InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha Diaries ❯ Chapter 5

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 5


Finding himself in a tree was not unusual, but having this damn book with him was becoming a habit he really didn’t want to continue. And it was all over nothing! How could she not see that he hadn’t done anything to deserve this? Would she ever consider just what he went through for her? Hadn’t he come all the way back to her time for her, just to make sure she was protected?


It was true that the monk, the slayer and the kitsune had all grown tired of a moping, bored hanyou getting in the way of everything they had tried to do. It was also true that Kaede had banished him from her hut until Kagome returned, just because he’d mixed up some of the herbs on her shelf. He’d only been trying to help. Was it his fault that they all looked so much alike? It wasn’t like the villager had been permanently harmed, after all! A few days and the effects would wear off, anyway. But it was fun to watch in the meantime. The guy had been walking around, trying to pick flowers that weren’t there, talking about colors coming alive, and trying to do things that he should know no human body could do. Why did they think it was his fault that the whole village had to guard the baka from hurting himself?


So, he’d decided to come to Kagome’s time just in case she forgot when she was supposed to come back to him. Not that she would ever do that, right? The times that she had been late must have some other explanation. He didn’t know what he would do if he ever thought he wasn’t as important to her as she was to him.


Putting the idea out of his mind, he’d jumped through the well and found himself on Kagome’s side of the time line. Now, he would have no problem keeping her under his watchful eye and out of trouble. It was so hard when he couldn’t see her. Everyone knew what a klutzy girl she was, after all. She needed him to always protect her, didn’t she?


So why didn’t she seem happy to see him when he’d found her at the breakfast table? And what did she mean when she’d said she would be gone all day? She knew he couldn’t follow her to that school of hers, so why did she think it would be a good idea for her to spend all day there without him? And just because he’d gotten a little loud when he was trying to tell her that she had to spend some time with him, why did she have to say that word then slam the door on her way out?


Keh!


At least there were people here that would still talk to him. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad day, after all. So why did it look like everyone else was leaving, too? Maybe he should have been able to figure out that if Kagome had to go to school, her little brother would have to do the same. But honestly, how could one family think so much school was a good idea? Didn’t they see the problems it caused for his Kagome? Why hadn’t they learned their lesson when it came to her brother?


He had thought his family had problems, but this one was just asking for trouble!


And why had Kagome’s mother put her coat on? What was this store she’d thought she had to go to? Didn’t she know that if she’d needed food, he was perfectly capable of hunting? Sure, there may not have been an abundance of game around their home, but he’d known that he could have found something. And he had been just a little bit apprehensive when she’d told him that she was sure Jii-chan would be able to take care of him while she was gone. The old man got on his nerves!

So, now he was supposed to spend the day alone in this strange house, with nothing to keep him occupied except for one very lazy cat, and one very agitated old priest. What could possibly have made this day worse?


He knew that he shouldn’t have asked himself that question, because just then, fate had reared it’s ugly head and had looked him square in the eye, once more. The old man had informed him that he had some stock out in the shed that needed to be inventoried. How the hell had the ancient priest thought that would be anything he would be interested in doing?


After spending a few hours moving boxes from one spot to another so the old man could go through them, only to have to move them back to where they’d started , he’d decided that he’d had enough. If the old fart really liked all this old junk so much he would just bring some back with him the next time he came through the well. And it wouldn’t be all dusty, and make him sneeze all day like these boxes had. Besides, why did there have to be so damn many boxes? The old guy wouldn’t miss a few, would he?


The old man hadn’t even realized that almost half of the boxes weren’t in the pile to be inventoried, and then moved right back to where they’d started the day. No, they had been residing in the well house, waiting patiently for him to secretly take them back to the past, where he would be able to dispose of their musty contents at his leisure. Kagome would be so proud of him when she found out that he’d thinned out some the useless crap her Jii-chan insisted was priceless!


When the last box had been brought out of the shed and deposited in the sunlight of the courtyard, the old man had told him he could take a break. He’d sat in the tree for a little while, but honestly, with the old man muttering to himself about the history of this thing and that article, how could anyone expect him to be able to take the nap he had planned on?


So, with a sigh of resignation, he’d headed for the house. The deep rumble in his stomach had reminded him that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. He’d never been left alone with all the wonderful ninja food from Kagome’s time, before. He’d planned on making good use of this situation. Thoughts of having to dig himself out of a heaping mound or ramen noodles swam through his head as he’d entered the house.


