InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ Enter Rin, Shippo, and Sesshomaru ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: All Inuyasha characters and references belong to the creator of Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi and published by Shogakukan. Any other characters are more than likely my own creation. If I borrow from another story I will do my best to make sure I give credit where credit is due.

***

When Kagome woke, she couldn’t guess how much time had passed. The room was dark, excepting the glow of some kind of street lamp coming through the blinds, and she turned on the small lamp. She lay in bed a few minutes before she realized that she felt safe. It had been so long that she almost didn’t recognize the calm state this left her in. She took a moment to appreciate that before the pain in her leg and side pulled her out of her reverie. She swallowed another three Motrin and pulled herself up on the crutches that had been left by her bed while she slept.

Gimping her way into the hall, she heard nothing but the hum of the ventilation system and the familiar rustle of the Dead Space, which—now that she thought about it, was quieter than she was used to, here in this small, sea-side town. She found with dismay that between her aches and her pains, she wasn’t up to much on the crutches. Despite this, the discomfort was worth the independent movement. The living room was awash in warm, soft light. Only two small lamps were on.

She jumped as she heard the toilet flush and the sink run in the bathroom. The door opened behind her and Inuyasha came out, exclaiming quietly, “hey… you’re up. I expected you to sleep till morning.”

She made a non-committal shrug and watched him move around to stand next to her as he asked, “you got the hang of those? They might be too tall. Sango used them when she broke her foot a year ago.”

She shrugged again and nodded. He frowned. “You still shouldn’t be up on that leg. Come on.” Inuyasha led her to the couch again. Kagome tried not to grimace as she lowered herself to the cushions. Her insides felt like they’d been pummeled with a meat tenderizer. He looked down at her and muttered, “why do I get the feeling keeping you down and resting is going to be difficult?”

She gave him a rueful smile and just shrugged again. He sat on the large wooden coffee table next to her. “So-” but he stopped, frowned, and pulled a small stuffed dog with floppy ears out from under him.

Kagome pursed her lips in a smile and raised an eyebrow while he glared mildly at the toy. “It’s really not that funny,” he said. “Try sitting on a He-Man action figure-- complete with plastic spear of doom, or stepping on a Lego in the middle of the night.”

She smiled fully now, covering her mouth as if she might laugh. “Do you feel like you could eat?” he asked, studying her. She made the so-so gesture with her hand and mimed drinking something. He frowned and asked, “how about chicken stock. I had Sango bring some by when she dropped off the kids. Could you handle that?”

Kagome nodded and he went into the kitchen. As he was putting a pot on the stove to warm the broth, a small boy with red hair poked his head out of the hallway and said in a small voice, “Uncle Inu, Rin forgot…” The boy paused mid-sentence, seeing Kagome on the couch. Inuyasha scowled at him. “Shippo I put you to bed an hour ago. You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

The little boy came out of the hallway, walking on legs that were small and furry where they came out of the cuffs of his pants, bent like a small canine. A fluffy red fox tail followed behind him, swishing out from a hole cut in his trousers. Maybe this was the kitsune Inuyasha had mentioned? She’d seen very few demon children, and she found him a little fascinating. He was terribly cute. Shippo was distracted from whatever his mission had been and asked in a perfectly audible whisper, “is she the pretty lady that was asleep?”

Inuyasha’s scowl disappeared and a half-way sort of grin settled in at the taken-aback expression on Kagome’s face. He nodded and answered, “yes, this is the pretty lady. Her name is Kagome.” Inuyasha stirred the broth while Shippo padded his way out to the chair next to the couch, watching her with wide, bright green eyes. He stared at the bandaging around her ankle where it peeked out from the cuff of her pants; took in the cuts, scrapes and bruises on her face and arms. The little boy looked concerned and she gave him a warm, reassuring smile.

Privately Inuyasha thought it might be the first real, full smile he’d seen on her, and it made her even more beautiful. Shippo frowned and asked, “what happened? Did you fall?”

Kagome made a small sound of amusement and nodded. Shippo looked impressed. “Wow… I’ve never fallen that good.” She shrugged and held her hands up as if to say, ‘you’re right, I fell, isn’t it silly?’

“I’m Shippo. It’s nice to meet you.” Kagome nodded, smiled and held up the page with her name on it. A little girl who couldn’t be more than eight years old poked her head out of the hallway just then. She was a slight little thing, with luminous, golden brown eyes, and long brown hair. Inuyasha sighed and seemed to admit defeat as he poured chicken stock into a mug and brought it over. She took it gratefully and he sat next to her again on the coffee table, gesturing for Rin to join them. “Come on out Little Bit, you’re not in trouble.”

