InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ Comfort in Feeding the Masses ( Chapter 11 )

[ 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 directly from another story I will do my best to make sure I give credit where credit is due.

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Inuyasha’s ears twitched as the alarm went off. He’d set it on the lowest volume so it wouldn’t wake Kagome, but it was plenty loud enough to disrupt his own sleep. He sighed heavily and cracked an eye open, squinting hard in the face of the illuminated screen to silence the annoying beeps. When silence filled the room again, he looked over to see that Kagome had rolled towards him, still wrapped tightly in the cream colored duvet from his guest room. Her breath was slow, deep, and even. This time, there was no frown on her face but her expression looked tense in a way he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

After a long moment, he got up from the queen-sized mattress and headed to the bathroom. As he walked through his sitting room his nose twitched appreciatively. The warm, rich scent of sausage and eggs had curled under the door and his stomach grumbled; reminding him he hadn’t had time to eat much the night before. Picking up the pace, he brushed his teeth and pulled on some old, ripped jeans and a t-shirt with an oil stain down one side. There was hardly any reason to dress nicer, as he’d have to throw the clothes in the fire when he was done with this gruesome errand. Deciding against bothering with shoes or socks, he clipped his biggest knife onto his belt, shoved his phone in his pocket, and made tracks towards the smell of breakfast.

When Inuyasha walked into the kitchen he paused at the sight of Sesshomaru, standing in his pajama pants, slicing mushrooms across the counter from Rosalind, who was flipping some pancakes into the growing pile on a large platter.

“Since when did you develop the urge to cook Sess?” Inuyasha delivered this taunt with a grin of somewhat mocking amusement. Rosalind looked up and gave him a smile. “Inuyasha, good morning! The sausage and eggs are almost done if you’re hungry.”

The younger Taisho brother stepped up to the counter as Sesshomaru handed Rosalind the bowl of mushrooms. Inuyasha picked up a clean plate from the pile on the counter and set it next to her elbow to be filled. “You know it. Load me up. I missed dinner.”

As he pulled a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with milk, Rosalind shot him a worried glance. “I heard about what happened. Are you okay? How’s Kagome?”

Inuyasha screwed the cap back on the milk slowly, his face going somber. “I’m fine. Kagome’s still sleeping but she seems okay. We’ll find out for sure when she wakes up.”

Rosalind slid some sausages and several thick pancakes onto Inuyasha’s plate. After a moment’s thought she asked, “should I make her a plate and wrap it? I can’t imagine she’ll be up anytime soon.”

Inuyasha nodded, drizzling syrup on his breakfast. “Yeah, sure, that’d be great. I don’t know if she can take the sausage but eggs and pancakes should be gentle enough. She hasn’t had much to eat in a while.” Rather than taking his plate to the big empty table he pulled one of the stools up to the long counter where she and his brother were standing. He took one huge bite and sighed with satisfaction, swallowing with an audible gulp. “Man, I missed this. It’s great.”

Rosalind smiled and her cheeks went a little pink. “I cooked for you a few weeks ago when we were all at Sango’s for Shiori’s birthday. It hasn’t been that long.”

Sesshomaru snorted, filling a plate of his own and commented, “a few weeks is a likely eon for one who hasn’t troubled in several hundred years to learn how to feed himself.” Gabriel shuffled into the kitchen in black sweatpants and a gray t-shirt, thick tawny hair still mussed from sleep

Inuyasha scowled at his brother. “I can cook.”

Gabriel let out a deep belly laugh. “No you can’t. The one time you made stew I thought I was going to die.” The lion demon’s eyes lit up as they fell on the platters of food Rosalind was slowly filling. She laughed at his eager expression and handed him a plate before she scooped a pile of the finished eggs onto Inuyasha’s and Sesshomaru’s dishes. Gabriel did as the other two had and pulled up a stool at the end of the counter. There was quiet for a few minutes, excepting the sounds of hungry demons chewing through breakfast and the second batch of sausage sizzling in the pan.

Rosalind looked through the junk drawer for a set of dry erase markers, hoping they’d been left where she’d put them. She made a small sound of victory as she found the full set of six colors shoved all the way in the back of the drawer. Sesshomaru watched as she wrote in neat script across the metal refrigerator. Her message read, ‘Grocery shopping soon, please list any meal/food requests here, pens are by the sink.’

Inuyasha looked up and snorted. “Man, you’re nicer than I am. If it was me cooking for this bunch of lunatics they’d eat what I felt like making or starve.”

