InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Laying Down the Law ❯ A Day to Stay in Bed ( Chapter 15 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: The Kouga Lucius Connection 
We look a little at the Ookamis and then we watch the couples develop the day after the fight!
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.28.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 1.7K | Status: Completed
We look a little at the Ookamis and then we watch the couples develop the day after the fight!
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.28.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 1.7K | Status: Completed
And here we go with another fantastic chapter of LDTL, which is actually kind of a dull chapter compared to the last one, of course anything might be, since that one was crazy junk, or dare I say, "crunk". This one is mostly dialogue and exploring feelings. Next chapter is some serious rockin' action! Promise!
Thank you reviewers, I love all of you.
"Jun, is she dead?"
"She isn't dead. Yoshiko, take Kenji to the kitchen and make him breakfast. Hey, Matoko, what are you doing in here? Never mind, just...go sit with Lisoko and help Yoshiko with the baby."
Kagome blinked against the morning sunlight which streamed in through a nearby window, practically blinding her sensetive eyes. She groaned as her head gave a rather painful throb and, finally, she began to make out fuzzy shapes above her. Finally, the girl was able to focus in on a boy only a year or two her junior, perhaps, staring down at her through clever green eyes. His hair was the same rusted red of Ayame's and that's when Kagome finally recalled the previous night; she was in Ayame's house. Truth be told, Kagome had fallen asleep on the ride home and suspected that Ayame carried her inside, but she couldn't remember a thing past saying goodnight to the others at the warehouse.
Sitting up slightly, the girl ran her hand over the deep cuts on her face, which were scabbing over nicely. Just the feel of the rough skin against her fingertips brought Kagai's grungy face to her mind and she winced, wishing away those horrid thoughts. Inuyasha had arrived in time to save her, hadn't he? Even if he had turned into quite the monster, it had all served a purpose.
"Who are you?" Kagome mumbled blearily in the boy's direction, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"I'm Jun, Ayame's brother.You shouldn't move around too much, that bastard got you good," Jun said, voice never raising in volume or pitch; it was a straight, calm monotone.
The girl nodded, head swimming with the motion. "Right. Where's Ayame?"
"Getting dressed; I'm in charge of the younger ones," Jun explained, crossing his arms over his chest. This was when Kagome noticed, for the first time, that Jun's entire right arms was in a full length blue cast.
The girl gasped, asking, "What the hell did you do to your arm?!"
Snorting, Jun sighed and leaned back against the chair back. "Shattered it into 47 pieces; I wrecked my motorcycle."
"47 pieces?" Kagome asked so quietly that, even with his demon ears, Jun could barely hear her. "You shattered your arm into 47 pieces? That had to have been some crash," the girl finished, blinking and trying not to vomit at the thought of so much pain; she was in enough of her own at the current time.
"Today's my first day back at work in the garage," he explained. "I'm in the Cobras."
"Oh," Kagome mumbled, finally piecing it all together; Inuyasha had once told her that the Cobras, Bankotsu's gang, were known for pulling ridiculous stunts. "Were you trick riding when you did that?"
"Yeah, and I almost pulled a 1080," Jun hissed out regretfully, narrowing his eyes and looking positively miffed by the fact that he hadn't succeeded. "Bankotsu laughed at me for, like, ever."
Kagome giggled slightly, shrugging her thin shoulders. "Well, it could be worse. It could've been Inuyasha or Ranbou; then you'd never hear the end of it."
Jun rolled his magnificent green eyes, replying, "Please, I already heard an earful from Ranbou at the Lykoi Banquet."
This word was unfamiliar to Kagome, who furrowed her brow in confusion. "Lykoi? What's that?"
Shrugging, Jun replied boredly, "It's the wolf demon clan title here in Japan. We protect other clans and come together to settle issues and what not. Mom was big in it before she died so now Ayame and I have to go to represent our family."
Though the boy spoke of this as though he didn't care, Kagome felt her heart go out to him; no wonder he was so cold and sarcastic. His mother was dead and his father was constantly working overtime at the garage, leaving him and Ayame to deal with five younger children.
"I once heard Kouga say something in wolf tongue," Kagome remembered, recalling the day of her first race with the Fangs. While Kouga and Ranbou had been arguing about something, Kouga let out a string of words with growling and barks entangled around them, making it all sound like a big gargle. "Do all of you speak it?"
"Yes," Jun replied, crossing one leg over the other. "We try to keep the language alive. The only downside is it never progressed with normal speech, so it still uses words like 'thy' and 'thou.' Nothing too complicated though."
Just then, Ayame came jogging into the room, appearing to be in a hurry. Her red hair was flying this way and that as she tried to put on her jacket, only to get her arm caught in a rather awkward position. "Oh, Kagome, you're up, good. Inuyasha called and said if you leave that bed, he'll kick me in the ovary, so don't move."
Kagome's eyes went wide and she asked quite loudly, "WHAT?! He wants me to stay in bed all day?!"
"That's what the man said," Ayame confessed, shrugging her shoulders and turning to Jun. "Ju-ju, I need you to take the kiddies to Inuyasha's house, Kaede is gonna do us a favor and watch them today. I'm in a big hurry, got to get to the warehouse asap."
Jun cocked and eyebrow and regarded her with the utmost disdain. "And by get to the warehouse you mean make out with Kouga. Alright, then, just this once."
"I love you too," Ayame said sarcastically, the relation between the two Saitou children painfully obvious in that moment; even their mannerisms were the same. "Oh yeah, and don't you overdo it today, no matter what Bank says. I'll massacre him myself if I hear you've been doing anything other than mechanics. No trick riding. You hear me Jun?"
The boy stood, proving himself to be a few inches taller than his sister, and held his hands up defensively. "Fine, fine, don't be such a witch about it. No trick riding. I guess I've got the Corvette, then, if I'm carpooling?"
Ayame crossed her arms, lowering her eyebrows dangerously. "Like I would let you take a motorcycle anyway. Now get outta here."
Jun rolled his eyes and gave Kagome a brief wave before grabbing his leather Cobras jacket off the back of the chair and making his way towards the door. Ayame mirrored her brother's eye roll motion for motion and glanced down at Kagome. "Younger brothers; a pain in my ass."
"I have one too, don't worry about it," Kagome replied tiredly, sparing her friend a small smile. "Anyway, about what Inuyasha said...I'm not gonna do it. I promise he won't find out, I just don't want to stay in bed all day."
Ayame made a thoughtful sound and narrowed her eyes, popping her hip to the side before she mused, "I could drop you off at your house on my way to work, if you want. I don't think Rin's going to be coming in today, not after...the thing."
Both girls' expressions darkened at the remembrance of Sesshomaru's cruel words and Kagome snarled, "I swear, if he weren't himself, I'd kick his ass! The nerve of what he said!"
"Hey, I hear ya, as much as it pains me to say it. I've never heard Sesshomaru say anything stupid before. I know that sounds impossible, but he's always so...right. About everything," Ayame mused, shaking her head slowly in wonderment, assorted chains on her clothing jingling as she did so. "He's practically god like, you know?"
"I know," Kagome murmured, giving in to the urge to sigh. "I hate that this happened to Rin, especially. She's been so good to me and everything, I just...I dunno."
The two girls were silent for a moment as images ran through their heads, images of the previous night and all its turmoil. Sighing, Ayame withdrew her keys from her pocket and said, "C'mon, we should get going; I have a feeling I'll be picking up more than one person's load at the garage today."
Nodding slightly, eyes still downcast and simmering with regret, Kagome pulled the covers gently back and rose slowly to her feet, steadying herself before following a stone faced Ayame out the door. Whatever might happen tooday, she had a feeling none of it would be very good. Of course she was just a girl trying to figure things out; what did she know?
The wolf demon threw back the covers and hurriedly slipped on a pair of jeans and a black wife beater, sure to grab his Fangs jacket from his door knob on the way out. The sound of faint radio music and the smell of cooking beef drifted from the kitchen, drawing Kouga's attention away from Ranbou's door; his first intent was to check on his brother, but the activity in the kitchen perked his interest.