The child came to stand by Inuyasha and he pulled her up to sit on his lap, handing her the small stuffed dog. “Did you forget somebody?” The girl hugged the toy, looking at Kagome shyly out of the corner of her eye.

“Rin this is my new friend, Kagome. She’s gonna be staying here for a little while until she feels better. Kagome, this is my niece, Rin.”

Kagome wrote in her book and held up the page, giving Inuyasha a questioning look. The kids looked young enough yet that they might not be strong readers yet. Kagome’s concern however, was without cause. Rin read the page aloud with pride and gave her a smile. “It’s nice to meet you Rin.” Then she pointed at herself, “that’s me!”

Kagome smiled and nodded. “How come you don’t talk?” Shippo asked, looking worried again. Inuyasha told them, “she has a sore throat. You remember when you got sick before Christmas and you sounded like a frog?”

Shippo nodded and laughed. “Yeah, I sounded really funny, but it hurt to talk.” Inuyasha nodded and explained, “that’s why Kagome’s writing things down.” Shippo seemed satisfied with that and said, “I hope you get better soon. Having a frog in your throat isn’t as much fun as you’d think.”

Kagome smiled again and seemed to laugh, if silently, then held up a page that said, ‘thank you.’

Rin looked up at Inuyasha and asked, “when’s Otosan coming?” Inuyasha looked at the clock, which read about 10 p.m., and said, “I bet as soon as you guys fall asleep, he’ll be here.”

Rin seemed to ponder this for a moment before saying simply, “alright.” She slid off Inuyasha’s lap and grabbed Shippo’s hand to drag him back to Inuyasha’s bedroom. She scolded him lightly when he struggled. The boy wrinkled his nose, but gave in, complaining the whole way. “Fine Rin, but you owe me one!”

Kagome shook a little with her silent laughter and Inuyasha couldn’t help but grin too. “He just settled on that concept a few weeks ago and he loves it. I better go make sure bed is really where they’re headed.” He disappeared into the back of the apartment for a few minutes and Kagome relaxed into her pillows, sipping the warm broth. In the silence, she couldn’t help her own thoughts turning inwards and sadness clawed at the warm feeling she’d just had.

Rin and Shippo were precious. She missed her little brother, Souta, and suddenly felt very lonely. A cold stone seemed to sink in her belly and she dropped a hand to her stomach, swallowing hard and closing her eyes. Kagome tried to focus, tried to decide if she felt anything beneath her hand that hadn’t been there before. Between one thing and another she couldn’t tell if she felt pregnant or not. How was that supposed to feel anyway? Tears began to blur her vision, but she shook herself and wiped them away, sighing deeply as Inuyasha walked back in and took his seat again on the coffee table.

He frowned, smelling the change in her scent, and asked, “are you ok? Is your leg bothering you?” Kagome smiled wanly and shook her head, writing, ‘no, I’m fine. Those two are adorable.’

“Yeah, they’re good kids.” He looked at her for another long moment, trying to figure out what had changed. It was confusing. “You’re sure you’re ok?” he asked again. She nodded, dropping her gaze to her knees. He sighed, moving to sit at the other end of the couch by her feet and picked up the remote. “Alright then, what’s your poison? Sports, weather, news, or cartoons?”

Kagome hesitantly held up her notebook with the word, ‘cartoons?’ written on it. Inuyasha grinned and said, “I knew I liked you.” She blushed deeply and snuggled down under her blanket. They sat for a little while in comfortable silence, watching two episodes of the Flintstones before Scooby Doo came on. Inuyasha watched her grin as the intro song started and laughed. “Is the mystery machine gang a personal favorite?”

Kagome nodded enthusiastically, smiling and flushing all over again. Inuyasha watched her for a moment, thinking she looked great like this, curled up on his couch; her cheeks stained a little red. She seemed more comfortable with the sound of cartoons filling the room and no one else around. If only the bruises that covered one side of her face didn’t mar the picture. Something deep in his chest growled, low and angry, at the idea of someone leaving those ugly marks on her.

Kagome jumped as a soft knock sounded against the front door and it opened, revealing one of the men she’d seen when she’d woken the first time. Sesshomaru was taller than his younger brother by a few inches, and he towered over her; sharp gold eyes and silver hair similar to Inuyasha’s, but somehow his edges were smoother… more controlled.

Inuyasha’s looks had a degree of haphazardness about them that was nowhere to be found in his brother. Everything about Sesshomaru seemed calculated, purposeful. His face and stature were much more severe, and he made her nervous. Naraku often wore an apathetic expression not entirely unlike that of Sesshomaru’s. When Naraku did grin, it was something awful to see, and nothing nice ever followed.

