InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Ain't Forgotten Easily ❯ Sleepover, part 1 ( Chapter 21 )

Chapter 21

Ayumi looked up as someone else entered the front hall. At once she let go of Sota and dashed over to the new arrivals, pulling the smaller one from the larger one's grasp and squealing, “Oh, what a cute little boy!”

“Inu-Yasha!” Shippo yelped, struggling vainly to get away. “Help!”

The hanyou backed up a step. “You're on your own, brat…”

After a few more moments of huggling and squealing, the girl released the poor kit, who promptly bounded over to Kagome and hopped up onto her shoulder. Now Inu-Yasha was her target.

“Hello,” the girl said, holding out her hand. “I'm Ayumi. You must be Inu-Yasha.”

“Uh…yeah.” The hanyou cautiously shook her hand, minding his claws.

She smiled and turned around, walking back to Kagome and whispering into her ear, “You were right, he is like a god…”

Inu-Yasha heard every word and smirked at Kagome, who turned bright red and hissed back at Ayumi, “Shut up! He has really good hearing!”

“Oops. Sorry, Kagome.” Ayumi smiled back at Inu-Yasha, who rolled his eyes and was about to walk away when the doorbell rang.

“I wonder who that could be?” Komiko asked. It rang again, urgent in its tone. “Oh, right, it's raining.” She jogged over to the door and swung it open as sweatdrops appeared on the back of everyone else's heads.

“Hello, Lady Higurashi,” said the drenched man outside.

“Oh, hello, Rai!” She smiled and stood to the side, allowing him and the two women behind him to enter. “I forgot you were coming over tonight. We'll be glad to let you stay, seeing as it's so horrid out there.”

“Thank you for your graciousness, Komiko. It is greatly appreciated.”

“Rin!” Shippo shouted, bailing off of Kagome's shoulder and tearing over to the shorter of the women. The girl squealed and held out her arms, allowing the kitsune to jump into them.

Rin? Kagome thought. Who is…wait, the “Oh” girl. Now I remember.

When Rin finally released Shippo from her grasp he was soaked, and Kagome had Sota take him back to his room for a new pair of clothes (Shippo's room is next to Sota's now). Then she turned to the bubbly girl who was currently removing her wet sweater.

“Uh, hey, I've got some dry clothes you can borrow if you want me to run those through our dryer,” Kagome offered.

“Really? Thanks!” Rin beamed.

“Oh, yes!” Komiko cried, having overheard the conversation. “We can do that for you two as well, Rai, Sakura.”

“Thank you!” It seemed Rin had gotten her bubbly attitude from her mother.

“Right this way then.” Komiko herded them off towards the east wing. “Kagome, darling, the last one there has to start the dryer!”

“You're on!” The schoolgirl grabbed Rin's wrist. “Let's go!”

Both of them tore off down the hall, leaving Ayumi alone with Inu-Yasha. After a few moments of awkward silence Ayumi screamed, “Wait for me!” and ran after her friend.

Inu-Yasha sighed as Sesshoumaru floated through the wall next to him. “What is all the racket about?” he asked.

“Kagome. Two squealing friends. The entire night. What do you think?”

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows disappeared into his hair. “I think I'll be in the library.”

“I think I might be joining you,” the hanyou muttered.

***

“So why are you here?” Kagome asked Rin a while later. All three girls were sitting on her bed, Kagome braiding Ayumi's hair as Rin bounced on the other end.

“Your mother and father invited my parents over tonight, and since I was bored I decided to come too.” She grinned. “I know you don't know me that well, but I was hoping you'd tolerate me!”

“Believe me, you're nothing,” Kagome said as she finished off Ayumi's braid. “I've made friends with some really weird people in the past two weeks…”

“Like me?” a voice asked, and the heads of all three girls whipped towards the door.

Kagome's eyes widened. Is that…? “Myli?”

“Yup, that's me.” The girl in the doorway waved, then bounded over to the bed and flopped down next to Rin. “And who are these two?”

