to ask mama if I can get some money from my bank account tomorrow, and I think the banks close at noon. Arrgh!”

 

“What the hell is a `bank account'!? If you need money, why didn't you say anything before we left Kaede's? I would've brought some along; Miroku has plenty stashed with Kaede.” Inuyasha frowned at her, “I'll go back and get some in the morning.”

 

“Um, I don't think that money from the Sengoku Jidai can be used in my time, Inuyasha. But don't worry; I've got more than enough saved up in my bank account for us to go shopping. I just need to ask my mom to go to the bank while I'm at school, that's all.”

 

He continued to frown as she went on to describe the different types of stores that were in the mall and how it could sometimes be really crowded and busy. As she spoke, he thought to himself `I never thought about whether it cost her to bring stuff back through the well. Baka! Of course it costs money. Did you think Ramen and all of her medicines were free!! Gah! She shouldn't be paying for the food that you eat, you stupid…that's your responsibility, not hers! You're the pack leader, not her, you should be taking care of her!!' Shocked, he repeated his thought `Pack leader?! Why did I think `Pack Leader', I'm too young to be a pack leader!!'

 

Stunned by that thought, he sat there, motionless, while she continued with her description of what shopping in her time was like. When she finally paused and looked up at him, he shook off his distraction and answered her, “Keh, sounds like it could be interesting, but I think we should have lunch here before we go off to that `mall' thing, okay?”

 

Kagome looked at him as if he had just said something really strange, and asked, “Inuyasha, did you even hear what I was saying? I asked if you would mind trying on some modern cloths so that you could blend in with modern people. What in the world were you thinking about so hard?”

 

“Feh, it doesn't matter. I'll tell you later, now what's this about modern clothes?” he replied.

 

“Are you sure? You looked really out of it,” she said, with a concerned look on her face.

 

“Feh, of course I'm sure, there's nothing wrong with me, wench,” was his gruff response.

 

“Okay, then. Mama said we could look in the storeroom downstairs for some clothes that might fit you. Once we have some clothes for tomorrow, I'll buy some of your own while we are at the mall.”

 

Leading the way down the stairs, Kagome headed for the storeroom at the back of the house. Stopping to let her eyes adjust to the darkness outside, she felt Inuyasha step up next to her and then ask, “Where do we go now?”

 

“Around the back, just give me a minute to let my eyes adjust, okay?”

 

He shrugged, and said, “Sure, tonight it's harder for me to see, too. Although, all the lights from the city help.”

 

After waiting for two or three minutes, Kagome led off towards the storeroom at the back of her house. Unlocking the door with the key she had picked up from next to the kitchen door, she opened it and turned on the overhead light. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to some boxes stacked on the shelf on the right side of the room.

 

“I think that some of these should fit,” she said, opening the first box and pulling out a couple of pairs of dark blue pants and some odd looking shirts. Holding one of gray shirts up to his chest, she asked, “Could you hold your arms out at your sides please?” As he did, she placed the shirt up against his body to see if it would fit. Satisfied that the shirt was about the right size, she looked at the blue jeans in her hand and tried to figure out how to see if it would be likely to fit Inuyasha without being able to see his legs. Blushing at the sights her imagination was providing her, Kagome finally picked out three different sizes of pants, including a pair of bright red sweat pants.

 

Looking into several different boxes, Kagome finally found a pair of sandals that looked like they would fit the hanyou's feet, although he didn't look very happy at the thought of wearing anything on his feet.

 

Unable to resist his curiosity any longer, Inuyasha asked Kagome, “Oi, who do these clothes belong to, eh? They look too big for your brother or the old man.”

 

Pausing as she was folding the clothes neatly into a pile, she looked up at the young hanyou standing next to her. Sighing, she picked up the pile of clothes and simply said, “My father.”

 

“Your…father's?” he repeated, surprised at her words, and the feelings that they stirred inside him.

 

“Yes…you don't mind, do you?” she asked hesitantly.

 

“No, of course not. It's just that, well, you've never talked about your father, that's all,” Inuyasha replied. “It just didn't occur that you still had his clothes.”

 

“Mama kept most of his things here in the storeroom after he…died. I don't think she could bear to part with anything of his,” Kagome paused and turned off the light as they left the room. Locking the door, she let him guide her back to the kitchen door in the dark before speaking up again. “It's okay, mama suggested that I see if any of his stuff would fit you. I think that she likes the idea of his stuff being useful again, not just given away or even thrown away.

 

As they came into the kitchen, Mrs. Higurashi was sitting at the table, leafing through one of several books that she had stacked up in front of her.

 

“Hi, mama. I found some clothes that I think will fit Inuyasha, I'm just going to run them through the laundry with some of my stuff before I go to bed tonight.”

 

Looking at the two standing in her kitchen, Mrs. Higurashi smiled and said, “Of course, Kagome. Oh, before you go upstairs, I have a couple of books that you might find helpful when dealing with Shippo, take a look through them tonight before you go to sleep.”

 

“Thanks, mama, these will be a big help,” Kagome answered with a big smile. “Oh, that reminds me, I'm going to need some money for shopping tomorrow. Could you withdraw some money from my bank account for me in the morning. I'm going to be in school until after the bank closes, and I don't have an ATM card for my account.”

 

Smiling at her daughter, she said, “Of course I will, how much do you think you will need for tomorrow? 10,000 yen?”

 

Kagome shook her head, “No, I think we'll need at least 20,000, I really want to stock up on some workbooks and art supplies for Shippo; I also want to restock the first aid kit before we go back home.” As she was talking to her mother, she was also putting the clothes she had picked out for Inuyasha into the washing machine along with some of her clothes out of her backpack. Because of this, she missed the look of fear that flashed across her mother's face that was quickly replaced by her usual gentle smile.

 

After starting the washing machine, she walked over to the table and asked, “Are these the books you wanted me to look through tonight?”

 

“Yes. Don't worry about transferring the clothes; I'll take care of that before I go to bed. The two of you should go on up and get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be busy day,” Mrs. Higurashi said.

 

“Okay, mama, we'll see you in the morning. G'night!” she called as she went up the stairs, followed by Inuyasha.

 

“Goodnight, you two,” she called up after them.

 

As she heard the bedroom doors close upstairs, Mrs. Higurashi lay her head down on her crossed arms and began to quietly weep for her daughter.