On his way to the kitchen, he’d seen that fat cat of Kagome’s. He’d never seen a cat that grotesquely overweight before he’d met Kagome. What had they done to it? What kind of tortured life had the cat led, to end up in this state? If Kagome and her family weren’t strong enough to help the fat feline get back into fighting form, he would have to take the matter into his own hands. They would thank him later.


So swooping down on the cat, he’d grabbed it around it’s enormous belly, intending to take the gluttonous lump to Kagome’s room to torture – er, exercise– in private. He’d quickly found out that even fat cats had sharp claws. The cat had the nerve to sink one of those razor edged barbs into the soft flesh of his wrist! Did the cat have a death wish? Could it be so stupid as to think he wouldn’t retaliate? First, though, he’d had to find a way to remove the claw from hell from his wounded wrist.


Waving his arm above his head had only served to entice the cat to add two more claws to the maiming act in which the first claw was still participating. Damn! How could one out of shape mound of fat cause him so much pain?


Grabbing the blubbery bundle of fur around the middle, he finally managed to separate his arm from the miniature cat daggers, but Buyo picked that moment to do a cat impersonation of a giant pretzel. Who would have thought that a cat as rotund as this could twist like that? And why did it seem like the very fires of hell possessed the cat in it’s desire to sink it’s claws into his bones? This was quickly becoming personal!


He refused to be bested by this crafty cat and it’s desire to ruin all the good will he had spent so much time building with Kagome’s family. He would find a way to remove the cat from his flesh, even if it led to the cat’s death. They did have nine lives, didn’t they? Why would it be a problem if he used one of those to get the slovenly eating machine into shape? After all, he was more cunning than a simple feline, wasn’t he? He had more battle experience, and prided himself in keeping his body strong and fit. One small, overweight ball of sarcasm shouldn’t be much of a problem, should it?


With his resolve reinstated, he squared off mentally, and stood ready to let the cat know just who was boss. In that same instant, Buyo decided to sink all his claws into the hapless hanyou’s puffed out chest.

Being a being of great physicality, Inuyasha’s immediate reaction to the imbedding of the stinging barbs in his body was to run straight into the wall, to try and gently persuade the cat to let go. Unfortunately for the furniture placement in the room, there was no clear path to any wall.

After the graceless termination of the obstacles in his path, the hanyou crashed headlong into the old man’s bedroom! Turning around in bewilderment, he noticed the cat was no longer attached to his body, having seen reason in leaving the boy on his own in the destruction of the house.


Inuyasha sniffed in disdain, as he saw his furry opponent rush up the stairs at a speed he would not have thought possible. Now that he had prevailed in removing the cat from his person, he could see the path of destruction the battle had wrought.

The hole in the wall of the living room only served to bring more light and air into Kagome’s jii-chan’s room, so it wasn’t a problem, he decided. But the pile of kindling, that was once a low table, and the two broken lamps were another story. But how could anyone fault him for that? He’d only been trying to help get the cat in shape, after all.


Giving up on the cat-tastrophy that was the living room, he decided that he might as well find something to fill his stridently demanding stomach. The kitchen seemed like a safe place to stay out of trouble. He could make some ramen by himself. He’d watched Kagome do it enough times, hadn’t he? How hard could it be if she could manage it?


It had taken a little longer than he’d expected to find the foodstuff that he wanted. He’d had to go through practically every cupboard in the place. Why did they have to keep something as wonderful as ramen in such an out of the way place?


Knowing Kagome as well as he did, he just knew she would be upset if he put things back in the wrong place, so he decided to leave everything right where it had ended up, after his search for the wonderful ramen. Kagome would know where to put them when she got home, right?


He remembered how Kagome had heated water on the stove, and poured the hot water over the noodles in the squeaky cups. Then came the torture of waiting for it to sit long enough to soften the noodles. How he hated that time, all the while being able to smell the delicious food, and not being able to even taste it.


He thought he might be able to find a better way to accomplish his goal; one that would circumvent that terrible waiting time, and save a few steps along the way. Nothing that could get his ramen into his stomach faster could be bad, could it? Leave it to a man to be able to simplify things! She would thank him when he’d tried out his theory, and could teach her how to do it right.


He hadn’t had any trouble adding water to the noodles. That strange indoor water spout was really a nice thing to have. But after he’d set the cup on the heating spot on that stove, he couldn’t understand why it didn’t heat.


