InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On a Leash ❯ Rose Hips or White Tea & Ginger? ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: And to think people say that persistence doesn't get you far in life… Keh! Well, I was working on MLV, listening to Linkin Park's CD "Meteora" and thinking that-well-the ending isn't as near as I had anticipated. So, I'm going to work on it along with OaL. Everyone is less than patient with me (thankfully nothing painful, and I don't have a fire-proof cloak yet, so I think so far so good) so, I decided to work a little bit on this. I've decided to use (~*~*~*~*) to also signify time passage. The indentations don't always work on certain sites, so this is much better.

IMPORTANT! ALL READ! I now have a notify list so you can find out what's going on. It's hanyoumiko.notifylist.com If you go there, you can sign up and get my messages about what's going on. (Then you'll all know I don't have internet at the moment, so it's kind of hard when it comes to posting.) Over 200 reviews on one site; and near 80 on another…wow… I'm…flabbergasted. You guys rock!

Chapter Eight: Rose Hips or White Tea and Ginger?

"Inuyasha!" someone called. The hanyou lazily raised his head a tad, giving a slight yawn as another call of "Inuyasha!" came.

That was Kagome's voice.

Ears flicking to and fro, whipping snowflakes off the tips, Inuyasha could hear the girl's approaching footsteps as they crunched the soft hoarfrost. His gold eyes widened when he glimpsed down to his outstretched paws. "Uh-oh." He was still clad in the clothing from yesterday, more than a little peculiar for a canine to be wearing, even if he wasn't a run-of-the-mill mutt.

Wriggle this way; wriggle that way-he had the jeans and fish boxers off along with the red running shoes.

Place one paw here and another there-back tracking, the red sweater came off----

"Inuyasha!" Kagome hollered, the white puffs of breath preceding her body as her shadow came into view on the snow.

"Shit! Gotta hide these!" Snatching all the articles in his chops, counting the running shoes, the hanyou hot-footed it to a snow bank. He shoved his head in and put the clothes in as deep as he could before reversing and haphazardly covering it up just as his mistress came around the wide trunk of the god-tree. He shook his head free of the flurries that had piled on top like a turban. "Uh, hey, Kagome," he said anxiously, trotting up to her with his tail in a wagging frenzy.

"There you are!" she gushed. Kagome stood there with the jacket she wore to the movies the night before over her blue and yellow star pajamas with a pair of beat up sneakers on her feet. She looked absolutely relieved when she saw Inuyasha staring up at her.

When she'd gotten home that night and gone to her room, Kagome had been surprised that the window had been left open. She didn't remember opening it, so she figured one of Gramps incense-charms had gone wrong again, and had needed to air her room out again. It wouldn't be the first it happened anyway.

But when she couldn't find Inuyasha that night, she guessed he would show up before bed or when she nodded off; that mutt did have a tendency to wander off about the house, nowhere to be found, and be there in bed by morning.

She doubted a person, let alone a dog, could jump out from her second story window and make it out unscathed.

She had supposed Souta, that little brat, had left the rear door open and hadn't told her Inuyasha got out.

However, when he didn't show up, hogging the coverlets of her bed, she had gotten pretty worried about him. Kagome was awful fond of her pet, hence why she decided to check outside.

She was glad she had.

When the dog got close enough, the girl wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "You're all wet, boy." She brushed some of the snow from his noggin, paying special attention to his icy ears. "Let's get you inside. I'll dry you off and-I'll bet you're hungry, huh?-so I'll feed you, too," she babbled happily along as she lead him inside.

~*~*~*~*

"I never thought I'd appreciate a bath this much…" Inuyasha sighed as Kagome dumped more water on his back. He allowed his tongue to loll out of his mouth as she moved his fur forward so she could get his skin. She must have been soaking his stiff body for at least half an hour, but Inuyasha didn't really care. After sleeping in the same position for hours on end, and to be snowed on no less, warm water really did seem like a godsend.

Smiling, Kagome rocked her rump onto her heels. "Now that you aren't so cold, Inuyasha, I'm going to give you a regular bath. There's nothing worse than a smelly dog."

He snorted at her, shooting her a glare. "Scrawny human boys and wimpy wolves smell much worse."