"Dad?" Kouga asked in surprise as he stood in the kitchen doorway, blinking slightly as he watched the broad back moving over the stove.
Kibishii Ookami was a large man, standing strong at 6'4 with thick shoulders and a stern air about him. His hair, kept in a long dark braid at the nape of his neck, was the same startling black of his sons, though his eyes were the blood red of the Hanto line. The Hanto were reknowned hunters from the early days of the Ookamis, noblemen if they could be considered that; Kouga and Ranbou had taken on their late mother's eyes.
Kibishii glanced over his shoulder and smiled, the perfect image of Kouga's smile. "Good morning, Kouga. Late night?"
"You could say that," Kouga mumbled, slightly confused. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd be home."
Shrugging, the older demon used a utensil to remove the sizzling beef from the frying pan, slipping it neatly onto a plate. "I got in from Hong Kong last night and thought I'd spend a meal with you two this morning before I went back over seas to America this afternoon. I'll be gone for a few weeks at the least."
Kouga snorted quietly, never making a motion towards the table. "Right. Well, if you want to have breakfast with both of us, we'll have to have it in Ranbou's room. He ain't movin'."
"Why not?" Kibishii asked, quirking an eyebrow and giving his youngest son an amused smile.
But Kouga did nothing to return his father's good humor. "He was in a fight last night, broke four ribs. You know how it is."
Silent for a moment, Kibishii finally asked, "Otherwise, is he alright?"
"Yeah, Kei and Nan looked him over last night. He should be fine in a week," Kouga replied, turning away from his father. "I'm gonna go check on him and head on out. It oughta be a long day at the garage."
Before he could leave, however, Kibishii said suddenly, "I'm getting out, Kouga."
Blinking, Kouga felt his heart go completely still; had his father just said those words? It seemed almost too good to be true, but Kouga rounded on his father, asking stiffly, "Really?"
Kibishii nodded curtly. "I'm retiring. I'll be out for good."
But Kouga couldn't help but be pessimistic. Narrowing his ice blue eyes coldly, Kouga growled, "Dream on, Dad. Yakuza don't let you 'get out for good.'"
"You're right. If they think you know something, Yakuza don't let you go; but if you're just an assassin, they don't give a shit," Kibishii replied, wolfish grin breaking out on his features. "I've already sworn everything I own to them if I betray; with that kind of leverage, I'm already guaranteed a ticket out. Besides that, Houshi owes me favors. We're men of our word, Yamato and I."
In that moment, Kouga felt almost unable to think or breathe, even to stand. For as long as he could remember, his father had been a high payed Yakuza assassin, working for the area mob boss, Yamato Houshi, otherwise known as Miroku's father. Ranbou had taken after his father with his ruthless killing skills, but Kouga couldn't stand the very sight of his father; it was his fault the rest of Kouga's siblings were gone and he could barely bear it. If it weren't for the Fangs permanent location in Tokyo, Kouga wouldn've followed the rest of them out the door. But he and Ranbou had friends to cling on to, unlike their siblings. They had responsibilities, duties, and they would see them through.
"Once you...once you're out, you should come to one of the races," Kouga managed to get out, unable to meet his father's eyes. "Bo and I never lose."
Kibishii could understand everything behind those words and gave his son a small smile, a smile weathered by time and countless sights of brutality. "I'd like that."
Not one to remain in the line of fire, Kouga hurried towards Ranbou's room, leaving his father behind to eat his beef. Once safely inside Ranbou's room, Kouga dropped his jacket and covered his face with both hands, wondering why he hadn't stayed in his bed that morning. A sudden voice startled him from his thoughtful position.
"He's getting out, huh?"
Glancing at the bed, Kouga noted than Ranbou was laying prostrate, staring blankly up at the ceiling with a small smirk on his lips. "What a bastard. What a sly old bastard."
Kouga shook his head slowly, retrieving his jacket from the floor before saying gruffly, "If you heard that, I guess you heard he's goin' outta town. I'll send someone over with lunch, alright? If you get up, I swear to god I'll light you're girly ass hair on fire."
Slipping on his jacket, Kouga made as though to go, leaving a blank faced Ranbou behind before the older brother murmured, "Yeah. Great."
Kouga paused, glancing back at his brother, who looked anything but normal for himself. "You okay?" Kouga asked, sheerly out of habit.
Ranbou was silent for a moment before he murmured, "Why did she do it? That's what I been wonderin' all morning; why did she do it? I mean, I'm a bitch to Sukini and she still helped me, smiling and everything. Why?"
His younger brother only snorted, replying, "That's the way Shitora works. She's a hard ass, but she cares about everyone, just the way her brothers do. We'll never really understand em, I guess."
"I guess not," Ranbou mused as his brother left the room, leaving him alone with the defeaning silence and still shadows. "Stupid Taishos, god damn it..."
Sesshomaru let out a feral sigh, vein popping at the mere mention of his girlfriend; all morning long, mechanics had been asking for her left and right, with business associates close behind them. Wildcats wanted her advice on territory, boys wanted her advice on girls and everyone else wanted her advice on payment; it took her absence to prove how much she was needed.
"She's not here today," Sesshomaru bit out in Hakkaku's direction, teeth threatening to bare at the thought of her face.
Hakkaku, who only knew the details of the previous night's brawl, cocked and eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Well, where the hell is she? I'm drowning over here!"
"Yeah, well so am I," Sesshomaru bit back, loudly and unintentionally revealing his insecurities surrounding his fight with Rin. The others went silent for a moment, pausing in their mechanical exploits to spare their leader sympathetic glances; even though he'd said stupid things, they hated to see their normally inpenetrable friend bothered by the mere absence of his girlfriend. It was humbling to say the least.
Shippo shook his head, wiping a smudge of grease from his forehead. "He and Rin are really close, aren't they?"
Despite Sesshomaru's instructions to arive at noon, Shippo had come strolling into the warehouse sometime around ten, immediately jumping in to help Sango on an old model Ford. As Sango had little knowledge of carbureators, Shippo had grabbed a wrench, setting in on the machine with knowledge and ferocity unheard of at his age. The others had soon gathered around him, watching with a perverse sort of fascination as he devoured the entire machine bolt by nut and, soon, it was more finely tuned that a car fresh off the lot. Hands down, everyone agreed that Shippo was the best mechanic in the garage to date.
Sango and Miroku, who'd been working with the kitsune for the greater part of the morning, exchanged glances. Miroku replied, "'Close' isn't exactly the word I'd use. 'Joined at the hip' is a good phrase. 'Incestual siamese twins' is another. 'Married' is a nice one I like to use sometimes."
Snorting with laughter, Sango agreed, "Ever since the day they started going out in the eighth grade, we all knew it would last forever. And...apparently we were right. This fight is just a bump in the road, you'll see. They've only fought twice before, but every fight makes you stronger."
"I never would've thought that," Shippo murmured, exchanging out wrenches by a millimeter size before returning to his work on a '94 Corolla's gear box. "About fights, I mean. I always thought fights were like the precursor to a break-up."
Even though he wasn't actually part of this conversation, Inuyasha, who was working on a Mercedes Coupe adjacent to the trio, was listening intently. At this observation by the young kitsune, Inuyasha paused what he was doing immediately and turned to stare at the boy. "Okay, A) that's only if a relationship is weak as all hell and B) what kind of 12 year old kid uses the word 'precursor'?!"
Rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly, Shippo blushed a bright red. "Heh, Dad's got a big vocabulary, I probably pick up some of that from him."
"Is that where you learned how to kick our ass at mechanics, too?" Inuyasha asked with a tad of accusatory venom, crossing his muscular arms in a bracing way.
Sango intervened quickly, saying, "Well, Nan taught me everything I know about cars..."
"And Kei did the same for me, so it's no wonder he's a genius with those two for parents" Miroku finished up neatly, smiling peaceably in his best friend's direction; ever since the previous night's brawl, Inuyasha had been irritable and on the edge, wondering about Kagome's condition and questioning his physical and moral control. How could a sight so marginally violent set him off into demon mode? What about Kagome made him so...vulnerable to drastic changes?