“Uh…Rin and Ayumi.” Where are her cat-ears? Kagome wondered. And her tail and claws? And is her hair…black?

“Hi!” The human-looking neko-hanyou grinned, revealing that she had no fangs.

“Hi!” Rin smiled back.

“Hi.” Ayumi still smiled, but she was not quite as…peppy. “How do you know Kagome?”

Before the neko could answer, Kagome cut in. “Uh, Ayumi, remember the friend of Sadie's that I met? That's her.”

Ayumi's eyes went wide. “Oh…”

“Who's Sadie?” Rin asked.

“An evil half-devil bitch married to even bigger bitch,” Myli answered cheerfully. A sweatdrop formed on the back of Kagome's head, and she pointed to the door.

“Uh, Myli, can I talk to you outside for a second?”

“Sure.” The neko led the way out, and Kagome shut the door behind them. “What?”

“They don't know about that!” she hissed. “They know about demons and stuff, but they're just normal human bystanders! No jewel, no devils, none of that! Okay?”

“Okay.” Myli rolled her eyes. “Overreaction much?”

Kagome glared, but gave up when Myli grinned hugely at her. “And where are your ears and stuff?”

“Every hanyou has a time when their youki and demon blood wanes. Mine is tonight.”

“Ah.” Kagome opened the door. “Shall we?”

***

Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru shared the library in silence, the former sprawled in one of the huge chairs reading Jurassic Park while the former drifted beside a table, occasionally gesturing the page of a book of Shakespeare to turn.

The hanyou caught the scent before his ghostly half-brother, and looked over at the door as it opened.

Rin froze in the door. “Oh, hello, Inu-Yasha the ghost!” she said, grinning and waving.

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes. “I'm not a ghost anymore, Rin.”

“Oh. Okay.” She turned to the other occupant, whose eyes were fastened on her. “Then who is he?”

“That's Sesshoumaru. He's the ghost of my half-brother.”

“All right then.” Rin skipped over and ducked behind Inu-Yasha's chair. “If she comes looking, I'm not here, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Inu-Yasha went back to his book, as did Sesshoumaru.

A few minutes later Kagome poked her head in. “Rin? Oh, hi, guys.”

Inu-Yasha raised his hand, and Sesshoumaru sent her a quick glance before both returned to their books.

“Is she in here?” Kagome entered fully, looking around. “Rin…Rin, are you in here?”

“You honestly think she's going to answer if she is?” Inu-Yasha asked lazily, rolling his eyes and setting the book down.

“No, but I was hoping.” Kagome grinned.

The hanyou shook his head and sat up, stretching his arms out and wincing as his back popped. “Ow. By the way, Kagome, she met He-Who-Is-Transparent-And-Stoic.”

A small paperback book flew off a nearby shelf and smacked him in the side of the head. He glared at his half-brother, who was still calmly reading as he said, “Call me another name and it will be a hardcover edition of War and Peace.”

Kagome twitched. “Well, if you see her, cheat and give a holler.” The human miko walked back out.

“Yay! She didn't find me!” Rin popped out and hugged Inu-Yasha. “Thank you for not telling, koinu-inu!”

His eyebrow twitched as he detached her arms. “Rin, why did you just call me that?”

“'Cause of these!” She reached up and knocked away his bandanna, rubbing his ears and grinning at him all the while.

He yanked them away before she could do much more. “Don't do that, Rin,” he hissed. “Don't ask why, just believe me when I say you don't want to do that.”

“Okay then!” She nodded energetically, then walked over to Sesshoumaru. “What are you reading—oh, wait, am I supposed to pretend you're not here?”

The inu youkai didn't even look up from his book. “Yes.”

She grinned. “All right.”

Humming absently, she leaned over the table and started flipping pages, not really reading them but still making her way through the book as though enraptured.

Inu-Yasha held back his laughter at the expression on the translucent face of his dead half-brother. It's your own fault, Sess.

After about a minute of the pointless page turning, the book suddenly floated away from Rin's grasp. Blinking rapidly, she climbed up on the table and grabbed it back, hopping down and sitting cross-legged on the floor, still pretending to read it.