Reaching under the sink and probing its contents, "You're probably barking something rude, aren't you? That'd be in your nature." Searching for something to lather him up with, she spotted the shampoos hidden behind Souta's wadded up soccer jersey-which she scrunched her nose up at and tossed over her shoulder with a yell. "Hmm…" she mused to herself, extracting two bottles, leaning rearwards to exam the labels, "rose hips or white tea and ginger…?"

"Neither! I'm a male! MALE!" yapped Inuyasha in protestation. "Guys don't shop for that stuff, and we don't wear it either!"

Too bad Kagome didn't seem to care because she promptly slapped a palm full of pinkish goo on the small of his back.

Ah, rose hips it was.

Good thing she wasn't fully fluent in dog lingo or she'd be scrubbing his mouth out as well.

Foaming his silver-white fur up to a pinkish tint, Kagome worked shampoo across the ridge of his back, his legs, sides, and underbelly-which he wasn't all that keen on-while she told him about her 'date' the night before.

She told him about Hojo blathering during the promos, how she whapped him in the nose ("I didn't do it on purpose! Honest!"), about the guy who had hit on her, and, finally, about him.

Taisho.

"It was really weird, boy. I've never met him before, but… I don't know, I can't describe it." Kagome ceased massaging the froth over his scalp to ponder for a moment. "It was like he was there to protect me or something."

Inuyasha's tail waved to and fro proudly, sending gobs of suds on the aqua ceramic tiles. "I was protecting you from Homo-boy. Gods knows someone would take advantage of someone as mushy as you." He sneezed when a soap bubble went up his nose and shook his head indignantly when Kagome, giggling, cleaned it off his snout. "Hey! That kind of hurt!" the hanyou grumbled. "That ain't funny, wench…."

"I wonder if I'll ever see him again…" she wondered out loud, ignorant to his complaints.

Inuyasha made a doggy-smirk to himself, hidden beneath all the foam. "Maybe you will."

After Inuyasha was thoroughly washed and rinsed, smelling like fresh cut roses, Kagome pulled out an old green towel to dry him off with. She leaned across the edge of the square bath and tossed it on top of her pet. She dried him vigorously until his long fur was fairly fluffy.

Inuyasha climbed out of the tub while she backed up. In the same instant, he shook himself, sending the remaining water droplets from his moist fur, effectively getting her pajamas damp. Even though she glowered and scolded him, the sound of her caught-off-guard screech when he sprayed her made it all the more worthwhile.

Teach her to giggle at him.

~*~*~*~*

Geez, Inuyasha is such a handful, Kagome thought, climbing into the shower, as the tub would need to cleaned out a bit first, which she'd get to later. At least she didn't have school today due to all the snowfall on the streets.

Wearing wet clothes on a cold day wasn't the most comfortable thing; thanks to Inuyasha, she was shivering and slightly stiff. A rain of hot water greeted her chilly skin, and it was more than a little welcome. She closed her cobalt eyes as she ducked her head under the nozzle, allowing her ebony tresses to slick down her back.

Squirting some moisturizing shower gel into her palm, Kagome's mind wandered once more to Taisho, as it had been doing all morning. No matter how many times she mused over it, the girl couldn't think of any place she met him before, yet they'd hit it off so well…though, he wasn't what she'd define as "charming" by any means, but he was ruggedly sweet.

A little violent, but still, sort of sweet.

Kagome hadn't told her mother about her failed outing with Hojo or about Taisho walking her home; Mrs. Higurashi had gone out to the market, according to the note she had left for Gramps on the fridge. Even so, she wasn't sure what she'd tell her mother.

Taisho said he lives in Tokyo, she cogitated, washing the soap suds away, but I never thought to ask which district. He said he doesn't live too far off, but what does he define as near? Kagome exhaled softly, picking up her lavender shampoo. I wonder if I'll see Taisho again?

Strange how that very phrase had returned to her mind for the hundredth time.

Inuyasha's rear had looked like it was going to take flight from how swiftly he was wagging his tail when she'd voiced it during the mongrel's bath. And the way his chops pulled up a bit, even amidst his rosy, bubbly mess, he seemed to say: I know something you don't know.

Pathetic, she realized.

But, he seemed to hang on her every word as she told him all about Taisho. He even made eye contact. Funny thing for a dog to do; however, Kagome had realized a long time ago that her Inuyasha wasn't any ordinary member of the canine family.

Even her dog's ambry pools, spare the color, were unusually reminiscent in her mind, from somewhere else.

The pupil shape was strange, more feline-like.

Just like Taisho's.