"Feh, whatever," Inuyasha muttered bitterly, turning swiftly away from his friends and returning to his work on the Benz. Shippo gave a small sigh, deciding to add one to the neverending list of 'people who hate Shippo because he's smart.' Everyone at school thought it fit to pelt him with food and glue, sometimes dangerous things like rocks and eating utensils. Just because he was different, Shippo was subject to all sorts of torture in school; why couldn't the rest of the world give him a break for once?
After a while, Inuyasha gave up on his fruitless endeavor to fix the Mercedes and threw down his wrench with an audible clatter, stomping angrily towards the lounge area to grab a beer. Once he was safely out of earshot, Miroku turned to Sango under the hood of the Corolla, where he was examining the drive shift. "Sango, I just wanted to ask; did you notice something going on between Inuyasha and Kagome last night?"
The girl grinned, hefting a recently assembled cylinder in her hand. "Most definitely."
"That girl with the cut face?" Shippo asked curiously, recalling the pretty yet unfortunately bloodied face of a young girl the night before.
"That's the one; those two have something going on, we don't know what. I mean, Inuyasha's a jerk, but not this much of a jerk; he's only pissed off because he's worried about Kagome," Sango explained, unable to stop from grinning uncontrollably as she disclosed this information.
"I heard he transformed because some Dragon kids were pushing her around," Shippo mentioned, raising a stately eyebrow as one of the pistons came unscrewed.
Miroku snorted. "The word 'transformed' makes it sound so tame. He turned into an unstoppable wild animal and beat Kagai within an inch of his life. I wouldn't be surprised if Kagai kicked it during the recovery period."
Shippo sighed, giving his intelligent head a slow shake. "I don't understand that. I don't understand how he could transform just because something made him angry. It's...irresponsible and dangerous. He could've killed one of his friends and never known."
Unable to say anything against this theory, Sango nodded grimly and replied, "He could've. But it wasn't anger that made him transform, I don't think."
"Really?" Miroku asked, interest obviously piqued at this proposal. "So what do you think did it?"
The girl smiled wryly, wiping off a few screws on a grease rag as she peered at the clear skies outside the warehouse. "A far more powerful emotion, one that can make anyone, human or demon, do anything for someone else."
Miroku and Shippo exchanged glances, shrugging their shoulders before returning to work; Sango caught their confusion out of the corner of her eye, but she said nothing and only smiled knowingly; they would know someday, one of them sooner than he might think. As Hugh Grant once stated so eloquently, love actually is everywhere.
On the other side of the garage, Kouga rolled out from underneath a dying Honda, arms covered from fingertip to elbow in bottomless black grease. The boy sat up slowly from the dolly, grabbing a towel and trying to wipe the substance from his face; his attention elsewhere, Kouga had accidentally punctured the lubrication chamber in the undercarriage, which immediately brought a steady torrent of grease down upon him. Perhaps, in retrospect, staying in bed really would've been the smart thing to do.
Standing stiffly to his feet, Kouga glanced at the clock above the tool benches and gave a curse, turning to address the warehouse. "Hey, can somebody take Bo lunch? I'm...well, covered in shit."
The others gave small chuckles at their friend's predicament, though they dared not give all out laughter; Kouga was in much too poor a mood for that kind of teasing. The others exchanged glances as though wordlessly deciding who would take on the job. Several were about to consent when a surprising volunteer said, "I'll do it."
All eyes turned to Shitora, who was standing innocently apart from her motorcycle, wiping her hands distractedly on a rag. After noticing the strange silence surrounding her proposal, Shitora glanced up, amber eyes wide with confusion. "What?"
Inuyasha cleared his throat and took a step forward, gesturing towards his sister with his beer. "I'll do it Tora, I mean, I'm the one that fucked him over."
But the girl had already set aside her grease rag and put up her wrenches, grabbing her car keys off a nearby tool table. "No, Yash, that's fine, I got it. I bet he likes hamburgers."
And with this, the girl quickly left the warehouse, never meeting anyone's eyes during her walk of shame. Immediately following her abrupt departure, Ayame turned to the others and asked blankly, "Did that just happen?"
"I dunno," Kouga murmured, squinting as he watched the Corvette's bumper disappear behind the farthest warehouse; it appeared Shitora and Ranbou's open animosity wasn't as violent as the others made it out to be after all.
Small arms, bloody and ghostly in the muddy moonlight, encircled his barely rising chest, raining tears down upon his cheeks. He wasn't sure what caused him more pain; the sight of Shitora so broken, or the sight of his body immobile from blood loss. What was she screaming? "Take me?" What a foolish thing to ask; if anyone was going to die, it would be him, not her. She was too perfect to die. At least to him.
"Please don't leave me, please," she sobbed, eyes wide and lip busted open from an obviously dangerous encounter. "I love you, okay? I never said it enough, but I'll say it fucking five million times if that's what you want! I love you, I love you, I love...you..."
Before she could finish her repetitive declerations of love, the girl's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed atop her fallen lover, body completely still. Despite his detachment from the scene, Ranbou felt himself reach out to her, reach out to the girl who had fallen over his own corpse. She couldn't die, not her. Anyone but her...
"Hey, Bo, wake up, you're dreaming."
Ranbou's eyes snapped open and he took in the sight of his ceiling, the closet door, pictures of the gang and his friends plastered all over the walls. He noticed how hazy and wild everything seemed, not to mention how labored his breathing was, and the boy sighed, leaning back heavily against the pillows; his ribs were aching fiercely again.
Shitora was kneeling beside the bed, a bag of delicious smelling lunch at her side, but she seemed to have forgotten the meal altogether. Placing a tentative hand on Ranbou's forehead, the girl recoiled fiercely. "Fuck, you're hot."
Even in his state, Ranbou chuckled and replied, "I could've told you that."
"You're such a dick," the girl replied sharply, turning so quickly that her snow white hair caught Ranbou across the face; she smelled like cars and cinammon. "We need to give you medicine, cause I'm assuming you haven't done it yourself, lazy ass."
Ranbou said nothing, finding himself almost too tired to talk, and he watched blearily as she hurried into the kitchen, obviously looking for pills. He watched her perfect ass, swinging back and forth in those tight leather pants as she hurried out of the room; what a beautiful sight to wake up to.
"Here you go," Shitora said suddenly, breaking Ranbou out of his reverie as she returned with two pills and a bottle of water. "Take these."
Doing as he was told, Ranbou weakly ingested the pills and choked down a sip of water, coughing slightly against the liquid in his sore chest. "Crap, this really sucks," he muttered, feeling slightly more aware, even in his feverish state.
"Breaking four ribs isn't supposed to be rainbows and unicorn farts," Shitora replied dryly, raising one caustic eyebrow in the boy's direction. "You really are an idiot."
Sighing, Ranbou shifted his ice blue eyes to meet Shitora's amber ones, locking them in place. "Could you cut it out with the insults? I'm trying here."
After a brief moment of silence, during which Shitora bit her lip and felt slightly ashamed of her attitude, she finally murmured, "Sorry, I've been in one of those moods lately. One of those bitchy moods. Hell, why am I dancing around it, all of you can smell it."
Chuckling, Ranbou grinned and winked one eye in her direction. "Sure, but we ain't saying nothin'. That'll just get our asses kicked, am I right? But seriously, three or four of you at the same time is quite a handful."
While Shitora normally would've been offended by this blatant attack on the menstrual cycle, she only blinked and began to laugh, a light hearted bubbling laugh which she hadn't let out in quite some time. "Sorry; we'll try to reschedule that," came her jokingly sarcastic reply.
"You better," Ranbou joked in return, pushing himself gently into a more upright position; it hurt something fierce, but he managed to resettle himself comfortably.
Shitora reached over and retrieved the bag of food, holding it proudly aloft. "A double quarterpounder from Lucky's with everything on the side; I knew you didn't like mustard or mayo, but I wasn't sure how you preferred your onions these days. Besides, I thought I'd let you do your smiley faces and whatnot."