The hanyou was starting to have a hard time restraining his mirth, but he wanted to see where this would go.

Sesshoumaru passed through the table and stood over her, and then he did something Inu-Yasha found quite entertaining.

Kneeling behind the girl on the floor, Sesshoumaru waved his hand and made her hair move to the side. She ignored it and continued playing with the book. Getting no reaction, the youkai spirit set his hand on the back of her neck.

At once Rin stiffened, her own hand going up to clap over the same place. Inu-Yasha knew from experience that she was getting the eerie ice-cold feeling attributed to ghosts.

The corner of his mouth quirking up for a split second, Sesshoumaru moved closer, letting his ghostly haori drape over her shoulders. Rin's teeth started chattering.

Inu-Yasha clapped his hands over his ears as Sesshoumaru used the death rattle that all ghosts could use when they were speaking to the living. “Give the book back…”

Now thoroughly freaked, Rin yelped and shot across the room. She hid behind Inu-Yasha, peering at the ghost as her `bodyguard' started to crack up.

The book floated back onto the table, and Sesshoumaru returned to it as if nothing had happened. Inu-Yasha was on the floor by now, laughing his ass off and wondering when the hell Sesshoumaru had started to have such fun terrorizing mortals.

Rin, seeing she had been had, marched back over to the ghost and took a mock swing at his back.

It connected, and she froze. Sesshoumaru, too, was unmoving.

Inu-Yasha's chuckles died off. “What the hell…?” he muttered.

Then everything snapped back into motion as Rin backpedaled, holding up her hands as if to defend herself. “I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it was just—”

“It wasn't you.” His amber eyes flew over to land on his brother. “Get out.”

“What the hell did I do?” Inu-Yasha barked.

“I overheard your conversation with Myoga, and I'm telling you to get out.”

“You think I'm absorbing your power? That's nuts! I've been hanging around you for a while now and this has never happened, what the—”

“When we travel I rein in my power and stay farther away, tonight I was too relaxed while we were here and let too much loose, now get out before you force me into the same state as you!” His eyes flashed red in warning.

Inu-Yasha left the room in a hurry, muttering something intelligible as he grabbed his bandana on the way out.

Rin looked up at the angered, solid demon. “I'll just…be going now.” She ran.

***

“I win again!” Sota crowed as a large KO appeared on the screen.

Shippo sighed and hopped off the bed, setting his controller on the console and turning to his adoptive brother. “I'm bored with this now, Sota.”

Sated by thirteen victories in a row and only one loss, the human nodded. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I dunno.” The kitsune shrugged. “Hey, where's that list we made of stuff we were gonna do?”

“Uh…” Sota cast a wary glance at his bed. “I think…under there…”

Shippo's eyes went wide. “I'm not going under there!”

“But it's so much easier for you to fit!” Sota protested. “You're littler!”

“And younger!”

“No, you're not! You're almost as old as Jii-chan!”

Shippo crossed his arms over his chest. “So? I'm not going under there; no telling what might eat me.”

Sota's shoulders slumped in defeat, and he crawled over to the bed. Shippo bounced up on top and watched as the human boy started wriggling his way between the junk and dust bunnies of the dangerous realm of Under Sota's Bed.

“Hey, I've been looking for that yo-yo!” came a muffled shout, followed shortly by a bright green yo-yo rolling out from underneath the bed. Shippo raised an eyebrow, than flopped down so that he could see underneath.

“How's it going?”

“I can't find any papers, which is kinda weird because I know I stuffed some math homework under here a week ago…”

“Can I tell Mom that you aren't doing your homework again?”

“No! I just…put it here for safe-keeping was all…” Sota looked around. “Wait! I see something near the back!”

Now hidden up to his knees, Sota reached towards the wall and grabbed an extremely dusty sheet of paper. “Got it!”

He managed to get back out with no major issues and set the gray sheet on the bed. Without thinking, he blew it off and threw both Shippo and himself into a sneezing fit.

Once that subsided, they were finally able to read it.

