InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ Gun Play and Turkey Sandwiches ( Chapter 14 )

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 moved the bags of clothing to the floor, pulled his sleeveless red shirt on, and sat on the couch. His ears twitched once as he heard the water running and the shower door slide in its metal track. He rubbed his eyes, wishing he had time for a nap. Six hours of sleep in several days wasn't enough, even for a demon, well- half demon. He wondered with a jolt if Kagome had realized that about him yet. She might have been able to sense it, being a miko, but she hadn't given any indication. ‘Granted,’ he thought bitterly, ‘she's had a few other things vying for her attention, and she's been unconscious half the time.’

His eyes paused on the bathroom door and his thoughts drifted, briefly imagining her standing, naked in his shower under the running water. He felt his body instantly responding with emphatic approval and he shut the torturous images down. That was the last thing she needed from him right now, possibly the last thing she needed from him ever. Her life was complicated enough at the moment.

Still, now his thoughts wandered to the comment his brother had made. The blood exchange he’d shared with her was several times over the amount needed as a big part of the mating ritual for many yokai. Any demon that got near her would be able to smell him on her for a long time, though if the process was never finished, the effect would fade. He wondered how long that would take. The idea of other males smelling his scent alongside hers that way made the beast in his chest rumble with approval. He rubbed his face again with a groan, doing his best to quash the feeling.

In an attempt to clear his head, he unzipped the camo printed duffel at his feet and pulled out a garbage bag from the roll he kept there. He covered cherry wood coffee table with the garbage sack and unloaded his hardware. He set out the half dozen fire arms he carried with him in pieces to be cleaned. Then several knives were laid out to one side, all in their respective sheaths. His eyes lingered for a moment on the smallest knife, an Ontario Ranger Kerambit Eod. The blade was only about three inches long, and curved like the slicing claws of the raptor bird it was designed after. The handle was small, also curved, with a good grip, and a ring at the base. It was smaller than anything he’d use. He had his claws if he needed something that size. But he’d thought the little blade was nicely designed and bought it on a whim several years before. He tucked the thought away in his mind for later, that it wouldn't be a bad choice for Kagome, if he managed to teach her how to use it.

He worked his way through cleaning the pieces in each gun he’d dismantled and put them back together. He was halfway through the fourth weapon when the bathroom door opened and Kagome came out, her thick, dark hair towel dried and hanging damp around her shoulders. Her gait was a bit smoother now as she walked across the room. She paused in surprise when she saw the small arsenal on the table, and slowly lowered herself into the chair opposite him.

Inuyasha watched her carefully as her eyes seemed to look over each individual piece of plastic and metal on the table. "Sorry. I didn't know how long you'd be and thought I'd get some maintenance done while you were in there."

She bit her lip for a moment, her eyes flicking up to his, then back down to the gun pieces. She shook her head dismissively and he wondered at her for a moment, his nose telling him the truth of her nonverbal statement. She wasn't afraid, and her nerves were calmer than he'd seen them since he’d fished her out of the river, excepting the time she’d been rubbing his ears. ‘So,’ he thought to himself. ‘Beer and men make her nervous, but guns and ammo are no problem?’

He shook his head a little, letting a grin slide onto his face as he turned over the weapon he was cleaning. She seemed to watch his hands with interest as he wiped down each piece, oiled the P-07, and put it back together, leaving the gun empty of ammunition, as he had the last three. He never stored guns loaded, especially not when he was staying a house with kids under the same roof.

However, he didn't quite manage to hide his surprise when she picked up one of the rags off the table and began to gingerly clean the parts of the Glock laid out in front of her. Her fingers explored each piece, as if learning its shape and line, then carefully cleaned it in a method similar to his own. After a cursory look to be sure he wasn't going to object, she continued, absorbed in the chore. When she’d cleaned all of it, she carefully assembled it and wiped the whole thing down one more time before setting it on the table in front of her.