Rosalind set the markers by the sink and shrugged, stepping back to the stove to flip sausages. Gabriel made a choking sound as he laughed mid-swallow. “If you were the one cooking- we’d all starve anyway.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and aimed a halfhearted kick at the stool Gabriel sat on. “Whatever, Ramen and cereal do the job.”

Rosalind made a face and pretended to shudder. “Cereal? Gross. Variety is the spice of life Inuyasha.”

Sesshomaru’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “I’m inclined to agree. Cereal is a soggy, insubstantial mess.”

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you didn’t like cereal. Not even Coco Puffs?”

Sesshomaru shot him a disgusted. “All this time and you still have the palette of a human pup.”

Rosalind couldn’t help the laugh that burst from her, and when the brothers both looked up at her she pursed her lips on a smile and busied herself, moving dirty pans to the sink. All three men stiffened as they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. A second later they mostly relaxed again, and Rosalind figured it must be the wolves. Sure enough, Koga and Ayame strode into the kitchen, following the smell of food. Both looked tired and bedraggled. Rosalind began filling plates for them as Ayame grabbed a dish towel. She began wringing her dripping hair with it, muttering.

Inuyasha smirked. “You guys look like you got dumped on.”

Ayame let out a small, frustrated growl. “It started drizzling around 4 a.m. and only just stopped.” She used the towel to wipe the water off her face, neck, and arms before she took her plate gratefully and sat down at the table with Koga. Rosalind poured them both glasses of milk as she said, “I’m sorry. That must have been miserable.”

Koga shrugged, coming up for air, half his eggs already gone. “It wasn’t great, but we’ve run through worse. London was always wetter than I’d like. At least it smells better here.”

Ayame nodded agreement and there was silence while they ate. Within moments Rosalind got up to refill Koga’s plate and handed it back to him, receiving tired thanks. Just then, Miroku walked in the door with Shippo, reporting to the room at large. “Sango left for work already. Apparently someone screwed up and the store got freight this morning instead of on Friday. Her cell rang an hour ago. I’m still hoping she got her eyes open before she started driving. I think she took the Subaru, so I guess I’ll be in the mom van.”

Miroku, who worked his days as an accounting assistant for the local school district, was fully dressed in slacks and a gray button-down shirt, a purple tie slung around his neck, ends hanging loose. Shippo was still in green pajamas with little acorns printed all over them. His red hair boasted a wild case of bed head, but he looked fully awake as he smelled pancakes. Following behind them was Rin, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She looked like she’d brushed her hair but was still in her blue nightgown, clutching her stuffed dog to her chest.

Inuyasha snorted as he had a laugh at Miroku’s expense. “That’s what you guys get for making fun of me last night. Looks like you get to take a drive of shame.”

Four-year-old Shiori was still in pink footie pajamas, clutching her stuffed cat and looking as if she wasn’t nearly awake yet. She stood in the doorway leaning against Miroku’s legs. Rosalind smiled and pulled out three of the plastic plates with Disney characters on them, and three small juice cups. “Good morning guys!”

Rin’s eyes opened wider and she smiled, running up and giving Rosalind a hug around her waist as she set the dishes on the counter. The woman knelt down and gave both kids a hug in return. Shippo was excited. “Is there pancakes? You didn’t let them eat it all, did you?” Shiori opened her eyes a little wider and suddenly seemed to register that Rosalind was there. Clumsily she shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around Rosalind’s neck too.

Rosalind let herself enjoy this moment. Secretly, she longed to have children of her own one day, but the way things were, she didn’t have high hopes that it would ever happen. This was almost as good though, she thought. She’d known Shippo for the last few years and both Rin and Shiori she’d helped take care of since they’d been born. Looking at them now, they seemed so big all of a sudden, and it made her feel a little dated for a second at twenty years old.

She smiled and told them, “yes, there’s lots of pancakes. Go sit down and I’ll bring em’ over.”

The kids ran to the table and pulled themselves into seats next to Ayame, who gave them a weary smile. Miroku went to the closet and pulled out Rin’s old booster seat for Shiori, as she wasn’t tall enough yet to go without it. Inuyasha choked on his milk when Shippo sniffed the air and asked. “Did you guys take a bath with your clothes on? Sango says that doesn’t work. I tried it once. I thought it would save me time, but I think she was right.”

Koga let out an annoyed growl but Ayame laughed and shook her head. “No, we went for a run and it started to rain.”

“Oh.” Shippo said, pondering this. Rosalind intervened at this point with the distraction of pancakes. Ayame met her gaze and they shared amused looks before Rosalind turned back to the sink. Gabriel stood and said, “I gotta go change. Thanks for breakfast Rosie. It was excellent. Sesshomaru I’ll meet you out front when you’re ready.”