“Jeez, we gotta update this,” Sota said, peering back under the bed and grabbing a marker. He crossed off the first thing on the list. “We already built a model airplane, we already created a new yo-yo trick, we already…” They continued on, marking off most of the items as done.

“All that's left is…” Sota paused as he read the last item, and then exchanged an evil grin with Shippo. “Sound like fun?”

“Yup.” Shippo cackled like a cartoon villain.

Together they chorused, “Operation GKAYT is now back on schedule.”

***

Back in his room, Inu-Yasha's ear started ringing. Annoyed, he rubbed it. “Someone's talking about me…”

***

“Ow!” Kagome clapped a hand over her ringing ear.

“Someone talking about you, Kagome?” Ayumi asked from across the ballroom.

“Apparently.” It subsided to a tolerable level, and she peered back at the CDs. “Now let's see, what first?”

Rin stuck her face next to Kagome's. “Whatcha got?”

“Er…a bunch of random stuff. Three Higurashi generations' worth of music,” she replied. “Classical, jazz, rock, pop, heavy metal, Spanish…take your pick, we've probably got it.”

Rin's hands shot out and grabbed several; Kagome missed the titles as the smaller girl tore across the floor to where Ayumi and Myli were trying to figure out the stereo. She wriggled in between them and started hitting buttons, seemingly at random.

“Rin!” Ayumi cried. “You'll mess—”

The top flipped open, and Rin pulled the CDs out of their cases and put them in; slamming the lid shut, she hit a few more buttons, then ran out to the middle of the floor and looked at the other girls expectantly. “Well?”

A sweatdrop formed on the back of Kagome's head. Even I can't figure out that stereo that fast! Does she have one at home or something?

Myli eyed the stereo oddly. “Are you sure—?”

Loud Latin music blasted from the speakers, interrupting her. “She's into superstition: black cats and voodoo dolls. I feel a premonition—that girl's gonna make me fall!”

Myli hissed and took a swat at one of them, eyes narrowed. Ayumi, though equally startled, gave her an odd look.

“You all right?” she called over the music.

Myli grinned sheepishly. “Reflex!”

Rin, her already-boundless energy propelled by the sugar from the ice cream they'd had a little while before, was dancing with an imaginary partner in the middle of the floor and singing at the top of her lungs. “Upside, inside out—she's livin' la vida loca! She'll push and pull you down—livin' la vida loca. Her lips are a terrible red—and her skin's the color of mocha! She will wear you out—livin' la vida loca—livin' la vida loca—she's livin' la vida loca!”

“She's crazier than I am,” Myli muttered, shaking her head.

Rin chose that moment to pause. “Come on! `Tis fun!”

Kagome sighed. If someone else sees this, I'll never hear the end of it.

She walked out to join Rin.

***

They were all whirling around the floor to the Beach Boys' “Surfin' USA” when Kagome crashed into Ayumi and sent both sliding across the floor. It hurt mildly, but they were in too good of a mood to let that affect them.

Laughing, Rin and Myli came over to help them up.

“Hey, Kagome, what's that?” Rin asked, pointing to a white rectangle on the ground behind her. The miko turned.

“Oh, that…that's that thing I have to give to Inu-Yasha…” She leaned down and scooped it up off the floor. “I'm gonna go give it to him real quick, okay, guys?”

They nodded, and she jogged out of the ballroom.

***

Wonder what this even is, Kagome thought as she searched for the hanyou. He hadn't been in his room, nor in the library where a frustrated, solid Sesshoumaru—she didn't ask—was brooding darkly in a chair. She had checked the kitchen, Sota's room, and the trees out front, and was ready to head back when she realized she hadn't tried the roof.

As she headed for the trapdoor that led up, she found herself playing with the envelope. It felt as if there was something besides just paper in it—

She looked up just in time to have the ladder meet her face. Rubbing her nose ruefully, she stuffed the envelope in a pocket, then headed up. He must be up here.

Throwing open the trapdoor, she poked her head out. “Inu-Yasha?”