Finally she seemed to notice he was still staring at her. Inuyasha gestured at the perfectly cleaned and reassembled Glock. "So, you shoot?"

Kagome shook her head. Inuyasha looked confused and started, "then how..." He paused, trying to figure out how to phrase the questions this created, and she said, "I'm good at things with pieces." Her voice was functional, but only just, and was still hoarse.

Inuyasha looked at the CZ P-07 in his hands and set it down. "That's not the first gun you've put together though?" Kagome nodded and said. "yes, it is. I've seen it done before, and I watched you just now. There aren't many parts and I can see how they would fit together."

Inuyasha blinked for a second and gestured to the last gun that lay unassembled. "Can you do that one too?"

Kagome nodded and after a moment of hesitation she picked up the cloth and began again. She worked through each piece, her brows lowering a little in concentration as she examined them, cleaned them, and slid them into place until she held his completed Cobra Patriot 9MM. She set it on the table carefully and looked back up at him. When he just looked at her in astonishment she wiped her hands on the cloth and sat back.

Finally he asked again, "you've never shot a gun?" She flinched a little at the question but shrugged, whispering, "just the once..."

Inuyasha cursed himself for a moment, remembering now that she had fired on Naraku. "Right, sorry- but other than that?" She shook her head. Inuyasha grinned and shook his own head, packing the hardware back into the bag and sliding it under the table. ‘This development’, he thought, ‘bares some examination later.’

He stood up and asked, "ready to eat? It's lunch time actually, but Rosie set aside a plate of eggs and pancakes for you this morning. We can heat that up or find something else."

When he opened the sitting room door she saw that it connected to a wide hallway with big slab red clay tiles. She limped along behind him towards the front of the house, looking around curiously. They reached the doorway to the kitchen and she paused to look at the opposite side of the hall, where a large archway opened onto a big living room with a wide fire place and a flat screen television mounted on the wall across from a huge sectional leather sofa and a coffee table with a stone surface. The clay tile gave way here to a dark wood floor, covered by a plush area rug. The room was decorated beautifully.

She realized Inuyasha had gone into the kitchen and she tore her gaze away from the tall bookshelves that lined part of the wall to follow him. The kitchen was just as beautiful and she looked around, impressed. Inuyasha stood in front of a large refrigerator. He pulled out a plate of food and tore the saran wrap off, holding it up. "Does this look like something you can stomach? It's really good."

She nodded, murmuring, "yes, thank you." Inuyasha put the plate in the microwave and pulled down some glasses before he dove back into the fridge for milk. When he let the refrigerator doors close again she saw the message written across the front about groceries. Inuyasha poured the last of the milk into one of the glasses and grabbed one of the markers from the counter. As he wrote 'MILK' in blocky capitals on the list, he asked, "is there anything you want? I don't think they've gone to the store yet. Sess is in a meeting in his office with the talking heads."

Kagome thought for a moment and shrugged noncommittally.

Inuyasha sighed and pulled her plate out of the microwave. He led her to a seat at the long wooden table and slid the glass of milk down next to her plate. When she gave it a hesitant look he said, "drink it, you need it, especially if you're leg is cramping."

Just then Kagome saw a girl with intense dark red hair walk into the kitchen. She remembered her as Rosie, from Sango’s introduction the other day. The girl smiled brightly. "You’re up? How are you feeling? Inuyasha- it's lunch time, you don't have to feed her that. I was just coming in to make sandwiches."

Kagome gave the girl a smile and coughed a little into her elbow, trying to clear some of the hoarseness from her throat. "Thank you. Inuyasha told me you saved it for me this morning. It smells great."

Rosalind shrugged. "Alright, if you're sure. You're very welcome. Let me know if I can get you anything else. You're having muscle cramps?"

Kagome nodded and shrugged dismissively.

Rosalind pursed her lips and gave her an analytical look before grabbing a marker and writing on the grocery list, 'NETTLE.'