Ranbou grinned. "You remember the way I like my hamburgers? God, you know you've known someone forever when..."
Shitora rolled her eyes. "Shut up, I know its pathetic, I just have a good memory for stuff like that. Well, I'm starved and I didn't just come all the way here to watch you eat."
Both parties took their food from the bag and began eating furiously away as only half and whole demons could do, devouring the food at a terrifying pace. Eventually, Ranbou had finished his double quarterpounder and sighed contentedly, leaning back against the pillows. He'd noticed Shitora sneaking glances at his bare chest during the past ten minutes, but he said nothing and only smiled a cocky smile at the ceiling; just let her look, he wasn't ashamed.
But finally, Ranbou's mind drifted to more serious thoughts, such as their time spent together the previous night. Sparing a glance in Shitora's direction, he asked rather suddenly, "Why did you help me last night?"
The girl looked up from her burger, chewing innocently on a bite. She stared at him for a moment while she finished chewing, finally swalloing and wiping off her mouth crudely with the back of her hand. "Um...what?"
"Last night, you helped me and I wanna know why. I treat you like shit and I always have. Why are you still cool with me?" Ranbou asked desperately, voice raising with every word; even his eyes reflected his intense confusion.
Shitora was silent for a moment before she shrugged her thin, pale shoulder, refusing to meet his eyes. "Both of us treat the other like shit, but that doesn't mean we're not friends or something. I mean, I used to hate you, but...I dunno. You're not so bad. And I'm not bad either, right?"
Ranbou was silent for a moment, regarding the girl with his piercing blue eyes. "Course you're not. I was talking mostly about me. I mean, calling you Sukini and all that shit."
"I don't really care about that dumb name anymore," Shitora replied dismissively, cocking her head cutely to the side. "I mean, I used to be skinny back in the day. I just grew up and you're used to calling me that. No big deal."
Sighing heavily, Ranbou leaned back against his pillow with a weary expression on his face. "You're something else, you know that?"
"Thanks, I think," Shitora replied with a hint of her old sharp wit. "I think we should call an official truce, whadya think?"
Ranbou sat up slightly, propping himself up on one elbow. "Why the hell not."
The two shook hands, Shitora's small pale on in Ranbou's larger tan one. Simultaneously, they murmured, "Truce," before dropping the warm handshake, however reluctant they were to do so. Glancing haphazardly in the other's direction, they both wondered what would come of this; two of the greatest rivals in gang history calling a truce? What could that possibly mean? Whatever it meant, it sure made them feel strangely at ease.
Currently, Kagome was carrying on a one-sided conversation with Rin in the gardens, trying to solicit at least one word from her cousin. Surrounded by the beautiful flowers and overhanging willow trees, Rin should've been in a wonderful mood, and yet she was practically unreachable by human words or feelings. Her eyes had a soft yet forewarned look about them, as though she hesitated to trust even Kagome during this time of uncertainty. Sesshomaru's words still plagued her, the words where he'd put down the whole of the human race, not to mention human women. Simple, he'd called them, as though they didn't possess feelings like demons; it was positively proposterous, but the sentiment stll stung.
"I'm begging you, Rin," Kagome tried again, claspnig her hands together as though praying to the gods.
Yet Rin remained completely still, staring down at a patch of orchids, which were waving lazily in the wind. Ever since Kagome had returned that morning, Rin had been in this state, never talking or moving. It pained Kagome to see her cousin like this, but she couldn't spare too much energy caring for Rin; she herself was injured and in sore need of a good rest. She'd spent so much of her time worrying about Rin she'd practically forgotten to tend to herself.
Sighing, Kagome turned on her heels and left Rin simmering in the garden, making the trek back up to the main house with a slow gait. Once she'd finally arrived inside, the girl shut the glass doors and turned, pressing her head against them; cool, calming, pure. A voice interrupted her reverie, however.
"There you are."
Kagome whirled around so quickly that her head practically dislocated from her neck and she winced as a sudden lance of pain shot through her cheek. The wounds were growing dry and hurt everytime her skin stretched now. Inuyasha furrowed his brow in concern, closing the small gap between them and muttering, "What the hell are you doing, walking around? I'm taking you upstairs right now."
Before Kagome could ask what he was doing in her house, the boy swept Kagome gently up into his arms, holding her securely there as he began his climb up the curving staircase. Though the motion was unncessary, it was chivalrous and Kagome appreciated it; Inuyasha was a physical who displayed a good deal of his feelings through bodily display. This was a physical embodiment of his concern for her and she was truly touched.
Finally, Inuyasha kicked the door of Kagome's room lightly open and walked inside, setting her down upon the bed as though she were a priceless porcelain doll. The girl sighed, sinking back against the soft covers; she was sure she didn't look her best, but she could've cared less at the moment; she knew Inuyasha didn't care either. She was wearing loose cotton capris and a singlet, hoping for comfort in her time of pain, but Inuyasha still thought she looked beautiful.
"I came to check on you after work; Aya told me she brought you here," Inuyasha explained, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. He was still wearing the jeans and wifebeater which he'd worn to the warehouse, but there was no grease on his clothing. Not to mention that he smelled like the garage, a scent which comforted Kagome; she'd really grown to love it.
"Thank you, Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly, smiling up at the boy with her heart lifting smile. "I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm worried about Rin."
Inuyasha furrowed his brow, asking, "What's wrong with her?"
"She hasn't eaten all day and she's been sitting in the garden since this morning; she's still in her clothes from last night. I think what Sesshomaru said really got to her," Kagome replied sadly, shaking her head.
Sighing, the hanyou replied gruffly, "He was just being a dumbass older brother; that's how he shows he's worried, he bitches at me till he's blue in the face. Good thing he isn't worried about me much. He just wasn't thinking when he spouted off that demon supremacy crap; I give him three days."
"You think so?" Kagome murmured, looking up at Inuyasha with her wide brown eyes. "That's a long time, considering how close they are."
Inuyasha shrugged, replying, "Eh, he's a prideful bastard. I mean, he's a gang leader; it's in his job description."
Giggling, Kagome replied, "I guess you're right."
The two fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by the twittering of birds outside, before Inuyasha addressed Kagome with a stunningly sober expression on his face.
"Kagome? I wanted to...apologize for what you saw last night. I don't know why I couldn't control my transformation, but...it won't happen again," he said, never daring to meet her eyes as he explained this weakness. Just the thought of defiling her beautiful eyes with the sight of his demon form brought bile to his mouth; how foul it made him feel.
But Kagome only sat up, regarding Inuyasha with an earnest boldness in her eyes. She reached out one pale hand, daringly touching his cheek and turning his eyes to meet hers. "I trust you, Yash. What I saw makes no difference; I know you did what you did because you care about me and that's enough. You don't have to explain to me because...I feel like I already know."
Inuyasha was silent as he watched Kagome's eyes, which smiled just like the curving of her lips; it was amazing how one smile could brighten and entire face like that, but iw as beautiful. This was something which he adored dearly about Kagome: her ability to trust. Most wouldn't trust him as far as they could throw him due to his half demon heritage. With half of both worlds running in his veins, he could turn his back on one and play devil's advocate at the drop of a hat. But Kagome was different; even after a few weeks with him, she trusted in his abilities so fiercely that she would even put her life in his hands, not even batting an eyelash. That was the kind of person Kagome was; this wasn't to say she would trust any old guy, but she had an uncanny sense when it came to people's personalities. She was, dare he say, godly.
"Thanks, Kagome," Inuyasha said quietly, a smile capturing his lips as he observed her with shimmering amber eyes. "Thanks."
Well, there's another chapter; this one was really hard to write, even if it doesn't look it, but I pushed it out for my dear friend EYES OF THE MIDNIGHT WOLF! HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN! Everyone be sure to drop her a line saying happy sweet sixteen on June 29, 2006! Can you drive yet? Do tell!
Thanks to all my reviewers and a happy birthday to EOTM! (haha, I shortened your name. I can't really pronounce it now, but it looks cool, teehee. When I do pronounce it, I say YO-TEM.)
KOLU
Thank you reviewers, I love all of you.