Sesshomaru gave him a nod and got up as well, taking his plate to the sink. Rosalind was scrubbing a frying pan in scalding hot, soapy water. She jumped a little as Sesshomaru’s hands smoothly tossed a dish towel over her shoulder and took the scrub brush from her. “Go eat. You haven’t had breakfast and everyone else has been fed. I will finish this.”

She started to protest. “Oh no, It’s fine. I don’t…” but she stopped at the look he gave her, a little thrown off, and surrendered the pan to him. “Alright… um... thanks.”

She put some food on her plate, poured herself a glass of milk and sat down next to Rin. She completely missed the look of surprise Miroku and Inuyasha shot each other behind Sesshomaru’s back, as did he, which was just as well. The kids were happy to have her join them and practically crowed about how cool it was that they were all sleeping over. Rosalind smiled and chewed thoughtfully as she listened, prompting them with questions about their friends and what they were doing at school. Warmth filled her the way it always did when the kids were around. ‘Sometimes,’ she thought, ‘there’s nothing better for the soul than a couple of bubbly short people.’

Koga and Ayame finished eating and begged off to bed before long. Soon enough all plates were empty and Miroku gathered the kids’ dishes, as well as her own, and loaded the dishwasher. “What do you say to Rosie, guys?”

Shippo grinned and said, “thanks for making breakfast Ms. Rosie; it was awesome.” Shiori smiled at her too, some of the peanut butter from her pancake smeared on her chin as she murmured, “thank you.” Rin nodded her agreement and patted Axel on the head. He’d followed her into the kitchen and Rosalind had been suckered by his big, brown, begging eyes. His performance had been rewarded with a few pieces of egg. Miroku sighed and put a hand to his stomach. “It was good, thanks Rose. Come, my horde of miscreants, time to get dressed. We have to leave for school or we’ll be late.”

Rin especially looked a little downcast at this and Rosalind told her, “I’ll still be here when you get home, honey. I’ll be waiting to hear about what you did today. You have to go learn some things so you can tell me all about it.” When Rin still looked unsure, she continued. “Tell you what. I’ll make your favorite food for dinner tonight.”

Rin looked at Sesshomaru, who had joined them to sit across the table, then she transferred her gaze back at Rosalind and whispered, “cheeseburgers?” Miroku was listening and smiled in amusement as he wiped off Shiori’s face, pulling her out of the booster seat.

Rosalind leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “cheeseburgers… aaand french fries.”

Rin smiled, looked mollified, and finally let Shippo take her hand and pull her from her chair. Miroku laughed outright. “Bribery-- always a winning tactic.” Rosalind grinned as Shippo lead Rin back to the bedrooms, chattering, “come on, we have to get to school so we can come home and get cheeseboogers!”

They could hear Rin’s disgust in the face of Shippo’s mutilation of the word and Rosalind ran a hand over her hair as she laughed, eyes dancing. Sesshomaru braced himself on his elbows at the table, a reluctant smile on his face. “You’re going to spoil her.”

Rosalind smiled and declared, “if that’s alright, I intend to. She’s a great kid. They all are.”

Sesshomaru nodded once in both approval and acknowledgment.

Silence fell and Rosalind realized it was just her and Sesshomaru again. She flicked her eyes back to find he was looking at her intently. Her cheeks grew warm again and internally cursed herself. This blushing business was ridiculous. This was Sesshomaru for crying out loud. She couldn’t even say why it was happening. Her eyes fell to his still bare and certainly admirable chest and shoulders.

Well-- perhaps, if she were honest with herself, the view had something to do with it. It wasn’t like she’d never seen him without a shirt before, but somehow she was more aware of him after her time away. Her gaze slide away a little guiltily and said, “I could go shopping this afternoon, just for the basics, but I don’t have a vehicle. I just walked to work in Arcata.”

Sesshomaru straightened in his chair. “I said WE would go. You aren’t going out alone, not the way things are right now.”

She looked like she wanted to argue but Sesshomaru gave her a severe look, making sure his eyes met hers. “Rosalind, you don’t leave this house unless I or Inuyasha are with you; maybe Koga or Gabriel if we are unavailable. Is that clear?”

Rosalind eyed him, looking a little perplexed. Finally she shrugged and nodded. Sesshomaru could smell the discomfort in her scent. He wasn’t entirely sure whether she was responding to the thought of the danger she’d be in if left alone, or to the way he’d just spoken to her. For half a moment he berated himself for getting so intensely to the point. But he knew that if he phrased something as an order like that, she would obey unless she had a life-or-death reason not to.