“Yeah?” She jumped as a leg appeared next to her face, her grip on the top rungs of the ladder loosening and causing her to fall backwards.

He reached down and caught her before she could fall, hauling her out and setting her on her feet on the roof before shutting the trapdoor again.

“What do you want?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Uh…I ran into Sadie at the mall today, and she wanted me to give you this.” Kagome pulled the envelope from her pocket and handed it to him. Giving it an odd look, he walked off a little ways and sat down.

Kagome was about to head back inside when she was hit with the auras of two—no, three—shards. She whipped around to look at Inu-Yasha, seeing him staring at the contents of the envelope with huge eyes.

She ran over and knelt next to him. “Inu-Yasha…?”

He reached in and yelped as the shards crackled at him. Annoyed, he fished out the note wedged in with them.

After skimming it quickly, he set it down and grabbed Kagome's hand. “Ready? These belonged to Naraku, and she said it might hurt to purify them.”

“Wha—” He shook the shards into her hand, and she let out a small yip as they touched her. They were burning her skin!

“Concentrate, Kagome,” Inu-Yasha said, holding her shaking hand steady.

“It hurts!” she snapped. “It feels like they're trying to burn a hole through my hand!”

“Well, they're…not,” he lied, turning her hand just enough so that she couldn't see her palm very well. The shards actually were causing her hand to smolder. “Come on, Kagome, concentrate on purifying them. The pain's all in your mind.”

After glaring at him a final time, she closed her eyes and focused on the dark auras swirling around the three objects in her hand. Slowly, ever so slowly, she forced it out until they at last shone a brilliant white.

She opened her eyes again and stared at him. “Ow. They've never been that hard before. Normally all I have to do is touch them and they purify…”

“Sadie said it would be difficult since her aura is mixed in with Naraku's on them.”

“Wait, you mean she…?”

“Stole them from Naraku, yeah.” He realized he was still holding her hand and released it, going a little red.

Kagome looked at the three new shards and noticed the black marks underneath them. “Hey! They were burning me, you asshole!”

He snorted, unused to hearing her swear unless she was really pissed off. “Watch it, Kagome, your mouth'll turn as foul as mine…”

She blushed, yanking the jar from her pocket and putting the shards in it before storming over to the trapdoor and leaning down to open it. She pulled on the handle.

It didn't budge. She tried again. Still nothing.

“Uh…” Blinking rapidly, she heaved upwards with all her strength, stopping only when she felt like she was about to pull something important in her back. “Inu-Yasha? Can you…come here a sec?”

He strolled over. “What now?”

“The door…it's stuck.”

Raising an eyebrow, he leaned over and grabbed the handle that she had released. He yanked upwards, but it barely even twitched.

“Huh…” He tried again, but let go when the door creaked and threatened to break. “I guess it locked itself when it shut…”

“How am I supposed to get down?!” Kagome yelped. “The other entrances are locked too! We're stuck up here!” She thought about that for a minute. “Great, you for company…”

“You don't usually mind,” he stated, walking to the edge of the roof. “Kagome, come over here.”

“Oh, no, you don't!” she exclaimed, backing away.

He turned toward her, an exasperated look on his face. “I'm not going to throw you, chicken. Come here.”

Reluctantly, she made her way over next to him. “Is there a ladder or—”

Before she could finish her statement, he had grabbed her around the waist and hopped off the side. She shrieked and buried her face in his shoulder. He landed in the branches of a rather tall tree.

“Are you okay, wench?” he asked.

“I thought you were over calling me that,” she mumbled into his shoulder, daring to look around when she felt the ground waving under their feet. Seeing their current perch, her eyes went huge and she hid her face back in his shirt.

“Kagome…” He rolled his eyes. “I won't let you fall, baka.”

“I-I know that,” she muttered. “I-I just don't like heights is all.”

“You'll be fine. I'm right here.” He ran his fingers through her hair, felt her shiver, and leaned back to look into her face. “Ready to go the rest of the way down?”

Her eyes expressed her fear, but, biting her lip, she nodded and clenched his shirt a little tighter. Making sure he had a good grip on her as well, he hopped down the remaining distance, quickly landing on firm ground.