"Jun, is she dead?"
"She isn't dead. Yoshiko, take Kenji to the kitchen and make him breakfast. Hey, Matoko, what are you doing in here? Never mind, just...go sit with Lisoko and help Yoshiko with the baby."
Kagome blinked against the morning sunlight which streamed in through a nearby window, practically blinding her sensetive eyes. She groaned as her head gave a rather painful throb and, finally, she began to make out fuzzy shapes above her. Finally, the girl was able to focus in on a boy only a year or two her junior, perhaps, staring down at her through clever green eyes. His hair was the same rusted red of Ayame's and that's when Kagome finally recalled the previous night; she was in Ayame's house. Truth be told, Kagome had fallen asleep on the ride home and suspected that Ayame carried her inside, but she couldn't remember a thing past saying goodnight to the others at the warehouse.
Sitting up slightly, the girl ran her hand over the deep cuts on her face, which were scabbing over nicely. Just the feel of the rough skin against her fingertips brought Kagai's grungy face to her mind and she winced, wishing away those horrid thoughts. Inuyasha had arrived in time to save her, hadn't he? Even if he had turned into quite the monster, it had all served a purpose.
"Who are you?" Kagome mumbled blearily in the boy's direction, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"I'm Jun, Ayame's brother.You shouldn't move around too much, that bastard got you good," Jun said, voice never raising in volume or pitch; it was a straight, calm monotone.
The girl nodded, head swimming with the motion. "Right. Where's Ayame?"
"Getting dressed; I'm in charge of the younger ones," Jun explained, crossing his arms over his chest. This was when Kagome noticed, for the first time, that Jun's entire right arms was in a full length blue cast.
The girl gasped, asking, "What the hell did you do to your arm?!"
Snorting, Jun sighed and leaned back against the chair back. "Shattered it into 47 pieces; I wrecked my motorcycle."
"47 pieces?" Kagome asked so quietly that, even with his demon ears, Jun could barely hear her. "You shattered your arm into 47 pieces? That had to have been some crash," the girl finished, blinking and trying not to vomit at the thought of so much pain; she was in enough of her own at the current time.
"Today's my first day back at work in the garage," he explained. "I'm in the Cobras."
"Oh," Kagome mumbled, finally piecing it all together; Inuyasha had once told her that the Cobras, Bankotsu's gang, were known for pulling ridiculous stunts. "Were you trick riding when you did that?"
"Yeah, and I almost pulled a 1080," Jun hissed out regretfully, narrowing his eyes and looking positively miffed by the fact that he hadn't succeeded. "Bankotsu laughed at me for, like, ever."
Kagome giggled slightly, shrugging her thin shoulders. "Well, it could be worse. It could've been Inuyasha or Ranbou; then you'd never hear the end of it."
Jun rolled his magnificent green eyes, replying, "Please, I already heard an earful from Ranbou at the Lykoi Banquet."
This word was unfamiliar to Kagome, who furrowed her brow in confusion. "Lykoi? What's that?"
Shrugging, Jun replied boredly, "It's the wolf demon clan title here in Japan. We protect other clans and come together to settle issues and what not. Mom was big in it before she died so now Ayame and I have to go to represent our family."
Though the boy spoke of this as though he didn't care, Kagome felt her heart go out to him; no wonder he was so cold and sarcastic. His mother was dead and his father was constantly working overtime at the garage, leaving him and Ayame to deal with five younger children.
"I once heard Kouga say something in wolf tongue," Kagome remembered, recalling the day of her first race with the Fangs. While Kouga and Ranbou had been arguing about something, Kouga let out a string of words with growling and barks entangled around them, making it all sound like a big gargle. "Do all of you speak it?"
"Yes," Jun replied, crossing one leg over the other. "We try to keep the language alive. The only downside is it never progressed with normal speech, so it still uses words like 'thy' and 'thou.' Nothing too complicated though."
Just then, Ayame came jogging into the room, appearing to be in a hurry. Her red hair was flying this way and that as she tried to put on her jacket, only to get her arm caught in a rather awkward position. "Oh, Kagome, you're up, good. Inuyasha called and said if you leave that bed, he'll kick me in the ovary, so don't move."
Kagome's eyes went wide and she asked quite loudly, "WHAT?! He wants me to stay in bed all day?!"
"That's what the man said," Ayame confessed, shrugging her shoulders and turning to Jun. "Ju-ju, I need you to take the kiddies to Inuyasha's house, Kaede is gonna do us a favor and watch them today. I'm in a big hurry, got to get to the warehouse asap."
Jun cocked and eyebrow and regarded her with the utmost disdain. "And by get to the warehouse you mean make out with Kouga. Alright, then, just this once."
"I love you too," Ayame said sarcastically, the relation between the two Saitou children painfully obvious in that moment; even their mannerisms were the same. "Oh yeah, and don't you overdo it today, no matter what Bank says. I'll massacre him myself if I hear you've been doing anything other than mechanics. No trick riding. You hear me Jun?"
The boy stood, proving himself to be a few inches taller than his sister, and held his hands up defensively. "Fine, fine, don't be such a witch about it. No trick riding. I guess I've got the Corvette, then, if I'm carpooling?"
Ayame crossed her arms, lowering her eyebrows dangerously. "Like I would let you take a motorcycle anyway. Now get outta here."
Jun rolled his eyes and gave Kagome a brief wave before grabbing his leather Cobras jacket off the back of the chair and making his way towards the door. Ayame mirrored her brother's eye roll motion for motion and glanced down at Kagome. "Younger brothers; a pain in my ass."
"I have one too, don't worry about it," Kagome replied tiredly, sparing her friend a small smile. "Anyway, about what Inuyasha said...I'm not gonna do it. I promise he won't find out, I just don't want to stay in bed all day."
Ayame made a thoughtful sound and narrowed her eyes, popping her hip to the side before she mused, "I could drop you off at your house on my way to work, if you want. I don't think Rin's going to be coming in today, not after...the thing."
Both girls' expressions darkened at the remembrance of Sesshomaru's cruel words and Kagome snarled, "I swear, if he weren't himself, I'd kick his ass! The nerve of what he said!"
"Hey, I hear ya, as much as it pains me to say it. I've never heard Sesshomaru say anything stupid before. I know that sounds impossible, but he's always so...right. About everything," Ayame mused, shaking her head slowly in wonderment, assorted chains on her clothing jingling as she did so. "He's practically god like, you know?"
"I know," Kagome murmured, giving in to the urge to sigh. "I hate that this happened to Rin, especially. She's been so good to me and everything, I just...I dunno."
The two girls were silent for a moment as images ran through their heads, images of the previous night and all its turmoil. Sighing, Ayame withdrew her keys from her pocket and said, "C'mon, we should get going; I have a feeling I'll be picking up more than one person's load at the garage today."
Nodding slightly, eyes still downcast and simmering with regret, Kagome pulled the covers gently back and rose slowly to her feet, steadying herself before following a stone faced Ayame out the door. Whatever might happen tooday, she had a feeling none of it would be very good. Of course she was just a girl trying to figure things out; what did she know?
*!*!*!*
Kouga sighed deeply, hot air surrounding his face as he buried it in his pillow. Days like these made him want to hide beneath the comforter, never to come out and face the real world, but his sense of responsibility outweighed this desire. Besides that, he wouldn't see Ayame beneath the security of his sheets; that in and of itself was enough of a reason to motivate his lazy ass.The wolf demon threw back the covers and hurriedly slipped on a pair of jeans and a black wife beater, sure to grab his Fangs jacket from his door knob on the way out. The sound of faint radio music and the smell of cooking beef drifted from the kitchen, drawing Kouga's attention away from Ranbou's door; his first intent was to check on his brother, but the activity in the kitchen perked his interest.
"Dad?" Kouga asked in surprise as he stood in the kitchen doorway, blinking slightly as he watched the broad back moving over the stove.