"Do you drink tea?” she asked. “Nettle is really good for muscle health. It might help."

Kagome nodded and gave her a grateful smile as she chewed some pancake. It really was good and she was terribly hungry. She watched while the young woman, who couldn't be much older than herself, pulled out a variety of basic sandwich components. She frowned and muttered, "no tomatoes, no lettuce. Hmph..."

Kagome couldn't help but smile as she watched Inuyasha chuckle to himself, filling his own glass with water. He commented, "all you need for a sandwich is meat, cheese, and bread."

Rosalind set the jar of mayonnaise and a bottle of mustard on the counter next to the sliced turkey and gave him a disagreeable look. Finally she opened the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. As she tossed them in a pan and turned on a stove burner, she sounded resigned. "You're such a man-creature Inuyasha. I don't know how you’ve managed to feed yourself all these years."

He just grinned and shrugged, pulling out two slices of wheat bread and starting a sandwich for himself. "I microwave stuff. I get by."

Rosalind tossed the empty veggie bag in the trash and grabbed a wooden spoon, pushing the drawer closed again with her hip. "Microwaves haven’t been around that long. How did you manage until then? I know you and Sesshomaru are hardly geriatric or anything, but you were around a long time before refrigerators, toaster ovens, and McDonalds."

Inuyasha shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich, dropping inelegantly into a chair next to Kagome. "There was still food. It just wasn’t all bagged up and ready to go. Frankly hunting your own kill back then was a lot easier than it is now. You humans take all the fun out of it. Let me say for all demons out there… the idea of a hunting or fishing license is a complete joke."

Sesshomaru walked through the door, now dressed in an expensive button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled at the elbows, and gray slacks. His feet were covered in black socks, an allowance he was able to make when working from his home office. He commented as well. "There weren’t human officials getting jumpy when a carcass was found, and stopping to cook prey wasn't necessarily a priority unless one felt the inclination to do so. It somewhat streamlined what humans have turned into a rather arduous process."

Inuyasha made a sound of agreement but snorted with laughter as he heard Kagome whisper under her breath, "ewww..."

When he laughed her cheeks turned pink and she ducked her head again, taking another bite of her eggs. Sesshomaru's ears caught her exclamation too and his lips tugged into an amused smirk. Rosalind grimaced and set sandwiches out on several plates. "So… what, you guys just pulled down a deer or something and dug in?"

Inuyasha set his empty glass back on the table and shrugged, "I guess so. I mean, I don't know how Sess did it. We weren't on speaking terms back then, except for the occasional death threat in passing. We mostly stayed out of each other’s way. I usually tossed whatever I caught down near a stream, skinned it, shredded what I wanted, rinsed it off and called it dinner. Deer, boar, occasionally a smaller game demon, whatever was around. If there was a village nearby I left whatever I didn't eat where their hunters would find it."

Rosalind looked a little grossed out but said, "That was... uh... nice of you."

Inuyasha shrugged. "I wasn’t friends with any of them. Humans were a lot more insistent about not wanting anything to do with a demon back then, but they were usually hungry enough they didn't mind taking our leftovers. There was no sense wasting perfectly good meat. Starvation was a lot more common a problem back then."

Sesshomaru leaned against the counter, looking somewhat contemplative. After a moment he said, "The world was a much quieter, darker place. I haven’t had serow in a long time now. That was something I liked."

Rosalind plated a few sandwiches and asked, “what’s serow?”

Inuyasha ate the last of his sandwich and came over to grab another one, answering, “It’s a kind of mountain goat they have in Japan. I’ve only eaten it once in a while. I didn’t spend much time up in the mountains.”

Rosalind looked up at Sesshomaru curiously for a moment as she stirred the vegetables. "So you guys didn't get along then?"