“All right, Kagome, you're free to go,” he murmured into her ear, grudgingly letting go of the terrified girl. She didn't move. “Uh, Kagome…?”

“Are we really on the ground?” she asked, the sound muffled.

He rolled his eyes. “Yes.”

She leaned away and peered around; satisfied that they were indeed on solid ground, she threw her arms around Inu-Yasha's waist and hugged him. “Thank you.”

His cheeks burned red. “Uh…you're welcome, Kagome.”

After a few moments she leaned away and looked up at him. “Want to come inside? We're having something like a mini-party…just, you know, for the heck of it.”

“Nah.” He shook his head.

“Oh, right, Mr. Anti-social…”

“I've been a ghost for the past five hundred years, excuse me if I'm not a party guy—”

“Yeah, yeah, always with the ghost excuse.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Like I haven't heard that one before—”

“Don't you stick your tongue out at me—”

“I'll stick my tongue out at you if I want to—”

“I'll tell everyone about your obsession with that guy—”

“How did you know about that?! You wouldn't dare—”

“Oh, I wouldn't, would I? Just think—”

“Um, excuse me?” Both Kagome and Inu-Yasha's heads whipped around to face the new arrivals.

“Oh, hi, Sango! Hi, Miroku!” Kagome smiled cheerfully.

“Weren't interrupting a lovers' spat, were we?” Miroku grinned knowingly.

“A what?” Kagome blinked.

The monk gestured at them, and the miko finally bothered to notice that she was still sort of hugging Inu-Yasha. She jumped backwards as if burned.

“Ahh! No, no, it wasn't, we were just—”

A clawed hand clapped over her mouth. “Kagome, don't try to win against him, remember? Bouzu, get inside before I hurt you.”

“Right.” Miroku grinned. “We'll just leave you two alone then, shall we? Come along, Sango!” He grabbed his fiancé's wrist and ran for the house before Inu-Yasha had a chance to hurt him.

“Baka,” Inu-Yasha muttered under his breath.

Kagome was looking everywhere but at him. “So, Inu-Yasha, you sure you don't want to come in…?”

He sighed. “Well, since you've thrown off my star-gazing groove, I guess—” He stopped as she started giggling hysterically. “What is so funny now?”

“You said groove!” She fell back onto the grass, still laughing.

His ear twitched. “Yeah, so?”

“You are so not the type of person to use `groove' in a sentence!” She rolled onto her back, holding her stomach and kicking her legs in the air. “It's funny!”

He groaned. “Yeah, har de har har…”

At that, she just laughed harder.

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes and forced himself to walk towards the house. “Idiot wench. Maybe I should just tell them all about her little thing with that guy, what's-his-name—”

“No!” Something tackled him from behind, slamming his face into the dirt. “Don't you dare, Inu-Yasha! I'll use the necklace!”

“Go ahead, you can't keep me plastered to the ground forever,” he taunted.

Though it was a bit muffled, she understood him perfectly. “No! Please, Inu-Yasha, please don't tell them!”

He heaved a huge, fake sigh. “All right. I won't tell.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Okay!” She released his knees, allowing him to climb to his feet. “Ready to head in?”

“Yeah, I suppose…” He turned on his heel and continued walking towards the house, Kagome running after him.

Neither noticed the glint of a small jar with three crystal slivers lying in the grass…

Nor the dark shape that scooped it up a few moments after the door slammed shut.

***

A/n: Well, jeez, a month and a half after she says she's coming back, she actually POSTS…an updated chapter. *shifty eyes* I'm still busy. Ahem. Oh, and if the characters start getting a bit OOC, it's because I haven't watched the show in almost fourteen months!!!! I've watched the movies, but that is IT. I've been deprived…and we have to remember that this is a 500-year-old Inu-Yasha that has had to learn PATIENCE…

I'm going now. Hopefully to work on Chapter 22.

KEEP THE FAITH!!!! PEACE OUT!!!!

Myli: *gives weird look*

Me: …Oh shut up.