He was unsure if this was due to programing ingrained in her through abuse as a child, or if it was simply out of loyalty and trust. Either way, he found he despised himself a little for using this knowledge in such a manner; but the thought of Naraku getting ahold of her made his blood turn to steely ice. She was his pack, and he’d already made one unforgivable lapse of judgment where her safety was concerned.

Sesshomaru sighed and slid a pen and notepad across the table. “Make a list of whatever you can think of. I have meetings at eleven this-morning and two this afternoon. We can go after that if you like. There’s a Sam’s Club in Eureka now. That would be the best place to start.”

She took the pen and paper, but he could still smell the cold discomfort in her. It wasn’t the sour smell of fear, precisely. That much he was grateful for at. No-- it was a sharp, almost hot metal scent that seemed to come off her in waves whenever she shut down like this. Her expression was flat, and her eyes stared down at the table. Sesshomaru sat in awe for a moment. It took him a moment to realize exactly what it was he was feeling. He felt like a jerk. He wasn’t sure either that it had ever happened before, or what he should do to nullify the effect. He had perfectly good, legitimate reasons for forbidding her to go into town alone.

Finally he ducked his head slightly, forcing green eyes to meet gold ones. “Rosalind,” he said, softening his tone.

The blank expression shifted slightly to wary confusion and he ventured an explanation of sorts. “I’m not saying you literally can’t leave the house. Go down to the beach if you like; just stay on the property. I don’t want anything to happen because we left you alone when we know Naraku’s been focusing attention on you; not after what happened a few years ago.”

She seemed to blanch at the mention, but nodded, murmuring, “I understand.”

Naraku had originally taken an interest in her four years earlier, when she’d been 16 years old. She hadn’t come home from the local high school one afternoon. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had gone looking for her when she hadn’t answered either of their phone calls. It had been four days before they found her, tied up in a shipping container near the docks with a half dozen other young women, all below the age of 18. Later they had found out that Naraku intended to sell the girls to a business associate in Singapore. This was the first time the Wardens had encroached on Naraku’s operations in a big way in many years. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had both had their run-ins with the demon in the past, but separately and in days long since faded to dust.

They’d killed all four of the demons they found at the dock and had taken the girls back to Inuyasha’s auto repair garage to let them clean up, get them sorted out and back home. Two of the girls’ families had quietly paid them for their efforts with both the customary tears of relief and a hefty cash sum. Sesshomaru had left Gabriel and Koga with Inuyasha as a precaution, and brought Rosalind home.

When she’d showered and changed he had sat her down at this same kitchen table and made her eat something before he’d attempted to speak to her about what had happened. He’d been surprised when she didn’t cry. He’d expected tears. Human women cried. That was just how they processed emotion; human men sometimes did as well. Even the occasional demon wept under intense stress or pain. He’d learned this over many years of experience, albeit the first 430 years or so of that experience had been at a great distance where humans were concerned.

Rosalind had been unmistakably upset. But her expression had stayed almost painfully tight and she’d answered his questions in as few words as possible. He’d asked if she was hurt, and what had happened after she’d been pulled into the truck on her way to the bus stop. Her scent before she’d showered had been so jumbled from her time spent with the other girls in the small shipping container that he couldn’t be certain of anything. But she just shook her head and shrugged. He’d finally given up, knowing that pressing her further would yield no results and only further upset her. She needed time.

Sesshomaru sat across from her now, in nearly the same place, and briefly wanted to shake her until the information he lacked came tumbling out. He couldn’t help but remember the night he’d brought her home as a scared and solemn teenager. He never had gotten any more answers from her; and still didn’t know the full details of that experience. He was a little taken aback to see, and smell the changes in her since she’d left. It had only been three years since she’d moved into Arcata to work and take a few classes at the university; a mere couple eye blinks to one of his age. Yet it seemed that it had been time enough for her to grow into a strong, beautiful, and very adult woman.

She’d always been independent. That had been apparent from the day he’d taken her from the filth who had sired her. She came from one of the Irish crime families based in Chicago and still kept the surname O’Banion. But the strength she had now was different. She seemed more comfortable in her own skin. After watching her cook a big breakfast and feed the small herd of people filing through the kitchen that morning, he wondered if her time working in the bakery and coffee house hadn’t been the trigger for this settling of self.

Sesshomaru frowned for a moment, trying to remember exactly how old she was, then felt a little foolish for even having the thought. It didn’t matter. He stood, acknowledging that he wasn’t going to be able to do anything more for her right now. Gabriel was pacing out front, waiting for him. “We’ll return in a little over two hours,” he said, then quietly left the room.