Sesshomaru closed the door and made his way over to sit down in the chair next to the couch. Inuyasha felt Kagome tense up, and both men looked at her as her scent shifted. Inuyasha lay a warm hand on her good leg and squeezed her ankle gently, reassuring her.

She looked away, embarrassed, but noticed Sesshomaru’s face soften a tiny bit. He didn’t mention her response, and instead spoke to Inuyasha. “Sango went home. I told her I would bring Shippo to her on my way back.” All at once, Kagome noticed how tired Sesshomaru looked and she calmed a little more. The faint weariness humanized him a little in her eyes.

Inuyasha frowned and asked, “what happened?” Sesshomaru’s eyes flashed to Kagome, then to his brother in a clear but silent chastisement. Inuyasha shook his head, dismissing the notion that she shouldn’t be trusted, and asked again, “what happened?”

The man sighed and said, “we looked everywhere we could think of. There was no sign of Tsubaki anywhere. When we went to Abyss, we thought we saw her once, but we couldn’t get to her in the crowd and then she was gone. It may not have even been her. Before long someone sent security to sweep us out. Something about this doesn’t smell right.”

Inuyasha frowned with concern and asked, “everyone’s home?”

Kagome frowned as well, eyes going distant for a moment as she searched her aching head. The name Sesshomaru had said sounded familiar, but her mind felt sluggish and she couldn’t quite place the information.

Sesshomaru nodded and sat forward with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. “Everyone’s tired, but fine. How are things here?”

Inuyasha shrugged. “It’s been quiet. The kids are asleep in my room, they got up for a bit and met Kagome. She got up a little while ago and we’ve been hanging out here.” Sesshomaru gave the cartoons on the television a slightly disdainful look. Kagome bit her lip and went scarlet again. Inuyasha snorted out a laugh and Sesshomaru looked at the girl more closely, frowning a little. “Did you feed her? She would disappear if you turned her sideways.”

Kagome turned a deeper shade of red and nodded, curling into her blanket more and looking at the floor in embarrassment. Inuyasha gave his brother a slightly aggravated look when he sensed her upset and said, “she put down a mug of chicken broth. We’ll try something more solid tomorrow.”

He looked back at Kagome as he added, “I don’t think they let her eat much lately at Naraku’s.” Kagome shook her head slowly, still not looking at them. Inuyasha sighed and went on. “Between that, hypothermia, and the fact that they were putting drugs in her system to keep her out of it, I don’t think it’s smart to give her anything but simple calories for a few days.”

Sesshomaru’s frown darkened and his voice took on a harder edge. “They were drugging her, but not feeding her? She doesn’t look like she weighed much to begin with.” Kagome looked back at him, picking up on his stiffened posture in addition to his angry expression. She swallowed hard and looked away again quickly. Both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru caught the fearful fluctuation in her scent and Inuyasha gave his brother a pointed look.

All at once, Rin and Shippo came running out from the back bedroom. Rin charged straight to Sesshomaru and threw herself into his lap, happily exclaiming, “papa!” Sesshomaru relaxed himself and sat back with her in his arms, wincing a little. “Quieter Rin, you’re near Otosan’s ears.”

She nodded and whispered, “sorry.” The man lay a kiss on her hair, murmuring very quietly, “I missed you too, pup.”

Privately, Inuyasha thought this was possibly the best thing that could have happened at that moment. Kagome seemed to be getting comfortable enough around him but the other guys still made her nervous, even if she tried not to show it; anyone with a demon nose could smell it. She seemed particularly nervous around his brother-- but then, Sesshomaru was substantially bigger than she was; and had been an intimidating figure for hundreds of years. Demons that weren’t intimidating enough risked attack to not only themselves, but their families and their territory. Inuyasha could be plenty intimidating when he wanted to be, but he’d never really cultivated and defined a territory of his own to defend.

For many years he’d traveled, mostly alone, moving from place to place. Sesshomaru had been the dominant demon over a large western section of their home-land, Japan. The Shikoku Wardens’ name was a nod to that territory, which he still ruled over today, albeit more quietly than in the past. He ran that main portion of his land from a distance, utilizing allies that were something akin to trusted generals.

Most humans had no idea that much of the world was divided up in a way completely separate from what the lines on their maps showed. Many places in the world were carved into sectors of sorts, claimed and guarded by the strongest yokai. Law enforcement agencies had some notion of it, but didn’t officially acknowledge on paper that there was any part of demon society separate from their own.

The two sides of justice and order maintained a careful ‘we don’t bother you and you don’t bother us’ sort of policy. Occasionally there were scuffles when one side or the other crossed the line, but generally these were solved very quickly by the expedient coincidence that the foolish problem maker had some kind of accident and everyone moved on with business as normal the next day.