Sesshomaru glanced at her and then at Inuyasha, shooting him a look that clearly said he didn't appreciate his brother's offhand comment. That part of their history wasn't something they generally discussed. Two pairs of golden eyes seemed to measure each other for a moment before Inuyasha shrugged, turned to walk back to his seat at the table, and said gruffly, "water under the bridge. It was a long time ago."

He collected his dishes, taking Kagome's empty plate and glass as well. He rinsed them in the uncomfortable silence that settled, glass clinking. As he tucked the items into the dishwasher, Gabriel came in, freshly showered and wearing another set of work clothes, boots, grease-stained jeans and a t-shirt. He saw Kagome and gave her a wink, taking a plate as Rosalind spooned some of the veggies out. "Thanks Rosie."

The broad shouldered demon grabbed a glass bottle out of the refrigerator and sat a seat down from Kagome, at the end of the table. Suddenly, all three of the demons in the room seemed to stiffen visibly and Rosalind looked around at them in concern. "What is it?"

She saw their focus narrow on Kagome and frowned in confusion. The girl looked uncomfortable in her chair and her cheeks had turned red. She just shrugged and gave another dismissive wave, flashing a tight smile. Rosalind looked at Sesshomaru, trying to figure out what was going on, and she saw his nostrils flare a little. His eyes seemed to sharpen over whatever it was he smelled.

Privately, Rosalind was slightly annoyed. When this sort of thing happened, it always made her feel like she was half blind in a room full of people with perfect vision. Kagome saw the intensity of his gaze too; that unblinking stillness, the dilation of the pupils. It was the same look Gabriel wore, Inuyasha too for that matter.

Kagome couldn't help her reaction to it but tried desperately to calm down. She knew what it looked like when demons smelled real fear. Even a trace could trigger an alert in their predator beast. In the mostly friendly banter they exchanged, she’d nearly forgotten for a moment that she was among demons. If it weren’t for their energy rubbing against hers constantly, she might very well have forgotten.

She bit her lip hard and looked around at them nervously, expression wary. Should she get up and leave? Would they let her? The only demons she’d known had generally had one reaction when they grew still like this, her fear filling their noses. It excited them. It made them hungry in every way. Remembering past experience only made her fear grow, so she tried to break that pattern of thought. She looked at the other human girl, Rosalind. But while she seemed concerned with their reaction, she wasn't afraid.

Kagome looked at each of the men, eyes flicking back to Inuyasha as he walked back to stand between her and the place where Gabriel was seated. He reached out and picked up Gabriel's bottle of Corona. "Dry house for now Gabe." The demon looked confused, but not upset. He started to ask, "what's-"

But he stopped when Kagome's hand shot out and grabbed Inuyasha’s wrist. She pulled his hand back down until he set the bottle back on the table. She shook her head and pulled in a deep breath. "It's fine."

Gabriel seemed to remember the first afternoon at Inuyasha’s apartment, and understood suddenly, looking apologetic, but Kagome shook her head. "This is your home." She looked around at all of them as she said it, then looked back at Gabriel as she said hoarsely, "it would be stupid not be able to have a beer in your own home because of me."

Sesshomaru watched her carefully and Inuyasha was surprised to hear him ask, "is there anything that can be done to help? The scent will be... distracting."

Kagome's scent spiked again with nerves as she met his eyes and Inuyasha felt the beast in his chest shift restlessly in response to her unease. She still looked nervous but said, "if you guys could stop looking at me like that, I'll get it under control, or I can leave the room."

Sesshomaru frowned slightly and nodded. Inuyasha sat down again in the chair next to her. Rosalind eyed the beer at Gabriel's plate curiously for a moment. She flashed Kagome a reassuring smile. "I've only ever seen any of these guys get drunk a few times, and I've known them for a decade. It takes a lot of hard liquor to do it. The rare occasion it does happen, mostly they just go quiet and moody, and go off somewhere to be alone for a while. None of them are physical drinkers, if that's what you're worried about. If they do feel the need for some violence they go off and deal with it somewhere else. They’ll pound on each other for a while or go rip up some rocks or trees or something."