~*~*~*~*

"Here you are, sir," the chauffer said, opening the door of the shiny black limousine. Stepping back, he allowed a tall man to elegantly climb out. Hastily bumbling after him to get off the leather seats was a short toad-demon.

"Are you sure this is the place, m'lord?" the green toad-demon squeaked to the tall demon-man as the chauffer shut the door.

The man kept his pale gold gaze at the top of the steps, staring intently at the peak of the visitor's shrine with a mask of detachment painted over his finely crafted features. The blustery wind rippled his cesium hair quietly, his tail doing likewise.

Turning his head only as much as necessary, he replied coolly to the fidgety toad, "Yes, Jaken. Do you question my intelligence?" His eyes narrowed very little, but it was enough to send Jaken into spasms.

"N-no, Master Sesshoumaru," he squawked. Jaken cringed a bit, gripping on to the staff bearing two heads upon it tightly with both hands.

Sesshoumaru looked to the chauffer, who was waiting near the driver's side. "Idle here until I return."

"Right, sir."

Striding forward, Sesshoumaru, with Jaken at his heels, began to ascend the Sunset Shrine's steps. Now to pay you a visit, little brother….

~*~*~*~*

Souta wrinkled his nose up at the macaroni and cheese in his bowl. "I don't think its edible, Sis," he whispered to the girl seated next to him.

Eyeing hers also, Kagome nodded. Whispering back, "Maybe we shouldn't have let Grampa cook." She prodded at the noodles, wondering if the little black flecks on it were pepper or it was just burnt. Maybe the old man had put some strange powder he'd bought from one of the magazines that sold shrine supplies and wanted to try it out… She pushed it away. Better not test her luck.

Guess she'd wait until Mama got home from paying the bills.

Well, maybe a second opinion first…

Kagome glanced down at Inuyasha, whose side she was rubbing with her bare toes. "Would you eat it?" she asked, showing him a few of the elbow macaroni on her fork.

"Not unless you paid me. A lot. A hell of a lot."

She sighed softly, letting the utensil drop into the mess of pasta. "It's official. Even the dog won't eat it."

Gramps continued to bustle about the kitchen, placing spirit wards on the walls whilst checking what he called "the Wonder drink". Lifting the ladle to his lips, he took a taste. Gaining a slightly bemused look, he called, "Kagome, come in here and see if I need some more herbs in here."

"Uh…" she stalled, trying to think of an excuse to not eat the experiment of ancient extracts and cranberry juice, when a loud, authoritative knock sounded from the front room. "I have to get the door!" Jumping to her feet, she sprinted out of the kitchen, Inuyasha in tow.

"Uh-I-I have to go with Sis," Souta said, also excusing himself from the kitchen table. He overturned his chair in the process. "Sorry!" he hollered, speeding around the corner also.

Gramps stared after the pair. "Kids these days…" he said, shaking his head.

Kagome had made it to the front hall, coming to a sliding stop, with her dog sniffing at the space where the door met the jamb. She put a hand to the knob, yet the canine place his paws firmly on her thighs, as if trying to shove her away. "Inuyasha, move." She pushed him aside with her foot. "Souta, hold on to Inuyasha."

"'k." The boy grabbed hold of the dog's black leather collar with both hands since he was straining a great deal. "Come on, Inuyasha, stop moving so much."

He ignored the kid. "Don't open the door, Kagome!" The hanyou whined, bouncing up and down. "Don't open-"

Kagome pulled the door forward, only to look up at a pair of cheerless, pastel gold eyes.

"-the door…" Inuyasha trailed off, body going limp for a short instant. Twit…

"Uh, can I help you?" Kagome managed a polite smile, unnerved by the looming figure that stood before her.

"Yes," he replied smoothly. With a hand, he gently maneuvered her away from the entryway, as she was in such a befuddled stupor.

Regaining her bearings, she objected, "Hey! This is my house, you can't just-"

"Quiet, girl!" snapped something from the area around her kneecap. Peering in that direction, she spotted a small toad-demon glaring at her. "Lord Sesshoumaru can do as he pleases."

"I don't care who he is," Kagome shot back. "He can't just walk into my house uninvited, and it's rude not to take off one's shoes." The little toad-man stuck his sharp beak-like nose in the air, only to have his face meet with Kagome's foot. "And you aren't any better!"

He straightened himself up from his initial fall, now waving his creepy staff at her. "You dirty, little human--!"