He’d tried everything that he could think of to get the noodles to heat, but this strange stove had no place to put the kindling, or build a fire. He had thought that the large opening below the cooking spots was for the fire, but even he could see that it was much too clean to ever have held a fire. He really didn’t want to make Kagome’s mother mad at him, so he had used every bit of consideration he could manage, and left his beloved noodles where they were, while he tried to cipher how this stove worked. Why did everything in this time have to be so complicated?


Thinking that physical exertion might encourage his brain to work out it’s problem, he’d decided to go out and see if the old man was ready to move the remaining boxes back to storage.


As he exited the kitchen, and made his way into the courtyard, he could still hear the old priest muttering to himself about missing antiquities. Having always prided himself on his ability to understand the emotions of others, he’d decided that now might not be the best time to interrupt the old man.


With his smirk giving testimony to the greatness of his forethought, he decided that a stroll around the shrine grounds might prove distracting enough to allow his overworked mind to grasp the complexities of the kitchen stove. Looking up, he noticed that the sun was well past it’s zenith. He’d spent more time with the damn fuzz ball than he’d realized.


Before he could complete his first trip around the grounds, he’d been hit by a familiar scent. It wasn’t his Kagome, but under the circumstances, it was the next best thing. The kid was almost home from school. At least he might be able to provide some distraction.


Waiting at the top of the stairs as patiently as he could, he failed to notice the bent-on-revenge cat creeping up behind. With a swift swipe of his claws, the vindictive mouse trap left a stinging trail across the unprotected foot that was displayed before it.


With his attention returned so abruptly to his immediate surroundings, Inuyasha made a lunge for the offending animal. Once again, he was shocked at just how fleet the damn thing could be. He was left clutching nothing but air.


As he stood, holding his wounded foot, shaking his fist at the retreating form of the feline, he had no idea what type of impression he was making for the boy who now stood at the bottom of the stairs. His only thoughts were focused on the smirking look that he was sure he’d seen on the cat’s face before it had taken off for parts unknown. As soon as he had the opportunity, he was going to teach that cat a lesson he’d never forget!


Just then, he felt himself being pulled along the walkway to the house. Turning to see Kagome’s brother, he’d had to cover his ears to protect them form all the noise coming from the boy’s mouth.

The kid was going on about some new game he wanted them to play. It might be a good way to pass the time until Kagome got home. He had no idea what surround sound was, but the swords and fighting Souta kept talking about sounded like just what he needed. He might even ask the squirt how to heat up that stove, if he got the chance.


He watched with interest as the younger boy made preparations for their battle. Personally, he didn’t think there would be enough room in Souta’s bedroom for a good work out, but he was never one to argue, was he? He’d started to draw his sword, when the brat clicked on the picture box, and the window rattling noise began.

By the gods, what type of being could make that much racket? As soon as he realized that he was now lying on the floor, covering his sensitive ears, he jumped up, ready to protect the boy from whatever was attacking. Kagome might be upset if she came home to find her brother damaged, after all.


Souta was standing before him holding out a small, two part contraption, that was joined by some type of cord thingy. It didn’t take him long to figure things out, and he came to the disappointing conclusion that the kid only wanted to play one of the video games he liked so much.


He couldn’t quite grasp what this ‘virtual reality’ was, but he listed to the kid’s instructions on how to work the damn thing in his hand. It seemed as if he could not only use it to control weapons in this game, but the people, themselves. He would have to coordinate his moves to match what he wanted them to make, while pressing command buttons that forced them into different attacking or defensive actions.


This was beginning to sound way too complicated, but if the brat could do it, there was no way he was going to back down from the challenge. Setting his resolve, he and the kid began their match. It was surprising how quickly the series of buttons to push combined with the movements of his body. He just took naturally to any type of battle, he reasoned. The kid was pretty good, himself.

Sure, they might have knocked a few things out of place in the room while going through their battle moves, but you had to put everything you could into a fight, didn’t you? At least he’d always had to. He just wished that he could have found a way to take this game back home. It might help in trying to train Shippou. The kit was way too soft!


They’d become so involved with the fighting game, that he failed to notice Kagome’s return. He realized that she must be home when he heard a distant ‘sit’, and felt the accompanying pull of the damn rosary.

Keh!


What the hell could she be mad about? He hadn’t even said one word to her! Hell, he hadn’t even seen her, yet!