Kagome shrugged, looking guilty, and murmured, "it's fine." She gave Gabriel a look when he still wasn't eating. "Really- please, go ahead. What I'm afraid of, it's not...” She paused and swallowed hard, her mouth dry. “It isn't you. I’d never have said anything. But I can't as easily stop whatever it is you smell, and I'm sorry for that."

Gabriel looked doubtful. The lion demon subtly sniffed the air again, shooting a glance at Inuyasha next to her, as if for permission. Inuyasha studied Kagome, and then nodded. Gabriel sighed and took a bite of his sandwich and a sip of his beer. "Alright, if you're sure."

She nodded, rubbing her throat. Inuyasha frowned and asked, "how's your voice?"

Kagome shrugged again, not looking at anyone, coughing into her elbow and hoarsely answering, "it’s fine."

Rosalind grabbed a marker and added, 'HONEY' to her refrigerator list. Kagome gave her a smile and nodded her thanks. The red head turned and gestured at the stack of sandwiches that sat ready on the counter, raising an eyebrow at Sesshomaru. "Help yourself if you’re hungry. Or is there something else you'd like?"

Sesshomaru shook his head. "This is sufficient." He wanted to tell her to get a plate and eat, but after this-morning’s conversation, he didn't want to issue any more orders to her if he could help it. Instead he tactfully asked, "will you be joining us?"

Rosalind looked surprised for a moment as she put the cap back on the marker, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. After a moment of consideration she nodded, looking around and seeing there was nothing else to be done. "I suppose so, yes."

He watched her as she took a plate and glass of water to the table to sit next to Gabriel. Only after she sat did Sesshomaru take the chair on her other side with his own meal. After a minute of silence she said, "I haven't heard anything from Ayame or Koga. Are they still asleep?"

Sesshomaru nodded. "They ran a long patrol, covering the immediate property and a large perimeter around it. I expect they will sleep for another hour or two."

She took a bite of her sandwich. Kagome seemed to be calmer, and she could tell it wasn't just an act. The guys seemed to have relaxed too now, which wouldn't be the case if she was still jumping with nerves. Rosalind asked with concern, "how did this-morning’s run go?"

Sesshomaru was chewing so Gabriel answered her question. "It was fine. We didn't really find anything that shouldn't be where it was, well- except for the new fire pit at the south end of the beach. It looks like someone had a party down there and left some of their garbage."

Rosalind frowned and shook her head in disapproval. "Any idea who?"

Sesshomaru said, "it was a human pack. I could smell them everywhere, and there were tire tracks. They live not too far away. Someone will pay them a visit."

Gabriel nodded and swallowed the last of his sandwich. "Probably should be me or one of the wolves. With all due respect, you and Inuyasha sorta stand out more. I think something a little more subtle would bring less attention to who exactly owns this property, under the current circumstances."

Sesshomaru seemed to think about this, wiping his mouth with a napkin, before he said simply, "agreed."

Inuyasha leaned back in his chair, looking at Gabriel. "Are you going today?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. I know where they live. I figured I’d stop in and give them a warning, maybe mention the possibility of trespassing charges if it happens again; then I’m going back to town to open the garage for the afternoon. I have an old Crown Vic that needs some major work done. The owner expects it back on Monday. That's my plan if no one else needs me. If I run, we don't have to worry about anyone following me back, unless you want me to stay at the garage tonight."

Inuyasha and his brother traded glances and he shook his head. "Nah, come back here. The garage isn't worth hangin' anyone’s ass in the wind right now. Keep an eye out."

Sesshomaru looked over at Rosalind, who was quietly listening while she munched her sandwich. “My afternoon meeting has been moved up,” he said. “It starts in a half hour. When I'm done with that we can take the truck into town. Is there anywhere else you wish to go?" Rosalind shook her head, swallowing the last bite. “No. I have everything I need.”