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said, having entered into the front room, "the girl is right. That was very uncouth of me." He bowed slightly at the waist. "I am Tanaka Sesshoumaru, and that is my servant Jaken." He righted himself.

"Your servant?" she echoed back in surprise.

"That's right!" Jaken huffed, shoving passed her barefoot with his rod. "Sesshoumaru is a great and influential demon!"

"I came to speak to the head priest of this shrine," he stated simply, glancing at Kagome in a no-nonsense manner. "As there was no one outside, I figured he would be at home. Am I correct?"

"Uh, yes," she said, shutting the door, her gaze flicking from the solid wood to the demon situated in the center of the family room. Kagome jiggled her foot, making a disgusted face. I just kicked that ugly thing with my foot…that's so gross…. She wiped her soiled toes on the welcome mat. I knew I should have grabbed one of Grampa's slippers first. "I'll go get him…" Kagome ducked out of the room. "Souta," her voice instructed from the other hall, "put Inuyasha in my room."

"Inuyasha…" whispered Sesshoumaru, observing the snarling canine who was battling wildly against the boy restraining him. Saliva dripped from the dog's teeth as he snapped and lunged and growled; Sesshoumaru half-smirked. "It's been a long time…."

~*~*~*~*

For the past hour or so, Gramps had been chattering with Tanaka Sesshoumaru, who appeared as disinterested as ever, if not more so, as the old man prattled on and on about wards and charms.

Well, Kagome reckoned it was his own fault for coming to her crazy grandfather with questions.

Besides, karma was just getting him back for being rude when he entered their house.

From the moment she had seen him standing in the entryway, she had felt a chill run down her spine, and not just because of his youki either. There was just something really weird with him in her mind, and Kagome was not so inclined to know what made that stoic weirdo tick.

She knew very well that Inuyasha hadn't been all that fond of the idea of Sesshoumaru sitting down on the sofa and making himself comfortable; the dog had made every possible attempt break loose and jump the man. It had taken her, Souta, and Mama when she walked thru the door to get him upstairs.

Right now, Inuyasha was brooding, in a doggy sort of way, on the floor beside her bed. His head lay atop his paws; his eyebrows were scrunched in what could only be defined as supreme bother.

Not to mention he huffed and snorted a lot.

"What the hell is that bastard up to?"he grumbled to himself. He pawed at his snout, making short growls at nothing in particular. "How did he find me…? He never came looking for me before…not even on that day…." Inuyasha closed his eyes, hearing the audio of memories-varying from deafening, unable to hear one's heart to quiet murmurs, so many blurring in confusion-- playing in his head.

"Sorry, son, but your parents are dead," the human officer said grimly.

"But-they can't be!" protested as six-year-old Inuyasha. "My father didn't have anything to do with the war! They were good people! Good people don't get hurt!"

"Sometimes…" the man sighed, kneeling down fore the distraught child, placing a hand on his shoulder, "sometimes even good people die."

"NO!" he screamed, ripping away from the police officer. "You're lying! You're all lying!" He turned on his heels and fled over the streets of the outskirts of Tokyo, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Poor kid," he heard the officer say with a quiet moan, "he's like so many others. Can't believe his folks passed away during the bombing raid in Tokyo…."

Inuyasha shook his head vigorously. He hadn't wanted to see that. Never again did he want to see the pitying look on that man's face, a face that was long dead and buried.

Just like his parents.

Those memories were way too clear, too strong…

He rose to all fours, intent on pacing the perimeter of Kagome's bedroom, as he had done many a-time before, when he saw something. The door was ajar. Not giving a second thought, Inuyasha hustled over the portal. He glanced once back at his mistress, relieved that she was happily asleep. Pawing a bit, he worked it open.

Inuyasha sidled out into the hallway. Scampering his way to the top of the stairs, he flopped to his belly, observing who was in the front room. He could hear Mama cleaning in the kitchen, and Gramps was heading in that direction, leaving Sesshoumaru-he didn't give a damn where Jaken had wandered off to-- in the living room alone.

The hanyou padded quickly down the stairs, a blur of white, as he barreled by the coffee table, stopping four feet away from the silver-haired demon seated on the blue sofa. "What the fuck are you up to…?" he growled softly, not wanting the old man and Mrs. Higurashi to discover he'd left Kagome's room.