Kibishii Ookami was a large man, standing strong at 6'4 with thick shoulders and a stern air about him. His hair, kept in a long dark braid at the nape of his neck, was the same startling black of his sons, though his eyes were the blood red of the Hanto line. The Hanto were reknowned hunters from the early days of the Ookamis, noblemen if they could be considered that; Kouga and Ranbou had taken on their late mother's eyes.
Kibishii glanced over his shoulder and smiled, the perfect image of Kouga's smile. "Good morning, Kouga. Late night?"
"You could say that," Kouga mumbled, slightly confused. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd be home."
Shrugging, the older demon used a utensil to remove the sizzling beef from the frying pan, slipping it neatly onto a plate. "I got in from Hong Kong last night and thought I'd spend a meal with you two this morning before I went back over seas to America this afternoon. I'll be gone for a few weeks at the least."
Kouga snorted quietly, never making a motion towards the table. "Right. Well, if you want to have breakfast with both of us, we'll have to have it in Ranbou's room. He ain't movin'."
"Why not?" Kibishii asked, quirking an eyebrow and giving his youngest son an amused smile.
But Kouga did nothing to return his father's good humor. "He was in a fight last night, broke four ribs. You know how it is."
Silent for a moment, Kibishii finally asked, "Otherwise, is he alright?"
"Yeah, Kei and Nan looked him over last night. He should be fine in a week," Kouga replied, turning away from his father. "I'm gonna go check on him and head on out. It oughta be a long day at the garage."
Before he could leave, however, Kibishii said suddenly, "I'm getting out, Kouga."
Blinking, Kouga felt his heart go completely still; had his father just said those words? It seemed almost too good to be true, but Kouga rounded on his father, asking stiffly, "Really?"
Kibishii nodded curtly. "I'm retiring. I'll be out for good."
But Kouga couldn't help but be pessimistic. Narrowing his ice blue eyes coldly, Kouga growled, "Dream on, Dad. Yakuza don't let you 'get out for good.'"
"You're right. If they think you know something, Yakuza don't let you go; but if you're just an assassin, they don't give a shit," Kibishii replied, wolfish grin breaking out on his features. "I've already sworn everything I own to them if I betray; with that kind of leverage, I'm already guaranteed a ticket out. Besides that, Houshi owes me favors. We're men of our word, Yamato and I."
In that moment, Kouga felt almost unable to think or breathe, even to stand. For as long as he could remember, his father had been a high payed Yakuza assassin, working for the area mob boss, Yamato Houshi, otherwise known as Miroku's father. Ranbou had taken after his father with his ruthless killing skills, but Kouga couldn't stand the very sight of his father; it was his fault the rest of Kouga's siblings were gone and he could barely bear it. If it weren't for the Fangs permanent location in Tokyo, Kouga wouldn've followed the rest of them out the door. But he and Ranbou had friends to cling on to, unlike their siblings. They had responsibilities, duties, and they would see them through.
"Once you...once you're out, you should come to one of the races," Kouga managed to get out, unable to meet his father's eyes. "Bo and I never lose."
Kibishii could understand everything behind those words and gave his son a small smile, a smile weathered by time and countless sights of brutality. "I'd like that."
Not one to remain in the line of fire, Kouga hurried towards Ranbou's room, leaving his father behind to eat his beef. Once safely inside Ranbou's room, Kouga dropped his jacket and covered his face with both hands, wondering why he hadn't stayed in his bed that morning. A sudden voice startled him from his thoughtful position.
"He's getting out, huh?"
Glancing at the bed, Kouga noted than Ranbou was laying prostrate, staring blankly up at the ceiling with a small smirk on his lips. "What a bastard. What a sly old bastard."
Kouga shook his head slowly, retrieving his jacket from the floor before saying gruffly, "If you heard that, I guess you heard he's goin' outta town. I'll send someone over with lunch, alright? If you get up, I swear to god I'll light you're girly ass hair on fire."
Slipping on his jacket, Kouga made as though to go, leaving a blank faced Ranbou behind before the older brother murmured, "Yeah. Great."
Kouga paused, glancing back at his brother, who looked anything but normal for himself. "You okay?" Kouga asked, sheerly out of habit.
Ranbou was silent for a moment before he murmured, "Why did she do it? That's what I been wonderin' all morning; why did she do it? I mean, I'm a bitch to Sukini and she still helped me, smiling and everything. Why?"
His younger brother only snorted, replying, "That's the way Shitora works. She's a hard ass, but she cares about everyone, just the way her brothers do. We'll never really understand em, I guess."
"I guess not," Ranbou mused as his brother left the room, leaving him alone with the defeaning silence and still shadows. "Stupid Taishos, god damn it..."
*!*!*!*
"Crap, this engine is gonna take more work than they paid me for. Where's Rin? I need her to call up Sokai and tell him no way!"Sesshomaru let out a feral sigh, vein popping at the mere mention of his girlfriend; all morning long, mechanics had been asking for her left and right, with business associates close behind them. Wildcats wanted her advice on territory, boys wanted her advice on girls and everyone else wanted her advice on payment; it took her absence to prove how much she was needed.
"She's not here today," Sesshomaru bit out in Hakkaku's direction, teeth threatening to bare at the thought of her face.
Hakkaku, who only knew the details of the previous night's brawl, cocked and eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Well, where the hell is she? I'm drowning over here!"
"Yeah, well so am I," Sesshomaru bit back, loudly and unintentionally revealing his insecurities surrounding his fight with Rin. The others went silent for a moment, pausing in their mechanical exploits to spare their leader sympathetic glances; even though he'd said stupid things, they hated to see their normally inpenetrable friend bothered by the mere absence of his girlfriend. It was humbling to say the least.
Shippo shook his head, wiping a smudge of grease from his forehead. "He and Rin are really close, aren't they?"
Despite Sesshomaru's instructions to arive at noon, Shippo had come strolling into the warehouse sometime around ten, immediately jumping in to help Sango on an old model Ford. As Sango had little knowledge of carbureators, Shippo had grabbed a wrench, setting in on the machine with knowledge and ferocity unheard of at his age. The others had soon gathered around him, watching with a perverse sort of fascination as he devoured the entire machine bolt by nut and, soon, it was more finely tuned that a car fresh off the lot. Hands down, everyone agreed that Shippo was the best mechanic in the garage to date.
Sango and Miroku, who'd been working with the kitsune for the greater part of the morning, exchanged glances. Miroku replied, "'Close' isn't exactly the word I'd use. 'Joined at the hip' is a good phrase. 'Incestual siamese twins' is another. 'Married' is a nice one I like to use sometimes."
Snorting with laughter, Sango agreed, "Ever since the day they started going out in the eighth grade, we all knew it would last forever. And...apparently we were right. This fight is just a bump in the road, you'll see. They've only fought twice before, but every fight makes you stronger."
"I never would've thought that," Shippo murmured, exchanging out wrenches by a millimeter size before returning to his work on a '94 Corolla's gear box. "About fights, I mean. I always thought fights were like the precursor to a break-up."
Even though he wasn't actually part of this conversation, Inuyasha, who was working on a Mercedes Coupe adjacent to the trio, was listening intently. At this observation by the young kitsune, Inuyasha paused what he was doing immediately and turned to stare at the boy. "Okay, A) that's only if a relationship is weak as all hell and B) what kind of 12 year old kid uses the word 'precursor'?!"
Rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly, Shippo blushed a bright red. "Heh, Dad's got a big vocabulary, I probably pick up some of that from him."
"Is that where you learned how to kick our ass at mechanics, too?" Inuyasha asked with a tad of accusatory venom, crossing his muscular arms in a bracing way.
Sango intervened quickly, saying, "Well, Nan taught me everything I know about cars..."
"And Kei did the same for me, so it's no wonder he's a genius with those two for parents" Miroku finished up neatly, smiling peaceably in his best friend's direction; ever since the previous night's brawl, Inuyasha had been irritable and on the edge, wondering about Kagome's condition and questioning his physical and moral control. How could a sight so marginally violent set him off into demon mode? What about Kagome made him so...vulnerable to drastic changes?