Sesshomaru was a vicious warrior, no doubt, but seeing him with Rin, within the walls of their close-knit group, displayed a part of him that not many knew-- that even Inuyasha had never seen before Sesshomaru had taken his mate. They saw and smelled Kagome relaxing now, as she watched him hold the little girl close, chatting with her quietly about her evening.

There was a tinge of something though that Inuyasha had noticed earlier in her scent profile. It confused him still, and he watched her, looking back and forth subtly between her and the chair where Sesshomaru held Rin. The only thing he could think to compare it to was a kind of sadness and a buzzing nervousness combined.

When she saw him looking at her, he lifted an eyebrow in inquiry. She just pulled her mouth into a tight smile and looked away. Rin asked then, “Otosan, did you meet Kagome?” Sesshomaru nodded and looked back at the girl on the couch. “I met her this afternoon, but I didn’t know her name until just now. It’s nice to meet you Kagome. My brother is treating you well?”

Kagome smiled hesitantly and nodded while Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Sesshomaru looked down at Rin, who was beginning nod off against his shoulder. “It’s late. We should go.” He stood in one fluid motion, easily keeping the little girl steady against one shoulder while he picked up her backpack of toys and books. “Shippo, get your things, Sango is waiting.”

Shippo sat down in front of the door, looking sleepy, and loaded all his little pieces into his own pack. Inuyasha stood to see them out and asked quietly enough that no one but his brother and Shippo would hear him, “could you ask Sango to stop by tomorrow with some clothes she doesn’t mind parting with for a while?”

Without missing a beat Sesshomaru asked, “what size do you wear?”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “You’re hilarious... Kagome doesn’t have anything and she’s swimming in my stuff.” Sesshomaru nodded and called quietly, “get well, Kagome.”

Kagome nodded and gave him a small wave as they left. Shippo had insisted on running over and carefully giving her a hug before they made their way out to the car. This seemed to cheer Kagome up and her smiles for the child were one hundred percent genuine. ‘She really likes kids.’ Inuyasha thought as he watched them.

Finally everyone else was gone, and he lowered himself back onto the couch with her, flipping the cartoons on again in hopes it would help her relax again. He set down the remote and pulled the blanket back off of her leg. “I’d like to take a look at this and see how it’s doing.”

She nodded and stiffly leaned forward to roll up her pant leg. She couldn’t hold in the small gasp as everything in her protested the movement. He waved her back and said, “I got it. Just sit still.”

Reluctantly, she did so, not having much of a choice in the matter. He was careful not to let his claws catch the fabric or her skin as he folded the pant leg up to just above her knee. It wasn’t hard. He hadn’t been exaggerating about how large his clothing was on her slight frame. Carefully he cut the tape away from one side and she winced as he pulled the gauze pad away from the wound. It was still not a healthy color and he frowned, taking a quick sniff.

“I don’t smell an infection, but if it doesn’t start to look better in a day or so, it might be a good idea to have a doctor look at it.” Kagome shook her head, writing in her book, ‘Naraku will find me in the hospital, and I don’t have any money.’

Inuyasha sighed and said, “money isn’t an issue. I can cover it.” Kagome frowned at him, and shook her head. He pursed his lips and applied fresh antibiotic cream, then carefully taped the gauze back in place. It wasn’t worth arguing about right now. She was right about Naraku. If he had someone at the hospital here they would have to take her to one farther away, and he didn’t think she was in good enough shape to be doing a long trip at the moment.

“We have a Warden who was a doctor for a long time with the U.S. Marines.” Inuyasha said. “Vini can take a look at you in a few days when he gets back. He’s out of town right now.” Kagome’s expression eased and she nodded, watching him finish taping her leg back up.

When he was finished, he asked, “do you want to stay out here and rest or go back to bed?” She thought for a moment, looked at the clock and sighed, reaching for her crutches. Inuyasha took the blanket from her and stood, bending down and swiftly looping an arm under her thighs and around her back to pick her up. She threw her arms around his neck and let out a ragged sound of protest. His nostrils flared at the spike of fear in her scent and he looked down at her, waiting for her to meet his eyes before he said firmly, “I won’t let anything happen to you. Calm down.”

She looked a little unsure, but nodded, making herself relax against his chest as he carefully carried her down the hall and into the guest bedroom. Gently, he set her down on the bed and ran back for the crutches. He set them against the side table where she could reach them and leaned down to pull the blankets over her. “Do you need anything else?” She shook her head and gave him a tired but appreciative smile.

“Remember, I’m right across the hall. Use the timer if you need help.” He said, swiveling his ears atop his head to make his point. Kagome nodded, snuggled down into her pillows and turned the light off, falling asleep again quickly.