Picking himself up off the floor, he went to the window, and looked out to the direction that her voice had come from. He could see his missing miko trying to comfort her sobbing jii-chan in the courtyard below. He might be able to find out what the problem was, if he could just hear what they were saying to each other. But the damn kid was going on about something, again. All he could hear was the brat talking about some new, unknown move, that scored an unbelievable amount of points. He couldn’t have cared any less about these points, whatever they were. He just wanted to know what had made Kagome so mad!


He’d see her marching determinedly into the house, when he’d heard that word coming up from the kitchen, below.


Keh!


Now what could her problem be? Hadn’t he been particularly considerate when he was in the kitchen? He hadn’t wanted to put anything in the wrong place, after all.

He knew she was heading to the living room next. Even he could see that she might have a problem with the table and lamps that were still in pieces. Damn, he knew he should have put those in the well house, with the boxes.


He might be able to think up an excuse, but the kid was making a hell of a racket. He was even louder than before. He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what the brat wanted him to do again. Could the boy be so deranged that he liked seeing his sister slam his supposed hero into the ground repeatedly? Looking over at the boy, he saw that the kid’s eyes were still fixed on the picture box. The brat had no idea what was going on in the room. He’d have to work on that with the kid. It could get you killed in a real fight. Kagome would appreciate his interest in her brother’s safety, wouldn’t she? Maybe it would even earn him some of those points with her.


Before he’d had a chance to do anything to prevent the inevitable, he’d heard a series of very shrill words coming from the lower level.


Keh!


How many times was she going to say that word over a table and a couple of lamps? His body was being slammed repeatedly into the floor with such force that he thought he might just end up in the old man’s bedroom with her. He could feel his arms and legs flailing each time that would came out of her mouth. She continued to say it as he heard her climbing the stairs. Even as she was walking down the hall, that one particular word continued to leave her mouth.


The damn kid was getting more excited by the minute. What did he care about some ultimate hall of fame? He’d quit playing the stupid game when Kagome had returned, hadn’t he? He had more important things on his mind, right then. Kagome standing right outside the door, ready to walk into the room, being foremost on the list of things that was occupying his thoughts.

His mind was still trying to decide the best defense against a mad miko when she burst through the door. As she stormed into the room, the words of the lecture she had planned on delivering were already leaving her mouth. In the confusion, neither noticed the furtive form of the stalking feline enter with Kagome.


Just as the girl reached the height of her strident recriminations, the cat chose to launch it’s attack. Displaying it’s deceptive speed, it made a beeline for the unsuspecting hanyou’s face. The row of scratches that appeared on his cheek were meant to serve as a red reminder of who was top dog in the animal kingdom.


All thoughts of Kagome’s lecture, and her state of mind immediately left his brain. Just who the hell did that cat think it was, attacking like that? This was something that he couldn’t let slide! The cat had just taken it past the personal point, and declared all out war!


He’d made a calculated lunge for the cat, and would have caught him this time. He would have, if he hadn’t forgotten about being fettered by that darn piece of the game he realized he was still holding in both of his hands. Just as he found that his balance was upset enough to cause him to land on his face, she had said that word. It had only served to add insult to injury, as the cat had snuck swiftly through the still open door.



So, now he sat in a very familiar tree, even if it was in a not so familiar time, with an all too familiar book open in his lap. He’d known all along what he’d wanted to say, he only wanted to think about the best way to say it. He’d learned how Kagome could take things the wrong way, after all.


After a few false starts, he finally found just the right words. He wrote them all down carefully. He didn’t want to take any chances with anything going wrong, or being misunderstood this time. Reading them over one last time, he felt the smirk of satisfaction on his face. He saw:

I gave up my time to help Kagome’s family.
I uncluttered the storage shed and living room.
I gave her fat cat some much needed exercise.
I improved the light and air flow in her jii-chan’s bedroom.
I was self-sufficient in my own food needs.
I kept her brother occupied, and gave him my place on his game’s high score list.

For all my unselfish attention to her family, I received a sore back, cat scratches all over, the permanent imprint of the game’s controller thingy on my chest and Kagome’s mad at me, again.


As he watched Kagome read his entry, he could see the look of anger rising in her eyes. He knew what was coming, and prepared for it the best that he could. As he heard the word, he felt the familiar pull, and found himself face down, on the ground, once again.


Keh!


Lying on the stone courtyard, he couldn’t help the small smile that found a place on his face. The thought of the cat, hidden in one of the boxes in the well house, was enough to make everything worthwhile.