"Feh, whatever," Inuyasha muttered bitterly, turning swiftly away from his friends and returning to his work on the Benz. Shippo gave a small sigh, deciding to add one to the neverending list of 'people who hate Shippo because he's smart.' Everyone at school thought it fit to pelt him with food and glue, sometimes dangerous things like rocks and eating utensils. Just because he was different, Shippo was subject to all sorts of torture in school; why couldn't the rest of the world give him a break for once?
After a while, Inuyasha gave up on his fruitless endeavor to fix the Mercedes and threw down his wrench with an audible clatter, stomping angrily towards the lounge area to grab a beer. Once he was safely out of earshot, Miroku turned to Sango under the hood of the Corolla, where he was examining the drive shift. "Sango, I just wanted to ask; did you notice something going on between Inuyasha and Kagome last night?"
The girl grinned, hefting a recently assembled cylinder in her hand. "Most definitely."
"That girl with the cut face?" Shippo asked curiously, recalling the pretty yet unfortunately bloodied face of a young girl the night before.
"That's the one; those two have something going on, we don't know what. I mean, Inuyasha's a jerk, but not this much of a jerk; he's only pissed off because he's worried about Kagome," Sango explained, unable to stop from grinning uncontrollably as she disclosed this information.
"I heard he transformed because some Dragon kids were pushing her around," Shippo mentioned, raising a stately eyebrow as one of the pistons came unscrewed.
Miroku snorted. "The word 'transformed' makes it sound so tame. He turned into an unstoppable wild animal and beat Kagai within an inch of his life. I wouldn't be surprised if Kagai kicked it during the recovery period."
Shippo sighed, giving his intelligent head a slow shake. "I don't understand that. I don't understand how he could transform just because something made him angry. It's...irresponsible and dangerous. He could've killed one of his friends and never known."
Unable to say anything against this theory, Sango nodded grimly and replied, "He could've. But it wasn't anger that made him transform, I don't think."
"Really?" Miroku asked, interest obviously piqued at this proposal. "So what do you think did it?"
The girl smiled wryly, wiping off a few screws on a grease rag as she peered at the clear skies outside the warehouse. "A far more powerful emotion, one that can make anyone, human or demon, do anything for someone else."
Miroku and Shippo exchanged glances, shrugging their shoulders before returning to work; Sango caught their confusion out of the corner of her eye, but she said nothing and only smiled knowingly; they would know someday, one of them sooner than he might think. As Hugh Grant once stated so eloquently, love actually is everywhere.
On the other side of the garage, Kouga rolled out from underneath a dying Honda, arms covered from fingertip to elbow in bottomless black grease. The boy sat up slowly from the dolly, grabbing a towel and trying to wipe the substance from his face; his attention elsewhere, Kouga had accidentally punctured the lubrication chamber in the undercarriage, which immediately brought a steady torrent of grease down upon him. Perhaps, in retrospect, staying in bed really would've been the smart thing to do.
Standing stiffly to his feet, Kouga glanced at the clock above the tool benches and gave a curse, turning to address the warehouse. "Hey, can somebody take Bo lunch? I'm...well, covered in shit."
The others gave small chuckles at their friend's predicament, though they dared not give all out laughter; Kouga was in much too poor a mood for that kind of teasing. The others exchanged glances as though wordlessly deciding who would take on the job. Several were about to consent when a surprising volunteer said, "I'll do it."
All eyes turned to Shitora, who was standing innocently apart from her motorcycle, wiping her hands distractedly on a rag. After noticing the strange silence surrounding her proposal, Shitora glanced up, amber eyes wide with confusion. "What?"
Inuyasha cleared his throat and took a step forward, gesturing towards his sister with his beer. "I'll do it Tora, I mean, I'm the one that fucked him over."
But the girl had already set aside her grease rag and put up her wrenches, grabbing her car keys off a nearby tool table. "No, Yash, that's fine, I got it. I bet he likes hamburgers."
And with this, the girl quickly left the warehouse, never meeting anyone's eyes during her walk of shame. Immediately following her abrupt departure, Ayame turned to the others and asked blankly, "Did that just happen?"
"I dunno," Kouga murmured, squinting as he watched the Corvette's bumper disappear behind the farthest warehouse; it appeared Shitora and Ranbou's open animosity wasn't as violent as the others made it out to be after all.
*!*!*!*
"He's everything to everyone! Take me!"Small arms, bloody and ghostly in the muddy moonlight, encircled his barely rising chest, raining tears down upon his cheeks. He wasn't sure what caused him more pain; the sight of Shitora so broken, or the sight of his body immobile from blood loss. What was she screaming? "Take me?" What a foolish thing to ask; if anyone was going to die, it would be him, not her. She was too perfect to die. At least to him.
"Please don't leave me, please," she sobbed, eyes wide and lip busted open from an obviously dangerous encounter. "I love you, okay? I never said it enough, but I'll say it fucking five million times if that's what you want! I love you, I love you, I love...you..."
Before she could finish her repetitive declerations of love, the girl's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed atop her fallen lover, body completely still. Despite his detachment from the scene, Ranbou felt himself reach out to her, reach out to the girl who had fallen over his own corpse. She couldn't die, not her. Anyone but her...
"Hey, Bo, wake up, you're dreaming."
Ranbou's eyes snapped open and he took in the sight of his ceiling, the closet door, pictures of the gang and his friends plastered all over the walls. He noticed how hazy and wild everything seemed, not to mention how labored his breathing was, and the boy sighed, leaning back heavily against the pillows; his ribs were aching fiercely again.
Shitora was kneeling beside the bed, a bag of delicious smelling lunch at her side, but she seemed to have forgotten the meal altogether. Placing a tentative hand on Ranbou's forehead, the girl recoiled fiercely. "Fuck, you're hot."
Even in his state, Ranbou chuckled and replied, "I could've told you that."
"You're such a dick," the girl replied sharply, turning so quickly that her snow white hair caught Ranbou across the face; she smelled like cars and cinammon. "We need to give you medicine, cause I'm assuming you haven't done it yourself, lazy ass."
Ranbou said nothing, finding himself almost too tired to talk, and he watched blearily as she hurried into the kitchen, obviously looking for pills. He watched her perfect ass, swinging back and forth in those tight leather pants as she hurried out of the room; what a beautiful sight to wake up to.
"Here you go," Shitora said suddenly, breaking Ranbou out of his reverie as she returned with two pills and a bottle of water. "Take these."
Doing as he was told, Ranbou weakly ingested the pills and choked down a sip of water, coughing slightly against the liquid in his sore chest. "Crap, this really sucks," he muttered, feeling slightly more aware, even in his feverish state.
"Breaking four ribs isn't supposed to be rainbows and unicorn farts," Shitora replied dryly, raising one caustic eyebrow in the boy's direction. "You really are an idiot."
Sighing, Ranbou shifted his ice blue eyes to meet Shitora's amber ones, locking them in place. "Could you cut it out with the insults? I'm trying here."
After a brief moment of silence, during which Shitora bit her lip and felt slightly ashamed of her attitude, she finally murmured, "Sorry, I've been in one of those moods lately. One of those bitchy moods. Hell, why am I dancing around it, all of you can smell it."
Chuckling, Ranbou grinned and winked one eye in her direction. "Sure, but we ain't saying nothin'. That'll just get our asses kicked, am I right? But seriously, three or four of you at the same time is quite a handful."
While Shitora normally would've been offended by this blatant attack on the menstrual cycle, she only blinked and began to laugh, a light hearted bubbling laugh which she hadn't let out in quite some time. "Sorry; we'll try to reschedule that," came her jokingly sarcastic reply.
"You better," Ranbou joked in return, pushing himself gently into a more upright position; it hurt something fierce, but he managed to resettle himself comfortably.
Shitora reached over and retrieved the bag of food, holding it proudly aloft. "A double quarterpounder from Lucky's with everything on the side; I knew you didn't like mustard or mayo, but I wasn't sure how you preferred your onions these days. Besides, I thought I'd let you do your smiley faces and whatnot."
Ranbou grinned. "You remember the way I like my hamburgers? God, you know you've known someone forever when..."