Sesshoumaru peered at him for a moment. Quietly, he murmured, lips scarcely moving, "Lovely scent." He half-smirked sedately. "I didn't realize you liked floral scents."

That stupid girl…. He was going to kill Kagome later…

"You're still as impudent and foul-mouthed as ever. I require something that you possess."

Inuyasha blinked, balking a bit in shock. "You understand me?"

"Don't ask such ignorant questions," retorted Sesshoumaru, sitting away from the back of the couch a tad. "Father entrusted his inheritance to the both of us. The deed to the western lands will expire in eight months, around mid July, leaving it up for bids."

"So, what's the big deal?" Inuyasha asked, sitting on his rump, staring intently at his older brother. "You're not going to go hungry or anything, so why should you care?"

"Don't be a fool." Pale eyes snapping in irritation, Sesshoumaru spoke again in a lethally low tone, "The western part of Japan has been in our family for generations. I have managed the land, and I collect money from people living there, which helps my wealth to perpetuate."

"Like I said: not going hungry."

"However," Sesshoumaru opted to ignore the interruption, "there is another demon who wishes to purchase the land. He is by no means worthy to own it, and his intentions are not at all what our Father what have wished…" he drifted off, focusing his attention elsewhere for a minute.

"And?" impatiently barked the hanyou, tipping his head to the side with annoyance.

"The priest is returning. Take this." He reached into the breast pocket of his navy red-pinstriped suit and retrieved a white business card. Grasping hold of Inuyasha's collar, he shoved it underneath the leather band. "Come see me within a month at that address."

Inuyasha would have inquired more, but the sound of Mrs. Higurashi coming jolted him out of the room and up the stairs, more bemused than ever.

~*~*~*~*

The night had come, and the lights from Tokyo central made the dark velvety sky not as opaque looking as it would had the Higurashi shrine been in the country. The wind outside moaned in its frigid state through the grove as it had been all night. Honking car horns and the sounds of the nighttime crowd were more muted to the shrine than other buildings closer to the streets were, save Inuyasha could pick it up.

In the den, the clock chimed once. One in the morning.

Inuyasha had been sitting on the outer porch of the shrine, gazing through the wooden dowels that barred the top part that created a window. Thanks to Buyo, he could slide the doors away and prowl around like a white ghost if he wanted to. (Also thanks to that fur ball, he'd gotten the business card out and they'd hidden it underneath Kagome's dresser.) If it hadn't been for the fact that he'd forgotten he was turning human the night before, and he was without clothes, Inuyasha would have snuck out earlier.

Well, maybe not. He'd followed Kagome downstairs that night in hopes of--if he couldn't stop her from going--he could at least bite Hojo, i.e. castrate him…

Alright, maybe when he was coming close to turning human his emotions had a tendency to want to overdue things a bit.

Not like he got to anyway…

Too many things had been happening recently. The escape from Kikyou's house, Kagome adopting him, turning human, Sesshoumaru showing up out of the blue…

Way too many weird things.

I still don't get it, thought Inuyasha. Why now? Why can't Sesshoumaru deal with all that legal mumbo-jumbo on his own? I don't get what I have to do with this stupid deed. Rising from his seated position, the hanyou got up and trotted to the sliding door. He worked it open with his nose and tramped outside, swirls of snow dancing in the air.

Heading for the Goshinboku, Inuyasha's musing continued on. Mainly, he wanted to know what was so terrible about allowing someone else to own their sire's land. Sure, it would be out of the family, and Inuyasha had to agree he didn't like the idea of an outsider running something the Tanaka family had for so many centuries.

Inuyasha had a sinking feeling that he was climbing a proverbial hill of something perilous, one that he'd been climbing for fifty years now.

Going passed the mini-shrine, he was so caught up cogitating that he almost missed seeing the sliding doors weren't shut all the way. Seizing his opportunity, Inuyasha ran to it, intent on seeing what he was protecting.

~*~*~*~*

A/N: Finished this chapter in 2 days! That's a record for me! I dedicate this chapter to my mom, because she read it over for me and I really appreciate that she does this every time I write a new part of a story. Thanks!

Over Spring Break, updating might be a little difficult, but right now I'm posting from the local library. I also have to write a speech during my break period, so it also might be hard on writing. I was really nervous writing this chapter; I was kind of freaked that maybe it didn't come out so well.

Jane,

~Moonlight Shadow

P.S. I wonder if the e-mail link worked…