Shitora rolled her eyes. "Shut up, I know its pathetic, I just have a good memory for stuff like that. Well, I'm starved and I didn't just come all the way here to watch you eat."
Both parties took their food from the bag and began eating furiously away as only half and whole demons could do, devouring the food at a terrifying pace. Eventually, Ranbou had finished his double quarterpounder and sighed contentedly, leaning back against the pillows. He'd noticed Shitora sneaking glances at his bare chest during the past ten minutes, but he said nothing and only smiled a cocky smile at the ceiling; just let her look, he wasn't ashamed.
But finally, Ranbou's mind drifted to more serious thoughts, such as their time spent together the previous night. Sparing a glance in Shitora's direction, he asked rather suddenly, "Why did you help me last night?"
The girl looked up from her burger, chewing innocently on a bite. She stared at him for a moment while she finished chewing, finally swalloing and wiping off her mouth crudely with the back of her hand. "Um...what?"
"Last night, you helped me and I wanna know why. I treat you like shit and I always have. Why are you still cool with me?" Ranbou asked desperately, voice raising with every word; even his eyes reflected his intense confusion.
Shitora was silent for a moment before she shrugged her thin, pale shoulder, refusing to meet his eyes. "Both of us treat the other like shit, but that doesn't mean we're not friends or something. I mean, I used to hate you, but...I dunno. You're not so bad. And I'm not bad either, right?"
Ranbou was silent for a moment, regarding the girl with his piercing blue eyes. "Course you're not. I was talking mostly about me. I mean, calling you Sukini and all that shit."
"I don't really care about that dumb name anymore," Shitora replied dismissively, cocking her head cutely to the side. "I mean, I used to be skinny back in the day. I just grew up and you're used to calling me that. No big deal."
Sighing heavily, Ranbou leaned back against his pillow with a weary expression on his face. "You're something else, you know that?"
"Thanks, I think," Shitora replied with a hint of her old sharp wit. "I think we should call an official truce, whadya think?"
Ranbou sat up slightly, propping himself up on one elbow. "Why the hell not."
The two shook hands, Shitora's small pale on in Ranbou's larger tan one. Simultaneously, they murmured, "Truce," before dropping the warm handshake, however reluctant they were to do so. Glancing haphazardly in the other's direction, they both wondered what would come of this; two of the greatest rivals in gang history calling a truce? What could that possibly mean? Whatever it meant, it sure made them feel strangely at ease.
*!*!*!*
"Rin, please eat something, you'll get sick," Kagome pleaded, brushing a piece of stray hair away from her eyes.Currently, Kagome was carrying on a one-sided conversation with Rin in the gardens, trying to solicit at least one word from her cousin. Surrounded by the beautiful flowers and overhanging willow trees, Rin should've been in a wonderful mood, and yet she was practically unreachable by human words or feelings. Her eyes had a soft yet forewarned look about them, as though she hesitated to trust even Kagome during this time of uncertainty. Sesshomaru's words still plagued her, the words where he'd put down the whole of the human race, not to mention human women. Simple, he'd called them, as though they didn't possess feelings like demons; it was positively proposterous, but the sentiment stll stung.
"I'm begging you, Rin," Kagome tried again, claspnig her hands together as though praying to the gods.
Yet Rin remained completely still, staring down at a patch of orchids, which were waving lazily in the wind. Ever since Kagome had returned that morning, Rin had been in this state, never talking or moving. It pained Kagome to see her cousin like this, but she couldn't spare too much energy caring for Rin; she herself was injured and in sore need of a good rest. She'd spent so much of her time worrying about Rin she'd practically forgotten to tend to herself.
Sighing, Kagome turned on her heels and left Rin simmering in the garden, making the trek back up to the main house with a slow gait. Once she'd finally arrived inside, the girl shut the glass doors and turned, pressing her head against them; cool, calming, pure. A voice interrupted her reverie, however.
"There you are."
Kagome whirled around so quickly that her head practically dislocated from her neck and she winced as a sudden lance of pain shot through her cheek. The wounds were growing dry and hurt everytime her skin stretched now. Inuyasha furrowed his brow in concern, closing the small gap between them and muttering, "What the hell are you doing, walking around? I'm taking you upstairs right now."
Before Kagome could ask what he was doing in her house, the boy swept Kagome gently up into his arms, holding her securely there as he began his climb up the curving staircase. Though the motion was unncessary, it was chivalrous and Kagome appreciated it; Inuyasha was a physical who displayed a good deal of his feelings through bodily display. This was a physical embodiment of his concern for her and she was truly touched.
Finally, Inuyasha kicked the door of Kagome's room lightly open and walked inside, setting her down upon the bed as though she were a priceless porcelain doll. The girl sighed, sinking back against the soft covers; she was sure she didn't look her best, but she could've cared less at the moment; she knew Inuyasha didn't care either. She was wearing loose cotton capris and a singlet, hoping for comfort in her time of pain, but Inuyasha still thought she looked beautiful.
"I came to check on you after work; Aya told me she brought you here," Inuyasha explained, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. He was still wearing the jeans and wifebeater which he'd worn to the warehouse, but there was no grease on his clothing. Not to mention that he smelled like the garage, a scent which comforted Kagome; she'd really grown to love it.
"Thank you, Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly, smiling up at the boy with her heart lifting smile. "I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm worried about Rin."
Inuyasha furrowed his brow, asking, "What's wrong with her?"
"She hasn't eaten all day and she's been sitting in the garden since this morning; she's still in her clothes from last night. I think what Sesshomaru said really got to her," Kagome replied sadly, shaking her head.
Sighing, the hanyou replied gruffly, "He was just being a dumbass older brother; that's how he shows he's worried, he bitches at me till he's blue in the face. Good thing he isn't worried about me much. He just wasn't thinking when he spouted off that demon supremacy crap; I give him three days."
"You think so?" Kagome murmured, looking up at Inuyasha with her wide brown eyes. "That's a long time, considering how close they are."
Inuyasha shrugged, replying, "Eh, he's a prideful bastard. I mean, he's a gang leader; it's in his job description."
Giggling, Kagome replied, "I guess you're right."
The two fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by the twittering of birds outside, before Inuyasha addressed Kagome with a stunningly sober expression on his face.
"Kagome? I wanted to...apologize for what you saw last night. I don't know why I couldn't control my transformation, but...it won't happen again," he said, never daring to meet her eyes as he explained this weakness. Just the thought of defiling her beautiful eyes with the sight of his demon form brought bile to his mouth; how foul it made him feel.
But Kagome only sat up, regarding Inuyasha with an earnest boldness in her eyes. She reached out one pale hand, daringly touching his cheek and turning his eyes to meet hers. "I trust you, Yash. What I saw makes no difference; I know you did what you did because you care about me and that's enough. You don't have to explain to me because...I feel like I already know."
Inuyasha was silent as he watched Kagome's eyes, which smiled just like the curving of her lips; it was amazing how one smile could brighten and entire face like that, but iw as beautiful. This was something which he adored dearly about Kagome: her ability to trust. Most wouldn't trust him as far as they could throw him due to his half demon heritage. With half of both worlds running in his veins, he could turn his back on one and play devil's advocate at the drop of a hat. But Kagome was different; even after a few weeks with him, she trusted in his abilities so fiercely that she would even put her life in his hands, not even batting an eyelash. That was the kind of person Kagome was; this wasn't to say she would trust any old guy, but she had an uncanny sense when it came to people's personalities. She was, dare he say, godly.
"Thanks, Kagome," Inuyasha said quietly, a smile capturing his lips as he observed her with shimmering amber eyes. "Thanks."
Well, there's another chapter; this one was really hard to write, even if it doesn't look it, but I pushed it out for my dear friend EYES OF THE MIDNIGHT WOLF! HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN! Everyone be sure to drop her a line saying happy sweet sixteen on June 29, 2006! Can you drive yet? Do tell!
Thanks to all my reviewers and a happy birthday to EOTM! (haha, I shortened your name. I can't really pronounce it now, but it looks cool, teehee. When I do pronounce it, I say YO-TEM.)
KOLU